[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Steve and I arrived in Kalibo last night. We are now at the halfway point in our journey through the Philippines. I have to say I am very happy to be out of Manila and in the provinces.
Spending time in the Philippines I have been reminded of two very distinct things that have been with me since my visits as a child.
1.) The Philippine people are a warm and loving people.
2.) The separation of wealth and poverty here is unreal.
Driving through the province hasn’t been all that different from driving through the urban areas of Manila. Everywhere you go the suffering of people who survive on next to nothing is very apparent. The shanty towns of Manila give way to the shanties in the fields. But the living conditions are the the same… appalling. And like Manila the rich have opulent houses behind gated walls right next to their suffering neighbors. Giant, sprawling, homes with multiple rooms and several levels exist right next to shanty homes with no electricity and quite likely no running or clean water.
But still as you pass the people living in these horrible conditions the children are playing and the people obviously do their best to enjoy their lives regardless of the hardships. It’s a sobering reality and it puts the daily grind of life back home into a little perspective. Even at its worst, my life has never been like this.
As we neared the beach areas today we also came face to face with some of the devastation of the recent typhoons that have hit the area. The storm surges wiped away many shanty homes and caused serious damage to the more modern houses. It’s something that pains me to know that the storm that recently hit the Philippines, supposedly the strongest storm ever recorded and flat out wiped away entire cities like Tacloban, does not seem to get much media attention back home. There was a little for a couple of weeks immediately following the storm. But the coverage has waned on the news at home while the suffering of the people here continues. Contrast that to the non-stop media coverage of New Orleans a few years back, or the hurricane that hit New York recently. Both of those events were local to our media, so I understand them getting more coverage, but the plight of the Filipinos here in the southern areas of the Philippines is so much worse. The infrastructure here is so bad, the government so useless… our help here is so much more needed than even our own disaster areas required. But there are no telethons with big celebrities tugging your heartstrings for the Filipino people. There is no concert to benefit them. I am saddened by the way the people of this country, my mother’s homeland, seem to be so quickly forgotten.
On a lighter note Steve and I were standing on the breakwall at the beach when a tall white man happened by. He was strolling happily along the beach. He and Steve locked eyes and they said hello. I guess being the only two white guys in sight gave them something to bond over. The nice man asked if Steve was here on business or pleasure. When Steve said he was on his first ever vacation outside of the U.S. the man was surprised. “We don’t get many tourists around these parts,” he said. Apparently he is originally from Ohio himself, and he is in the area working on relief efforts. He spent the last ten years in east Africa. “Wish I’d known about this place ten years ago. I love it here. Thinking of staying when we are done,” said the man as he took his leave from us.
My Mom overheard the exchange and smiled. She’s spent over twice as much of her life in the U.S. as she has in the Philippines. But when she’s here that doesn’t matter. She is a Filipina at her core. She was born here, and her heart will always call this home.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”nivo” interval=”3″ images=”1227,1226,1225,1224,1223,1222,1216,1217,1218,1219,1220,1221,1215,1214,1213,1212,1211,1210,1209,1208,1207,1206,1205,1204,1198,1199,1200,1201,1202,1203,1197,1196,1195,1194,1193,1192,1186,1187,1188,1189,1190,1191,1185,1184,1183,1182,1181,1180,1167,1168,1169,1170,1178,1179″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” img_size=”medium”][vc_column_text]Right after posting this blog, one of my heroes David Beckham posted this to his facebook page and gained even more of my respect:
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