Back in Calaanan

Being back in the Philippines after 2 ½ years is exciting and partly new. The entry - with all the necessary documents and QR codes - was quite easy and in between, an officer even approached me and asked how old I was 😊. At 60, I now belong to the Senior Citizen and he led us past the very long line to another counter! Age has its advantages too! So, while we were quick at the baggage claim, there was no space for our backpacks because only a few were there to pick up their luggage, so we unfortunately missed our connecting flight to Cagayan de Oro (by 1 minute!) Somehow contradictory in a country where everything else is always late! Well, there is a capsule hotel in the same terminal and we even had a small room with a bunk bed for 4 hours of sleep so we could take the flight to Cagayan de Oro. After checking into the hotel, we immediately went to Calaanan to the Batulong Center.

In the past few months, the Philippines has implemented stricter COVID-19 measures due to the rise in Omicron cases, but now only the mask mandate applies - in all public places, even on the street - and in shopping malls, the presentation of the tracing code Higala and often the vaccination code One health (all QR codes that need to be generated beforehand) is required. This may sound extremely restrictive to European ears, but it is somehow completely normal and relaxed here. We still have to get used to wearing masks outside (especially when it's warm), but otherwise, the feeling of safety predominates in the knowledge that there are practically no more COVID-19 infections.

We immediately immerse ourselves in work, discuss matters and issues with Thata and Keno, which would have been complicated via text messages, email, or Zoom, and plan our time in Calaanan. A college student comes to the office who has been supported by Batulong since 2008! It's so nice to see that as a charity, we have accompanied a student's life for a long time. Another student dropped out of school two years ago because she got pregnant, and now she is continuing her education: with very good grades, she will start her college education as a primary school teacher.

The next day, the modular class for the 3rd graders takes place at the Batulong Center. Keno is the teacher and helps the students and parents or grandparents fill out the assignments, introduces the topic, or explains larger contexts. This morning of school is very intense and covers the program of a week! Unfortunately, this also shows that the entire school curriculum in the Philippines could be covered in a much shorter time, or more teaching contents for daily life could be possible. For this country, subjects like singing and dancing (there is actually no sports), crafting, religion, traditions, etc. are very important and make up a major part of the school time. On our modular morning, the 3rd graders learn about the main products of the region and something about the political system (mayor, city president, and other functions) - although in our opinion, this may not be entirely age-appropriate, it might not be so bad in view of the elections in May.

The first few days fly by: a visit to the bank to update our signatures and details: we are greeted with a warm hug by the bank manager and have some small talk; when we started the charity, it was very difficult to find a bank that would open an account for us as foreigners without a permanent residence - Roena made it possible back then, and a beautiful long-term relationship developed from it.

One morning, I (Franca) conduct a computer and internet training. The goal is for our employees to better handle computer problems and find answers on the internet themselves because such problems were almost impossible to solve remotely. It also helps us see where our employees - especially our manager - still have deficits in handling the laptop. Since we have to replace both work laptops, the training on installing programs, etc. will have been very important.

Unfortunately, the weather leaves much to be desired. It rains very frequently and it was impossible to find a taxi after buying the laptops; Keno even feared that he wouldn't make it home anymore if the streets were flooded. At first, we thought the concern was exaggerated, but when we later received a warning on our mobile phones that there had been severe flooding in another province in Mindanao, we were glad that we all made it home safely.