A Day in the Life… [2013-04-14]
Since our U.S. Peace Corps service ended in 2008, Neal and I have travelled annually to the Philippines to continue our work there. These visits are usually about a month, and it always takes a few days to get into the flow of life after being in America. We arrive with a plan of things to do but there are always unanticipated twists and turns, successes and failures, delays and miracles, that make each trip memorable.
A typical day in the Philippines starts early for us. Being near the equator, there is little variation in the amount of daylight and sunrise is right around 5:30 a.m. throughout the year. There are two seasons in Cebu: rainy and hot, and dry and hotter. We are in the latter right now, so it’s nice to get up before sunrise. Sometimes we take a pre-dawn walk. By the time we’re back, it’s starting to heat up outside so we have our cup of coffee sitting in front of our little electric fan. If there’s good water pressure, we have a cold shower – otherwise, it’s a bath with a bucket and dipper. But the fact that we can turn on a tap and get water (most of the time at least) is quite a luxury in an area where many people must walk to a pump and wait in line to get water.
We are usually at school when classes start at 7:30, although campus is eerily quiet now since the school year has ended. Neal usually spends much of his day in the main IT lab at school. Right now he is working on an operating system upgrade on campus (to Ubuntu 12.04) so he’s been putting in long hours doing testing. Thankfully there is always a guard on duty at school (paid from PTA fees) and we rent an apartment close by, so Neal can come and go as he pleases. The IT teachers and computer technicians are essential partners in his work, and they have all done a fantastic job of facilitating the upgrade. The principal and guidance counselor make sure Neal is well supplied with coffee and snacks, and we are called to the principal’s office for lunch each day.
My (Rene’s) days are less structured. For new installations, my key responsibility is teacher training. However I am not conducting trainings during this visit because teachers are busy finalizing their end-of-the-year paperwork and taking some much deserved time off. So for this trip my list included, for example, interviewing the Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) teachers who specialize in sewing to find out what their equipment needs are. I checked out the servers and thin clients in the library and science lab to see what is and isn’t working. We visited some other schools to evaluate their potential for 2014 Reneal IEO projects. I corresponded with the Marriott Hotel in Cebu City regarding a computer donation (discussed in an earlier blog). I talked with teachers on campus about what’s happening with the curriculum and how things are going, and I try to help with ad hoc questions.
Along those lines, I had a very rewarding experience a couple of weeks ago. One of the teachers was printing out a form and the printer was cutting off the first couple of columns. She asked me to help figure out what was happening. I searched through menus and clicked various options but nothing worked. Then another teacher came over, made a suggestion, and it corrected the problem immediately. There are few things more gratifying than having one of your former students surpass you in knowledge and skill!
We made multiple trips to Cebu City for formal meetings and visits. It takes about an hour each way, and we use a combination of public transportation and taxi to get where we need to go since we don’t have our own wheels. We are thankful and proud to count the Department of Education Cebu Province Division office and the Region VII office among our partners. We have had the honor of supporting the very active and effective Aboitiz Foundation (www.aboitizfoundation.org) as well. As we expand to other schools in the future, these connections will continue to be critical to the success of Reneal IEO.
The end of the work day always seems to come alarmingly fast while we are here. Since our time is so short on this particular trip, our social calendar has been booked most evenings in order to have a chance to spend time and catch up with friends here. There were joyful graduations (five in all) and student recognition ceremonies to attend as well. Although it seems blazing hot each night in the apartment, we’ve had no trouble falling asleep after very full, satisfying days working on behalf of Reneal IEO.