May 30 Manila Update!!

Hello again! Our time in Manila is passing rapidly, and our lofty objectives are perhaps now more reasonable as the realities of life in a massive Third World city are now the realities of our daily lives! It is amazing that we are entering our fourth week here; we have 6 months left and so much to learn and do. I am really starting to feel settled in, knowing where to shop, what places we like to eat out, where to buy the best mangos and pineapples (though sadly Aiyanas has discovered, via whole-body rash, that he is allergic to pineapple), and how to get from place to place on jeepny, bus and train.

I mentioned in our last blog entry that we have been attending the Parangal of Ka Bel in Manila. On Wednesday, Sophia and I attended the funeral procession and protest march from the House of Representatives to the burial site for Ka Bel. It was a shame that Aiyanas was sick, and Billy was too much for me to manage on such a long protest. Sophia was very patient with all the waiting, and great with the marching! After congregating outside the gates of the HOR, enduring a very long wait as the ceremony and ‘necrological services’ dragged on in the HOR, we were finally marching with the massive vehicle caravan following behind us. There were many chants of, ‘Ka Crispin Beltran, Tuloy ang Laban’ (continue the struggle), chants for a minimum wage pay rise that Ka Bel was fighting for, and many other chants in support of workers and peasants.

The crowd was massive. It is difficult to compare with Vancouver geographically / spatially and in terms of numbers. I heard the next day that there were over 300 vehicles in the procession, and these are not cars, but buses, flat bed trucks, and jeepneys that can pack in the people. After an hour of marching, the crowds piled into the caravan and drove for another 5 hours through a winding route to the graveyard. Sophia and I did not join the caravan, but rather caught a jeepny home, as by this time we were on our 7th hour and Sophia was most definitely running out of steam and the sun was baking (my first sunburn, though a pretty minor one thanks to all the umbrellas). The caravan toured through many poor neighbourhoods to give the people a chance to respect this historical leader who was such a champion of their rights. Indeed, people poured out of their stores and homes to chant along with the passing crowd as we were marching; even the little kids raising their fists and chanting “Tuloy ang Laban!”

It was inspiring to participate in this historic event. And imagine, oh Vancouverites, that this massive mobilization happened with one week’s preparation!

On a more personal note, Wednesday night, I killed our first cockroach. Being on the 8th floor in a concrete building, we thought perhaps we were immune; 3 weeks of safety before the dreaded event. And then, arriving home with Sophia after dark on Wednesday, with Aiyanas and Billy in the bedroom and the light off in the kitchen/living room (2 room apartment) – the moment came – I flipped on the fluorescent over the sink and heard a clacking and scuttling and there the giant beast was! It was at least 2.5 inches long, and rustled as it moved. I tell you, the neighbours must have though an axe murderer was let loose in our apartment, because by this time Sophia, Billy and I were all screaming. I wasn’t sure how to kill it, and I was terrified! I grabbed a newspaper, but knew this wasn’t going to do the trick, so Sophia grabbed Aiyanas’ shoe; I knocked it to the flood, put the paper on the roach and then smashed it with the shoe. It made a sickening cracking noise! At least I had my wits about me to save Aiyanas’ shoe from the copious amounts of roach guts that were spread on the newspaper.

Carrying on with a busy schedule, Thursday I toured 5 public, semi-private, and completely private hospitals. It was painfully obvious how disparate the private is from the fully public. This truly warrants a blog entry all of its own, and will work on this in the days to come – perhaps an article, instead? I have been hoping to write for a few publications on the impacts of neoliberal economics on health and the people’s response.

I know Aiyanas has written a great entry on transportation in Manila, but I wanted to add my experience of commuting. On Thursday we travelled to the hospitals by walking, jeepneys and buses. We spent almost one hour travelling from the CHD office to the first hospital we toured; we took 2 jeepneys, which travelled winding and convoluted routes, and then finally one bus. We paid a total of p25 each for the trip. When I got home I looked at it on the map, and saw that I could have walked it in less time, except that with the sun, the humidity, and the pollution, walking is completely exhausting! Our family often walks to and from the CHD office, or grocery shopping, etc, though people are often surprised to hear this. With four of us, the costs for transportation add up quickly. If you read my ‘National Situation’ blog, perhaps you remember that accidents are the second leading cause of death in children. Certainly the high cost of transportation, or lack of transportation, greatly contributes. The family motorcycle is a common sight, with the entire family, even little babies, riding all piled on one motorcycle. Every time I see this I remember when I was a volunteer at McMaster Hospital, and worked with an 8 year old boy who fell off a motorcycle with his dad when he was just 18 months old, massive head trauma, very sad.

Today Aiyanas and I had our sharing with the staff of CHD. It was good to have the chance to outline our work in Vancouver, our struggles and successes, our plans for Vancouver organizing and what we hope to accomplish upon our return in terms of ongoing solidarity.

This is already very long! More soon.