The Philippines: Part I

Greetings Most Excellent Family and Friends!

It is with such joy and excitement that we get to write this installment of the "Adventures of Joe & Carol"!  We have spent the past three weeks in the Philippines experiencing some of the most memorable, special and faith-stretching moments of our entire world tour. We ended up staying for two action and prayer packed weeks in the small village of Cateel on the Eastern coast of Mindanao. The likely question at this point is:  How the heck did you end up in such a remote village in the Philippines???

Locals prepare freshly caught fish at the wharf in Panabo

What lead us to the Philippines:
First: Back in Orange County, I worked with many Filipinos at Terrace View Rehabilitation Center and became interested in their homeland through my friendship with them and hearing their stories.  Second: At various points in our travels we have met other travelers who had been to the Philippines and raved about it describing as beautiful and not too touristy (except for the famous Boracay Beach that we were instructed to avoid). Third: While in Dubai, we learned of Super-Typhoon Yolanda which had left parts of Visayas region extremely damaged. Our desire to head to the Philippines grew, thinking we might be able to lend a helping hand by volunteering to help with some kind of relief work. Finally, while we were making our way through Cambodia our hearts were set on the idea of heading to the Philippines, but we still weren't sure how to get involved in relief efforts since we had no personal connections. Our prayers were the same as always (a little simple and a little scary): "Lord, show us where to go.  We want to serve you. We hand over this time in the Philippines to you, please show us the way!"

So, I posted on good ol' facebook to see if anyone had any contacts and quite a few people responded (which I appreciated so much) through which we were miraculously lead into the arms of a Filipino family that we will never forget. It all started with our dear friend Xander recommending we get in touch with someone else we know named Faith. Faith put us in touch with a fellow named Richard who knew a local community leader named Mr. S, who recommended us to Pastora B who loved us from the moment she first contacted us one day before we arrived on her doorstep. Whew, talk about degrees of separation! But, when we finally arrived in Cateel it was so evident that GOD had been answering our simple prayer perfectly, that he had actually been the one arranging all this and that our arrival was truly his appointment!

A view from the waterfront in Davao

However, before we got to that point of assurance and peace knowing we were in His steps, we had some bumps on the road. For starters, we flew from Singapore to Manila and found our way to the hostel we had booked in advance called "Our Awesome Hostel."  Unfortunately, the hostel wasn't quite as awesome as advertised. I had read online that it can be difficult to find, so googled the address and drew a little map to show our taxi driver in Manila how to get there. What I hadn't realized was that there were TWO "Kalayaan" streets in Manila which meant that we didn't find the hostel until about 3am after wandering the streets in the wrong part of town with many people looking at us like we were crazy when we asked if they knew where "Our Awesome Hostel" was. Some dear hotel workers at a nearby Marriott finally pointed us in the right direction and after another 10 minute taxi ride to the other part of town, we finally arrived at the Awesome Hostel. There was no receptionist at such a late hour so we snuck into the only unlocked dorm room, found two empty beds and enjoyed some rest.

We only spent one day in Manila making our final arrangements to head down to Davao City where we would meet with Mr. S who we hoped would shed some light on whatever it was the we were going to be doing in Mindanao. Metro Manila is a bustling city with 13% of the country's population and is the center of economics and politics for the Philippines. We were ready to head to quieter pastures after just a day in Metro Manila and Cebu Pacific Airlines took us safely South to Davao. As we approached Davao we enjoyed beautiful views of blue sea waters, acres of coconut palms and gorgeous coastlines.

One year after Pablo the coconut groves are scenic, but too sparse to bring income

Joe found a gem of a hotel to stay in upon arriving in Davao called Hotel Uno for a mere 300 Pesos/night ($7). A little nervous about the number of unknowns that were stacking up in our lives, that evening we finally met with the soft-spoken, highly respected, and God-fearing Mr. S for dinner.  It turns out that he grew up in Cateel, and although he now works in Davao City and Panabo, he has a huge heart for Cateel. Over dinner he gave us a little history of the place we were headed, but no detail or plan as to what we would actually do. His roll was simply to "keep us safe" as he put it, and "make sure that we came back alive." But, before sending us off, he introduced us his right-hand man Mr. R (who he had designated as our body guard and driver for the seven hour drive to Cateel), and gave us a spectacular tour of the Panabo coastline, fishing trade, and banana plantations. As it turned out, the extra day touring around Davao was also necessary to determine whether the roads to Cateel were indeed fully passable after torrential rains had caused massive flooding and landslides which had blocked all roads in and out of Cateel just 5 days earlier.

Our awesome transportation between Davao and Cateel

Cateel is located about 350km northeast of Davao City on the island of Mindanao and is about a seven hour drive from Davao City partly due to poor road conditions and washed out bridges.  The population is about 38,000 people with one of the most significant sources of income being coconuts.  On December 4, 2012, Typhoon Bopha (aka Pablo), a category 5 Super-Typhoon, struck Cateel and the surrounding regions devastating homes, buildings, farms and destroying almost all of the income generating coconut palms. Since then, Cateel has been in rebuilding mode but had another set-back just 3 weeks ago when the tropical depression "Agaton" brought heavy rainfall for several days straight causing massive flooding, landslides, loss of homes, lives and crops, many of which had just recently been rebuilt and replanted following Bopha.

On a side note, living in Cateel was like a crash course in meteorology and words like Super-Typhoons, Storm Categories, Tropical Depressions, Low Pressure Areas and Storm Surges became part of our vocabulary. (See bottom of post for some definitions :)) We also learned first had what it's like to live with the very real daily awareness of destructive weather on the horizon. At home my awareness of weather doesn't go much beyond sunny, rainy or perhaps maybe the occasional frost.  In Cateel, weather is a daily concern with people checking the forecast via cell phones or relying on relatives in the city to see if a Low Pressure Area (LPA) is heading their way. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful while we were in Cateel, and we were happy to hear that the storm "Jun Jun" forming out in the Pacific Ocean during our first week decided to change course and keep us dry.

Temporary shelter for flood and typhoon victims line the roads

But I've gotten a bit ahead of myself! By the time dinner with Mr. S came to a conclusion, we were still very much in the dark about our purpose in the Philippines. We had little more than Pastora B's name, and the knowledge that God had miraculously provided a truck and driver for our transportation to a remote location that we had never heard of until that morning. It's hard to describe how we felt that night as we prepared to leave the next morning at 4am with Mr R. A few emotions though: confused, nervous, out of place, inadequate and fearful. Yet, at the same time we also felt deep in our hearts that God really was answering our prayers and desires to serve and that we were exactly where He wanted us to be and just needed to continue to take steps forward in faith.

To be continued...!
All our love,

Carol


Tropical Depression: winds less than 38mph
Tropical Storm: winds 39-73mph
Typhoon: a tropical storm in the Indian or Western Pacific Ocean, broken into five categories (#5 the strongest can have winds greater than 157mph)
Super Typhoon: a super typhoon is equivalent to a category 4 or 5 hurricane in the U.S.
Low Pressure Area: a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations which can result in heavy rainfall and flooding
Storm Surge: a local rise in sea level due to winds and low pressure areas