+++ Breaking news +++ Breaking news +++

Dear friends,

Great news! We just received word that we won the proposal to the European Commission! This is spectacular news for the alliance: it means that more than 23 million Peso (about € 330.000,-) of FDI (foreign direct investment) will be sent to the area, and all of it will be invested in sustainable livelihoods for the community!

As you can imagine, there are exciting times. The next few weeks will be spent finalizing the financial contract with the EC (no small task considering the budget), and then we will be busy hiring personnel and beginning the project. Thanks to all of you for keeping your fingers crossed for this project!

Beyond this, our proposal pipeline is still strong as we await news regarding the other topics, but for now, we will celebrate!

Best regards from the Philippines,

Martin

And this is a picture of me explaining my project, and giving a brief history of the Philippines.

This picture was taken at the Accenture office in Manila. At the far end you can see Mark Lucas, who helped in the organization of the visit, and Beth Lui, the country managing director.

Again the three of us. As you can tell, we really liked the place!

Marco, myself and Joachim hanging out at the resort.

Hanging out at the resort, Joachim and I did some posing for the camera.

This picture was taken on the ferry from Tagbilaran to Cebu. On the left is Joy, who was a great help in the organization of the trip, and to the right of me is Andreas.

And this shot shows Carsten, me and Osvaldo that same evening.

Another evening shot, this one was made on the island where we had dinner one evening. From left to right, you can see Gabriel (but only half of his face), Helen, Andreas, Carsten and me.

Part of the tour we did of Bohol included visiting a cave. This photo shows us on our way there.

For some reason, my colleagues decided to raid my room at about 3 am, and dance on my bed and stuff. Something tells me they thought the idea was better than I did.

The back of the T-shirt shows the agenda and gives a full list of MRC-members.

For my visitors, I had T-shirts printed, and Thomas is holding up his one. The front says "Proud member of M.R.C. (Martin-Retrieval-Commando)".

In Bohol, we crossed a river on a hanging bridge.

Live chickens as carry-on luggage

Dear friends,

Yesterday marked my six-month anniversary of my working to improve the livelihoods in one of the least developed areas of the Philippines. It’s so hard to believe that it’s been half a year,
but the pictures I’ve taken, the projects I’ve completed, and the adventures I’ve witnessed
prove to me that it truly has been that long.

Originally, my project was scheduled to end after six months. However, the last few weeks have
really proven to me how much the people here are benefiting from the projects we’ve started, and I strongly believe that continued work will yield even more significant benefits. I’ve therefore decided to extend my stay by another six weeks – albeit without funding from Accenture, so I’m taking an unpaid Leave of Absence.

For the time after the end of my project, I am happy to report, I have secured funding for a
volunteer to continue my work for another two full years; this should truly bring the alliance
where it needs to be to move forward and achieve its goals in the long run.

This week we received word that our proposal for combined funding of improved bio-diversity, a sustainable tourism-plan, and social marketing for the alliance has been approved! These
projects will begin immediately, so the excitement of bringing the proposal to life will be felt
by all involved soon. In addition to this major win, we still have multiple opportunities in the
pipeline, covering such diverse topics as solid- and liquid waste management, livelihood support
and an endowment for community-managed natural resources. My hope is that many of these funding requests are granted, resulting in sustainable, long-term benefits for all constituents.

This week also marked the beginning of what I call the termite invasion. It seems termites have
discovered my closet, invited all their friends and relatives, and are now having a 24-hour
all-you-can-eat party at my place. Every morning there’s a pile of wood-dust under the wardrobe, and I’m starting to wonder how much longer my furniture will stay standing. Only time will tell, I guess, as I’ve pretty much given up fighting for my territory (hey, the ants won my apartment a long time ago and I am under a cease-fire agreement with cockroaches: “you stay away and I don’t kill you”). As long as my furniture is at least still partially there when I leave in six weeks, I’m satisfied.

So while I still struggle with some of the issues of living in a developing country, such as
regular power outages and living through a Dengue-fever-scare (unsubstantiated, mind you), I
have become entirely accustomed to other issues. For example, witnessing a raving dispute
between an airline representative and the person in front of me at the check-in line about
whether his live chicken counts as carry-on luggage hardly even registered with me until a
western tourist pointed it out (at which point I had already made up my mind and sided with the passenger).

So, in summary:

Personal lowlights:

• Power outages killing, or at least damaging, our server and having to spend hours to
  get it to run again
• Being worried about having caught Dengue-fever (although it turns out I had not)
• The continued absolute lack of variation in food choices

Personal highlights:

• Having friends from Germany come to visit me – what a delight!
• The feeling of really influencing lives for the better by ensuring long-term sustainability of the grants (this is a continuing theme).
• Winning the combined-funding-proposal, which is hopefully a sign of things to come.

Take care and keep in touch!

Martin

And another shot from the beach.

Another shot of the Resort. Highly recommended!

The view from the Panglao Island Nature Resort. Incredible water, incredible weather - what an awesome place!

One of the oldest churches in all of Bohol. It's a bit rough around the edges, but on the other hand it's been around for hundreds of years...

This is a panoramic shot of the view from the site of the blood compact.

And another shot of Balicasag Island. Gotta love that water!

Another shot of the incredibly clear water at Balicasag Island. There were no filters applied to this picture, the water there really does look like that!

Let's go diving! This was actually one of my best dives ever - and you can tell by the incredible color of the water that visibility was fantastic.

On our way to a dive- and snorkelling site at Balicasag Island.

This panorama shows me in front of the Chocolate Hills. I'm quite happy about how this picture came out!

A panoramic view of the Chocolate Hills - this scenery just screamed for a panorama view!

One of the great tourist attractions in the Philippines are the Chocolate Hills. This shot shows some of the more than 100 of them. Quite a sight!

And another group shot, this one taken on our boat trip from Tagbilaran to Cebu.

Dinner on the island near Panglao. From left to right: Thomas, Hennning, Joachim, some faces you can't see, Andreas, and then on the left Carsten, myself, Osvaldo, Marco, Anett and Bernhard.

As you can tell, sleep was rare during the trip. This shot was taken at the Manila airport on our way to Tagbilaran. From left to right, me, Joachim, Bernhard, Marco and Henning are hiding their eyes...

Another group shot at the Green Belt. It shows, from left to right, Andreas, Thomas, Carsten, me, Anett, Nicole and Bernhard.

At the Green Belt in Manila, we spent some time waiting for the late arrivals. This shot shows, from left to right, Thomas, Carsten, me, Joachim, Nicole and Bernhard.

This picture was taken on the first evening. On the left, with his eyes half closed, is Andreas, then Joachim, then me. In the rows further back you can make out Helen and Thomas.

In Cebu, we visited Magellan's cross - which I've talked about in a previous posting.

Another great group shot, this one shows the entire crew on the boat going from Tagbilaran to Cebu.

During the business agenda, mayor Geri of Lanuza came over to present some of the challenges that Lanuza is currently facing, and we brainstormed some of the issues we could handle next. This shot shows all involved colleagues, plus Geri and me.

A great shot of one of the tarsiers in Bohol. If you look carefully, you can see my reflection in the eye!

One of the most famous animals of Bohol is the Tarsier. Although they are nocturnal, for some reason the ones on this picture opened their eyes for the camera. Their eyes are actually about 170 times the size of human ones, in proportion. Very cool little critters.

A group shot of all my visitors from Germany at the waterfall of Loboc river. We had such a great time!

Another shot taken during the Loboc river cruise in Bohol.

From time to time, kids will jump off the coconut-trees, swim over to the boats and then hang on for a ride.

This picture was taken during our river cruise down the Loboc river in Bohol. Really looks like a scene out of a movie, doesn't it?

And finally, the grand performance of Helen and Nicole!

This shot was taken by Joachim, and shows the Green Belt in Manila in all its glory.

This is another shot of our riveting Karaoke-performance in the Red Box in Manila. From left to right, this shot shows Gabriel, Nicole, Thomas and Andreas.

When my friends from Germany came to visit me and conduct the Asia planning meeting, we had some time on the first evening for fun. Obvious choice: Karaoke! This shot shows Anett and Bernhard giving it all.

This is one of the drummers of the band. The music was incredible! They also had this neat visual effect where they put water on the drums, so it would splash up as you can see. Pure fun!

On the evening of the Kadayawan festival in Davao, I heard the first real techno since I left Germany! There was a band of drummers that was incredibly good, and so of course we partied all night.

Another group shot of one of the teams!

This picture was shot by my fellow volunteer Ferenc from Hungary. Gotta love the costumes!

Another dancer of the Lanuza team.

Although it was incredibly hot, everyone really enjoyed the festival, as you can tell.

Another dancer from Lanuza. This one was represented the tribal priest in the dance.

One of the dancers from Lanuza, with the rest of the parade in the background.

This shot shows the Lanuza team. The whole show is based on the rituals of the Manobo tribe, which lives in the Lanuza area, among others.

This is a shot of myself with friends carrying the Lanuza sign ahead of the team. From left to right, the others are Declan (a fellow volunteer), Joy Irizari, (myself), Philip (another fellow volunteer), and mayor Geri Irizari.

The Lanuza dancers! As you can see, the mood was fantastic!

Go! Another shot by Declan, this picture shows the contestants racing to the stage to begin there dance.

Every year, the city of Davao in southern Mindanao celebrates the Kadayawan festival. From all over Mindanao, street dancers come together in a competition. There were more than two dozen entries this year, and Lanuza was one of them after winning the Caraga festival (see my previous posts). This picture was taken by my friend Declan, and I love how it captures the excitement of the moment, right before the showdown.

One more shot of all contestants. Number 6 won in the end.

This was the board of judges on the first evening. I was chairman of the board. The evening events were in the Cantilan gym, which was jam-packed with people.

On August 11th and 12th, the municipality of Cantilan had a beauty contest called the "2005 Bikini Open". My friend Prox invited me to be on the board of judges, and our job was to identify Miss Bikini Open 2005 out of nine contestants. This picture shows the contestants on the first day.