It's the End!

April 25, 2010

(no internet to post until now)

In the last stretch of my time here in the Philippines – a couple days left to finish everything I want to do, and then home again.  The rest of the training in Cagayan de Oro went well.  I interviewed teachers and heard again and again how the schools lack resources, teachers use their own money to buy supplies, children miss school again and again because they have no funds for transportation.  Below is the story of one teacher who has his five students living in his home, since otherwise they wouldn’t be able to attend school.  Talk about dedication! 

Following the training courses, I stayed with the LINK staff for their annual R&R – this time white water rafting and a couple nights on Camiguin Island. Rafting was a blast despite the mid-day heat and slow moving water.  Still gorgeous and fun to witness the daily life happening along the river banks – so many women washing clothes and laying them out on the rocks to dry, and children swimming nude or in their everyday clothes, enjoying the cool water.  On Camiguin, a small island with seven active volcanoes, we visited gorgeous hot springs, a number of cold springs, and ruins from the last eruption, including a sunken cemetery.  While the island’s beaches were full of black sand, just off shore was White Island, a pristine white sandbar surrounded by crystal blue water.  It was wonderful and beautiful at 6am, before the sun had a chance to pull out its full force.   It was interesting traveling with eight Filipinos – so many cultural differences!  First off, I don’t think I can watch another picture being taken!  Or pose, for that matter.  Wherever we’d be, at least 75% of the time was taken up behind cameras.  By almost everyone!  The resort we stayed at was also full of Filipinos – the foreigners, they told me, go to the other one (where I would have goneJ with the native huts, beach and peace and quite. Instead we had cement houses with TVs, a pool, and kereoke).  Ah well, it was still wonderful with plenty of hammocks and gorgeous views.  And lots of new experiences helping me to see my own culture in a different wayJ

Interview with one teacher (name changed) in Mindanao

John is not only a teacher of hearing impaired (HI) students, but he is deaf himself.  And not only does John teach five HI children each day, but he gives these students a place to live and eat, in his own home.  Since 2000, John has been in search of HI students throughout his island.  When he learns of a child, whether through word of mouth or talking with other teachers, John starts out on his motorbike in search of the child.  He then uses gestures to communicate with the child’s family, since many of the families are illiterate themselves.  Through his gestures, John requests to take the child to his home, where he will be given a place to live, and he will be provided with food and an education.  All of this: out of John’s own pocket. 

When John successfully brings a child into school, the first step is to teach basic language, at the preschool level.  Luckily for the students, they have a deaf adult role model, an indispensible resource and language model that many students never get the chance to tap.  During the school day, all five students are in the classroom with John.  His students, by grade level, include:  Preschool – one boy (age 7); Grade 2 – one boy (age 21); Grade 3 – one boy (age 30), one girl (age 22); and Grade 4 – one boy (age 13), one girl (age 17).  According to John, English, Science and Math are relatively easy subjects for the students, yet Filipino is difficult, particularly with their confusion between Tagalog and Visayan. 

John has been teaching for 10 years, but he only has a provisional license to teach.  He graduated from college and has taken the licensing test 10 times, yet he has been unable to pass because of the level of difficulty.  However, he maintains his position because he is needed, and because he has connections within the division. 

In terms of needs, John emphasizes his need for funds to help feed the students, books and materials for use in school, and money for transportation. While at one time he had eight students, John now houses five students, a considerable number of additional mouths to feed.  Additionally, he would like to continue his training in sign language and communication; John is very interested in using Signing Exact English (SEE) in the classroom.  He now uses a mixture of American Sign Language and Filipino Sign Language that he learned while in school at Cebu University.

And some photos...

Teacher Training in Mindanao

Ready to go!  Unloading from the jeepney for our rafting trip

Down the Cagayan River

The LINK Center group on White Island, overlooking Camiguin Island 

Camiguin Island - view from our room

Hot springs!

April 30, 2010

After 26 hours of travel, I’m home!  Luckily not all 26 hours were spent on a plane, as I got all Thursday morning to wander the streets of Seoul.  What a clean and pristine city – although that could just be in comparison to Manila!  But already, it made me miss the crazy streets in Manila, with so much going on.  Busses and jeepneys speeding down the streets before abruptly stopping to pick up or drop off passengers, piles of fruit and vegetables wheeled around on carts (fresh mangos!), and taho man calling out to sell that  delicious morning treat, and friendly people ready to offer a smile and hello every step of the way.  And the more I learned of how to get around, the more fun it all became!  It was pretty exciting to be able to navigate through the city on my own, using any number of busses, jeeps and light rail trains.  With the occasional, needed taxi:)

During my last week, I met up with a friend of a friend, a foreigner, working in a bank in Manila for the year.  We ate in Serendra, an upscale restaurant/shopping/condo area very popular with expats.  What a different existence he has there! It made me feel very lucky to have the experience I did - I don't think I even saw another Westerner my first month there - I stayed mainly near my home in Commonwealth and was so involved in all the school activities, there no chance for anything else.  In Serendra, aside from a couple jeepneys that go though, there's no public transportation, which is just mind-boggling for me after seeing the millions of options in every other part of Manila.  No local eateries or shops or anything...just so different.  It felt so sterile visiting, and living there, too, he agreed.

It's nice to be home, but I do look forward to my next visit back to the Philippines:)

Mindanao Teacher Enhancement Seminar

I'm at a cafe  - I ordered an iced chai tea, as is on the menu, but when they asked if I wanted it mango or lemon flavored, I decided I better just switch to a plain espresso.  Because who knows what I'd end up with!

Anyways, here I am in Cagayan de Oro for the second of LINK's summer trainings.  This one is a week long, as it included parts one and two, unlike last week which was just part two.  Moving quickly though these trainings – I can’t believe how fast they are going!  The training at Tagaytay finished will.  I was the last presenter, on Friday morning.  My topic was speech therapy with deaf and hard of hearing children.  First, I talked about speech science and the process of speech production, and then I discussed speech and language assessment and therapy for the classroom teacher.  We provided the teachers with some helpful materials, and they all seemed very appreciative.  Throughout the week, I had so many of them tell me that they are looking forward to the presentation because they have a couple of hard of hearing students who could benefit from speech, if only the teacher knew how to support them.  I hope I was able to give them the information they need to really work with these children!

After Tagaytay, I spent a day and a half in Manila, and then to Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao, southern Philippines.  Training number two!  This is the first training LINK has done in Mindanoa, and 60 teachers have come from all over the island.  All are teaching special education (or, as they say here, "special children"), but many have no or minimal training, especially working with deaf and hard of hearing students.  Some are regular education teachers who have been placed in the special education classroom.  With this training, LINK hopes that many more deaf children will be reached.  Despite the length of this training, there is no time for me to present.  I wasn’t sure when I came – LINK had told me maybe or maybe not, and now we know the answer.  Instead, my job is to interview teachers to really get an idea of what their current situations are like, before training.  I am looking forward to some enlightening conversations!  They did give me another job yesterday, which was explaining the difference between Signing Exact English and American Sign Language.  This was fun and is something that I can easily talk about, and I had Ricky, who is deaf, to accurately demonstrate the signs.  Of course, the teachers wanted to know which signs are better to use.  Anticipated question.  And while I believe that ASL is more beneficial to the students, I had to be careful what I said as to not go against LINK, who is teaching them SEE.  I told my true feelings in the end, just very carefully:)  And other teachers shared their thoughts too, which were on both sides of the issue. 

Mindanao is having a lot of energy problems right now, so for about 5 hours each day, we lose power.  Never know when it's going to be.  This is how is was explained to me (for Manila and Luzon, at least) - there was a big typhoon last fall, and the dams overflowed and there was widespread flooding.  You can still see the damage all over Luzon, with piles of washed up trash in Manila and washed out mountain roads.  After this, another typhoon was coming, and so the dams were emptied in anticipation.  When the typhoon never came and with the current dry spell that followed, the country was left with little water in the dams and limited power source.  Whoops!  So we live by the sun more and more each day (no joke, first night bed at 8:30, then 7:30, and last night 6:45!) and I'm enjoying how wide awake I am at 5:30 each morning.  It's a shame I left my new headlamp at our last hotel in Bohol, but I can survive:)

I’ll write later as I get through more interviews and continue to learn about the deaf education situation here in Mindanao.

Presenting to the teachers at Tagaytay  - must sit from pain of burned leg:(

See the volcano?  Taal Volcano (they claim one of the smallest in the world) from the beautiful Maryride Convent.

One of the million pictures I was asked to take - they still crack me up!

A Beautiful Country!!

It’s been a while!  Back from vacation and onto the next leg of work.  First, I'll discuss work a bit, and then our trip through the islands (it’s long!!).

The week before I took off was a busy one, and thus no time to blog.  LINK had concluded that there would be no time for me to present my work, but we could still give the teachers my manual.  After they looked through my draft, they decided that if I didn’t show them how to use it, no one would use it, so there will, in fact, be time for me to present.  So I had to go back and turn the manual, which was originally a Powerpoint but had morphed past that point, back into a Powerpoint.  Full, busy days, but it’s done and I can only hope all will understand! 

I am now at the training at Tagaytay, just a couple hours from Manila but full of nature.  We are staying at a beautiful convent overlooking the lake, Taal Volcano and lots of green hills, and surrounded in flowers, green grass, peaceful walkways and secret hideaways.  And relatively cool weather!  The training is called “Easy Access to Rehabilitation Services” and it’s the second training that these teachers have had.   My job here is to present on speech and hard of hearing children Friday morning.  Until then, I will interview a couple teachers on programs they have already started, and sit here listening to Tagalog but watching slideshows in EnglishJ  Well, now I’m just listening to Tagalog since we lost power.  This is truly a bilingual society - it is nice to see that they’re teaching in Tagalog though. 

I’m still trying to figure out exactly how everything is working here.  My questions are always minimally answered, so I need to sit down with the right person and really get the information I’m looking for.  I know that DepEd supports and recognizes the training, and that LINK pays for the printing of the materials.  There are different groups presenting, and then two people from LINK teach sign language in the afternoon.  Both are Filipino, but MSSD and Gallaudet graduates.  Hmm…are they the only qualified teachers?  What about Filipinos who didn’t go to Gallaudet? Or maybe they’re just the most qualified?  I will write more as the training progress.

And now vacation time - what a great vacation Cassie and I had!  Cassie arrived on a Friday, and after a bit of time wandering Manila’s markets on Saturday, we hopped on a plane to Palawan.  We spent almost a week on Palawan, the western-most island that still in part seems to be an undiscovered jewel, and then four days in Bohol, where the all the tourists are going!  We tootled along the coast in Palawan, first stopping off in Sabang where we explored the underground river, full of bats and with a massively tall ceiling, along with every other tourist on the island.  We found a gorgeous resort complete with a poolside bar and all.  It was at this point of the trip that Cassie was forbidden from using her, “I hear there’s a party at your place tonight” joke.  On the plane ride over, the guy on next to her responded, “How did you know?  Here’s my number.”   This time, however, our little waiter boy showed up with a friend and a bottle of rum at our room after dinner!  Sneaking in, of course, since his boss was in a room near by.  Haha, I guess the party was at our place.  In any case, no more jokes! 

After Sabang, we made our way to the beautiful and isolated Coconut Garden Beach Resort on Cacnipa Island  When we sat down to lunch and I ordered a fresh buko juice (coconut), the waitress sent a couple boys up the palm tree to grab a bunch of coconuts!  What service, and deliciously fresh juice!  After much snorkeling, lazing around on the beach and playing with the resident monkey (tied upL), we took our burnt-red bodies (we soon realized that no matter how much sunscreen we put on, we needed to get a hold of some waterproof stuff) and grabbed a boat to a resort near El Nido, but away from the cramped beachfront of El Nido.  It was a long, 7-hour ride and as the sun set, our boat revealed no light aside from a small, handheld flashlight.  Thank goodness we had the moonlight to go by!  Motoring though the huge Bacuit Archipelago was impressive both after dark and the next day under the sun as massive hills of stone shot up throughout the water in every direction.  And as we discovered during a day of island hopping, there are innumerable hidden beaches and lagoons throughout the archipelago.  Crystal clear water, gorgeous reefs and so many fish!!  After two nights at the resort, full of delicious food, beautiful views, lots of mancala and plenty of geckos and dogs and even a horse, we made our way back to Puerto Princessa for our flight to Cebu.

As I read my travel guide for taking a boat from Cebu to Bohol, I got a little scared as I came across, “numerous boats go back and forth every day but Christmas and Good Friday.”  And Good Friday it was – whoops!  We luckily did make it just in time for one of the two boat trips, but once in Bohol, all buses and jeepneys also had the day off.  Private tricycle and boat, with prices to match the holiday, eventually had us at Nuts Huts much sooner than anticipated.  And the overflowing churches and saints on parade we passed on the way, wow! 

We stayed at Nuts Huts for two nights: big but cute huts lining the Loboc River in the middle of the jungle, with a restaurant (120 steps higher!) overlooking it all.  The shaded break our sunburned bodies needed!  As a man down the river said, “I don’t understand, we have places with air conditioning, cable tv, swimming pool – but all Europeans and Americans with backpacks just want to stay at Nuts Huts, in the jungle!”  Haha, I guess we all like noveltyJ   We spent a day in Bohol doing what every Bohol billboard says one must do – visiting the tarsiers (adorable little endangered primates) at their sanctuary and taking pictures of the Chocolate Hills (a sea of hills shooting up from the valley floor, apparently created by coral deposits millions of years ago, or something like that).  More impressive than I expected, so it wasn’t bad.  And the motorcycle ride home through the jungle was a thrill!  Even if we were only three on one bike, not the typical four, or even five!

Easter morning we made our way up to the northern Cabilao Island.  Who would have imagined that traveling on public transportation on Easter Sunday is not a problem, but Good Friday is nearly impossible?  We made it in good time, hanging from the side of an overcrowded bus, jeeping over rugged ground, boating with the locals across the straight, and finally a motorbike ride to the resort.  We didn’t want to take a motorbike with such big packs and we had started walking, but a driver finally convinced us.  Good thing, as it was quite far and “go straight” was definitely not the right way to the resort, as we had been told; but bad thing as when we tried climbing a steep hill, the bike couldn’t make it up but slowly started slipping back, causing both Cassie and I to quickly hop off, me burning my leg in the process.  It wasn’t too bad at first and I kept it clean (I thought) and my ensuing hours in the ocean were surely beneficial, but the pain finally grew to an unbearable height Tuesday night and a trip to the hospital couldn’t be avoided.  The growing red region surrounding the wound and the three little lines slowly climbing to my heart gave me no question.  Luckily I was already in Tagaytay with LINK, so five of them piled into the van and took me to the emergency, where I was greeted by a handful of nursing students and a couple real nurses who cleansed and bandaged the wound and gave me a tetanus shot and antibiotics.  Safe now!  That visit would cost a month worth of wages for a Filipino worker, I was told, but I can only be thankful that I was in a Filipino emergency room, not an American one!  I can handle $30.

Back to Cabilao – this was our first stay at an actually dive resort and the reefs just off shore were more incredible than anywhere else we’d been.  For the most part, Cassie and I snapped on masks, snorkels and fins and headed out to explore the waters.  I did take a couple dives, however, one a refreshed course and one on a reef just a tad further, where the steep wall dropped out of site, but the coral and sea life in view were amazing.  Back on shore, we had to stay in the only available room – the “Hobbit House” as they called it – shucks, a gorgeous house that looks like a tree trunk, complete with a bed and all on the roof, draped over by a “princess” mosquito net.  The surrounding grounds were full of trees, colorful flowers, hammocks and nurseries everyway you looked.  What a perfect way to end the vacation…

Following our last dive, we hopped on a motorbike (carefully this time!) and made our way back to Cebu.  This time we knew the correct prices for all the transportation, and the looks the locals give when they try to overcharge us are priceless.  Small smiles start growing as they play with the money in their hands, and you can see in their eyes they’re testing you.  I kindly smile back and play along as I raise my eyebrows and silently request the right price.  They always give in, slowly but surely!

After a quick evening boat back to Cebu and the airport, we grabbed a hotel for the night, only to wake at 2:45am for our 4:40am flight back to Manila.  Last time Cassie let’s me book the flights, I’m sureJ  We made it back, taxied home, repacked out bags, and set out once again, me eventually for Tagaytay and the LINK training and Cassie for her 26 hours flight back to DC.  A quick stop (thankfully!) at the immigration office to extend my visa, a walk through the historic Intramuros to a craft center for an unsuccessful search of giant mancala games (gorgeous, cheap ones in Palawan, but we decided against hauling them around BoholL), and a nice lunch.  This is where we parted – Cassie to her friend’s (who we randomly ran into in Manila the previous week!) and I in search of the bus station.  I found the bus station, but was told that the bus company I was looking for had been banned from Manila.  Hmm…  So I took a van instead to a nearby town; what a hot ride, squished against the back door and holding onto the seat bottom for dear life should the door fly open at 80mph.  I eventually made it to the convent on my own, since the group wasn’t able to get through to my phone to meet me.

And now here I am!

Our last day on Cabilao Island, from our resort.  

A warm breeze after a hot hike up to see the Chocolate Mountains!

He was a little nibbler!

Jungle Cruise up the Loboc River

Room with a view!  This one is at Coconut Garden.

Tarsier!!

The Mountain Province

It’s been a while… after all the work in February and the tedious note taking of the Human Rights Seminar, I needed a short break.  So on Thursday, I took some books and headed up to the Northern Luzon, to the mountain towns of Baguio and Sagada.  It turned out to be the perfect getaway.  Cool mountain air, beautiful mountain scenery, including rice and vegetable terraces, and delicious, fresh vegetables.  At Tam-Awan Village in Baguio, I stayed a night in an Ifugao hut, a simple one-room hut from 1927 made of nothing but wood.  I spent the evening with the group of Filipino artists at Tam-Awan, chatting away and sipping on homemade rice wine.  I hiked around Sagada, saw the hanging coffins and walked through the rice terraces.  Through the tourist office, I joined a German family on their hike, and they were nice enough to then include me in dinner and the next morning, a trip to the mountaintop to see the sunrise over the rice terraces.  On our hike to the hanging coffins, there were some human bones scattered on the ground, likely from an animal getting into a coffin, our guide told us.  After the guide and his parents jokingly said he could take a bone, the little 7-year-old boy with us was quite upset that he wasn’t, in fact, allowed to have one! 

When I wasn’t wandering the towns and mountains, I kept myself busy with internship work, reading books that I had borrowed from LINK.  It was very nice not to have my computer, and to rely solely on books for the weekend:)  This kept me occupied on the long bus rides too, and kept my eyes off of the winding road and the steep ravines that I felt we would plunge over at every turn.

I returned to reality Monday night, finally finished the Human Rights Seminar notes on Tuesday, and now my days are spent at the LINK Center.  Those notes were much more work than anticipated, and I spent most of last week working on them too.  The folks at LINK told me yesterday that they were thinking of asking me to take notes of their week-long training seminars, but realized that if anything was in Tagalog, I’d miss it.  Thank goodness!  I don’t know if I could do that again (although I would have let them know that, believe me).

 

LINK is a nice place to work – quite, clean, air conditioned, and great people.  Throughout the morning, students come in for tutoring services.  They come from all over the area, but as they pay for their own tutoring, most seem to be at least middle class.  Multiple students have cochlear implants as well, which I definitely didn’t see at the public school.  Actually, the only time I saw hearing aids there was on a couple of outside kids coming in for occupational therapy!  A big difference between the two settings and the populations served.

When I went into LINK yesterday, everyone knew it was my birthday and I wasn’t sure how… turns out that the week before, when I had met some students, they asked me the same first three questions that almost all students ask me – what’s my name, what’s my age, and when’s my birthday.  So they remembered:)  After my morning work at LINK, I treated myself to an afternoon at the spa – body scrub, massage, facial, pedicure and manicure, at Filipino rates – can’t beat that:)

I went to the market this week and bought 8 eggplants, 6 onions, 5 tomatoes, 5 mangos, 8 bananas for $2.50 – I love the exchange rate and summertime!  Not that I can eat all of that while it’s still fresh, but there are plenty of people to share with here.

At my hotel in Sagada, I took my first warm shower since I’ve been here.  It felt so unnatural, so weird!  Here in Manila, it’s easy enough to never want a warm shower - just plan strategically, such as after walking home in the hot afternoon sun instead of first thing in the morning.

Another week of hard work ahead of me to finalize my training manual for LINK, and then Cassie comes on Friday for an adventure around the islands! 

 The hanging coffins in Sagada.  Some are years old, others put there as recently as last year.

             Rice Terraces outside of Sagada.  They only get more impressive and much steaper... 

 

                                                      Tam-Awan Village from above.

Human Rights Seminar

 What a week!  We had a Human Rights Seminar here Thursday-Saturday, and at the same time, I prepared a teacher’s training for Saturday.  So first the Human Rights Seminar – it was sponsored by Perkins and Harvard Law, so both Deborah Gleason from Perkins (for all you Johansings, yes, she knew and traveled with Bob Buckley, and only had wonderful things to say about him!)  and Michael Stein from Harvard were here to help lead and take part in the meetings.  They were very supportive of my internship and learning, and I was thus able to attend not only the Seminar, but their meetings with Resources for the Blind as well.  From a development standpoint, it was a completely different side from what I’ve seen here, and a very helpful one to see. 

The Human Rights Seminar focused on education and was entitled “Status and Future Prospects for Children with Disabilities;” it was a follow up to a meeting in July.  During the meeting, various “important” people from universities, government departments and nongovernmental organizations spoke of the part they play, or could play, in ensuring human rights of children with disabilities as related to education.  There are many laws protecting people with disabilities in the Philippines and they have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but there is huge gap between laws and reality.  That’s what the group wants to change. 

We also heard testimonies from parents, many of which were very moving and clearly outlined the violation of human rights of their children.  There are so many stories about principals simply saying no, we won’t accept a child because we don’t want to be seen as a “SPED school” or we aren’t ready to universities requiring deaf students to hire their own interpreter and blind students to bring a guide (even though they don’t need one).  Insurmountable barriers are created for students with disabilities.  In the end, there were commitments made, such as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) asking for a case to bring through as a model, the University of the Philippines law school asking for 10 cases for their law students to work on this summer, and DepEd telling parents to come to them when a student is turned away, they’ll accompany the parents to the school!  Will these commitments stand?  Well, on Saturday, we reviewed the commitments made at the meeting last July, and the progress made.  Almost all had been accomplished, or were ongoing! (yet these were mostly done by teacher and parent organizations)  As Debbie said, it’s nice to work in the Philippines because everyone is so dedicated.  It’s true – it seems that there are events or meetings or whatever every weekend, and so many teachers, administrators and parents attend.  They are very dedicated to giving their children the chances they deserve.  So all in all, it was an excellent opportunity for me to hear what really is going on, and also to see the steps being taken to change it.  And to see that change is happening!

So that took up a good amount of time and energy last week.  On top of it, I was taking notes throughout all the meetings.  I’ll have to read through them now, and then they will be made into a legal document to pass on the CHR to begin the process of filing a case.  And that’s how it works!

When not in meetings, I was preparing a presentation for the RBI teachers regarding speech and language.  The teachers from Davao and Cebu were in town for the meeting, so it was now or never.  It all went smoothly on Saturday, I presented for about an hour and gave them all the useful forms, so hopefully they’ll be able to use this information.  I was told that in Mindanao, the southern island, there is only one speech therapist.  One!  That means a 2-3 year wait if you want to see her.  Also, there is only one university in the country that has an SLP program, and it’s in Manila.  So no wonder they all go abroad – there aren’t that many of them to begin with!  Creating more university programs to increase the numbers of students trained seems like a necessary first step.

My time at Commonwealth Elementary was officially completed with a big party for me on Tuesday.  Each class had a dance or song performance, and some of the parents even got up and did a number!  Then I sat in a chair in the middle of the room and smiled for the next ten minutes as various groups came up for pictures.  The joys of not blending in… The sign interpreting during the event, or lack of, I just don’t understand.  Half of the students in the room were deaf, yet no one interpreted for them!  The teacher started, but didn’t really continue.  I had a student next to me so I took over the job and interpreted, which was quite amusing for me, as I signed about how wonderful I was and gave myself many thanksJ

On Sunday, we left the house at 6am for the PAVIC (parent advocacy group) V.I.S.T.A. event – “Visually Impaired Sports Training and Advocacy”.  There were 100-150 VI students (they brought their parents too) who participated in running, biking, table tennis and swimming events.  It’s really amazing what PAVIC, the parents organization, organizes for the kids.  The event went until 5pm, but I thankfully caught a ride back to the house at 10:30am – I’m glad I saw part of the event, but I needed a rest more than anything! 

I start with LINK tomorrow and I have various school visits set up.  I’m looking forward to a much more laid-back work atmosphere this month – I hope I’m right!    

Ocaboy, Gina and I running at V.I.S.T.A.  Wrist bands were used to help the VI kids run a straight path.

Picture time at Commonwealth!

One job down, one to go

It’s been a looong week writing evaluations on my computer, so I’ve avoided writing anything else, including my blog. It quickly became clear that I didn’t allow myself enough days to put the evaluations together, so some late nights writing and early mornings printing had to be thrown in. But now they’ve been written, printed, explained to the parents, and it’s on them from now on! The meetings with parents seemed to go well – sometimes I knew that parents understood and would use the techniques at home, and for others, I’m afraid I’m not sure how far they’ll get. Or if they even understood the concept of what we were doing! Especially when they asked if they come back next week at the same time for their therapy session. Then, it’s time for an interpreter!

I went to Bahay Bata today, a Saturday missionary project nearby where parents take a sign language class while their children participate in different activities and games. There are about 80 parents who usually go, and I saw many parents from Commonwealth Elementary. Glad to see what they are doing for their children! At the end of the session, I was taken into a room, sat at a table with three other women, and offered juice and cookies. A teacher sitting diagonally from me folded her arms, titled her head, and asked when I would be able to visit her school, because there are many students who need speech and language evaluations. On the inside I burst into laughter (another school, are you kidding me?!), but on the outside I calming told her that it would not be possible as I have another contract to attend to and my days are fully booked. At this point I feel like I’ve heard that line so many times that all I can do is laugh. All the offers now are really making me see how I have to stick to what I have planned! I also have to turn down “school visits,” as every other teacher I meet invites me. It would be great, if I could be in three places at once!

Anyways, the teacher later showed me the signing book they are using with the parents and students, and it’s the same Signing Exact English book that I first started with. Personally, I feel (and so does the research) that the students would develop a more complete language if they used Filipino Sign Language, or even American Sign Language. But SEE sign? I questioned the teacher a bit on the book, but I didn’t want to say the wrong thing so I didn’t go too far. She said they do use some ASL, but they alter it because in the Philippines they like to initialize everything. No wonder the kids correct my “flat o” “eat” with an initialized ”e” “eat”! They really do initialize everything! Hmm…but they’re signing and initializing in English while speaking in Tagalog…just seems a bit much for me! Oh! I forgot! I just remembered that I wanted to ask (give a hint) if there were any Deaf adults working there. There wasn’t anyone there today, but they would surely be a rich model for the kids.

So my time at Commonwealth is done, save for a “Gratitude Program” being prepared for me on Tuesday. I’m not sure what that entails, but I’ll show up hungry - I’ve learned that’s a good idea when you go anywhere, if you don’t want your stomach to explode! Although overwhelming at first, I’m glad I spent the time at Commonwealth and took the time to see all of the children. It has given me a nice, broad picture of what a speech and language therapist deals with in a developing country. Much different from what I’m used to! And it will surely help me prepare my work for my next internship site, LINK Center for the Deaf. During the summer (April), LINK goes to the provinces to train Special Education teachers on how to work with deaf/hard of hearing students. They have asked me to add a speech component to their program. So, I will spend March preparing this, and in April we will travel to Tagaytay and Cagayan de Oro to give the training sessions. I’m looking forward to it!

This week will be a busy one as I help prepare for and then attend a Human Rights seminar sponsored by Perkins and Harvard Law School. A little transition before I begin working with LINK. I’m going to stay with the family here for the rest of my time in Manila, which I am happy about. They have been wonderful to me and it’s nice that I don’t have to move!

It’s getting hotter and hotter each day…I didn’t know it could get hotter, but apparently it can. Summer is coming, they say. Silly me, I could have sworn it was already here!

A couple of pictures of the family I am living with.  All but Grandpa made the pictures!

A bit of a break

I’ve finished all the evaluations at school – almost 60!!  Now I’m on to writing results and recommendation for parents.  I have a one-page limit because of printing costs, and we’re asking the parents to pay.  In some ways this makes it easier for me, but in other ways more difficult and limiting.  I’ve created some picture diagrams to help explain things, so all in all, I think the parents will get the information that they need.  The writing’s not as bad as I expected – once I have a basic template for each disability, I can just tailor it to each student and her level.  And after so many long days at the school, it’s nice to have some quite time to myself to write:)

At the school, almost all of the deaf students are girls.  The other classes have more boys than girls, but not the deaf classes.  When working in Madrid, I only worked with boys.  Strange that it’s so different here….I can’t figure it out.  Are the boys not sent to school?  Is there another, better school, that they attend?  I wonder if they’re at the Philippine School for the Deaf…  I think I will be visiting, so I’ll check it out.  Otherwise, I will have to ask about that at Commonwealth next week. 

Gender relations are interesting here – it seems like there’s a tradition of the superiority of men, but it’s also changing as needed.  I was told how when Ocaboy was born, he was spoiled by everyone because he was the first grandson in large family.  His mom specified “boy.”  Another women couldn’t go to a meeting because her husband wouldn’t let her (at least that’s the reason I heard).  On the other hand, in the Philippines, the eldest child usually helps the parents financially with the younger children, such as paying for school.  This seems to be for both men and women though!  And there are many, many fathers who accompany their children to school each day.  I do remember reading in my research that both parents help raising kids as needed.  In this family here, the father worked from home and watched the kids while the mother worked outside of the home.   Just some observations!

Speaking of research, I learned before I came that in schools throughout the country, classes are taught in English and Filipino, not the child’s native language.  This has posed many setbacks for the children and the schools are not doing well.  But, it appears that in 2011, the language of instruction will be switched over to the local dialects.  I think this will be good for the students to at least be able to learn in their own language – they will have their native language Kinder-3^rd grade, and then English as well after 4^th grade.  But who knows, I guess we’ll see the results after many years.

Every person seems to have a family member abroad!  The most popular places I’ve heard are Maryland, California and Sweden.  I hear again and again that all of the Special Ed. Teachers and Speech Language Pathologists have gone to work abroad.  One boy I saw had an SLP until October, when she went abroad.  Now there’s no one to take her place.  The SPED teachers I’m working with are asking me how they can go to work abroad, even with limited English proficiency.  (A bit jokingly) They do seem to understand that where they are needed most is in the Philippines though.   I wonder if that’s a tough decision, knowing that you are needed at home, but having the opportunity to live and make much more money abroad. 

I went to Camp Pag-Ibig last Sunday, where SPED students from all over Quezon City spent the day, doing general camp activities.  The night before, there was a Valentine’s Day Party for the teachers, which I attended.  I was called up by someone important (I have met far too many important people from the school district, I can’t remember their names or titles!) and recognized for the work I am doing.  She then encouraged everyone to spread the word abroad that Quezon City schools would love volunteers.  She also stressed that as former SPED teachers return from work abroad, they should be encouraged to come and share what they have learned.  I really like that one – I’m sure there’s so much they can offer as they know the Philippine system but also have further, outside experience. 

Camp was hilarious – I had people coming from every direction to take pictures with me.  So many older women too!  Once one person stood next to me for a photo, 5 more would jump in.   Even in line for the bathroom! I asked them to take pictures with my camera too at first, but then it got a little out of hand so I just stood and smiled.  As you’ll see in the photo here, I’m also a head taller than everyone else, so I’m sure there are some pretty funny looking pictures!

Ok, well back to writing evaluations.   I will be back at Commonwealth Elementary next Tuesday-Thursday to meet with parents and give the evaluation results.  I’m trying to keep my language simple and easy to understand without making parents feel stupid.  It’d be so nice to be able to translate everything into Tagalog:)  Oh well, I just have to work with what I have!

Picture time as soon as I arrived at Camp - teachers from Commonwealth Elementary, and the principal is the man next to me.  I feel a bit tall...