Yesterday I met with one of the Kalinga translation teams who have asked for my help as a consultant on their project. This is where I really miss and appreciate my talented staff back in Kitchener. Our staff along with others from the United Bible Societies have developed a marvellous suite of computer tools to assist translators and consultants to ensure the quality and integrity of the translated text throughout the process. Coming from the pre-computer generation, I am the least skilled user of these tools, so it is always with a bit of fear and trembling (and prayer) that I apply these when working with translation teams. Back in our office I always have one of my young colleagues nearby to bail me out when I get into trouble. Here I am on my own. Fortunately the tools come with good helps and teaching aides. Yesterday I also experienced another small glitch in my preparations for this trip which added to the adventure of world travel. How to pay for expenses on a trip is something one always has to think about, especially when going to a country where credit and debit cards are not in common use. I don’t like to carry too much cash, so I had prepared by opening an account with the Philippine National Bank through one of its Branches in Toronto. They offer a “Global Filipino” card allows me to deposit money in Toronto and then access it through one of their ATMs here. On one of my previous journeys here I had left a card with Christy to facilitate transfers that I wanted to make to help with their building project here. I have a second card and I thought I had been careful to ensure that the money I deposited at PNB for this trip was applied to this second card. I got quite a surprise then yesterday when I went to make a withdrawal only to discover that there was nothing in this account. When Christy checked the balance on the card I had left with her we saw that the person in Toronto had deposited everything in that account, likely because that was the only card I had been using until this trip. Oh well, this leaves me more humble and dependant.
Yesterday I mentioned the building project with which we are helping Christy and Eduardo, completing the second floor on their house as a hospitality centre for other Kalinga translation teams when they need to come to Tabuk. I mentioned how labour intensive construction is here. I saw another example yesterday. The builders needed more lumber. Rather than going to the hardware and ordering the required lumber, Eduardo found some trees at a local school that had come down in the major typhoon last October. He purchased those trees and brought them home. Here the men working on the building use a chain saw to rip them into lumber. I would have thought this would make for very rough and jagged lumber, but the skill of these guys is amazing. When they are done they have dimension lumber which looks every bit like it was bought at a lumber mill. Another interesting thing about this building project is that all of the men working on the building live here. Christy feeds them 3 meals a day and they all sleep in the house. It makes for a bit of crowding by our standards with wall to wall people sleeping on the floor at night, but this is not unusual here. There is always room for one more in this culture. Our idea that the house is full when all the beds are taken does not compute in this culture where hospitality is cherished and practiced. It does make it interesting sometimes when we need to step over and around people to go to the washroom at night. The equanimity with which people here are able to practice hospitality is something we can learn from. Christy is able to manage her home and family, us and the construction gang and she never seems to be uptight about it – amazing.
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