Yesterday was a good and relaxing day for us here. I am still waking up at 3, but in general we are handling the jet lag very well. Ginny is recovering from her infection and has not found the travel too taxing. It has been good to stop here at the Manila Guest house for 2 nights to catch our breath before heading up north to Tabuk where we will be with people all the time. We have had the privilege of meeting and visiting with a few old friends/colleagues at the Guest House here. Rambie did not have any classes at the seminary yesterday so he came over after their morning chapel and spent most of the day with us. He and I took 3 cases of our heavier luggage (books and things) to the bus station. The bus company also acts as a cargo service for things like this. Later today we will fly up to Tuguegarao which is about an hour’s drive from Tabuk. Christy and Eduardo will meet us there.
Rambie’s Spiritual Advisor (Fr. Frary) from the seminary wanted to meet us so last night Rambie took us to the seminary for evening prayers and then we went out with Fr. Frary for Japanese food. Fr. Frary is an elderly American priest who has served in Asia (Philippines, Korea and Japan) for much of his ministry life. He entertained us in style, first taking us to his room at the seminary for appetizers and an aperitif. Then we went out to his favourite nearby Japanese restaurant where they cook the food right in front of you. As he said, “if conversation wanes, the cooking is entertaining in itself.” Conversation did not exactly wane, but the gentleman speaks softly with a New England accent and is sometimes difficult to hear and follow even for us, especially in a noisy restaurant setting. I don’t know how Rambie manages to follow him. Since my favourite theologian these days is the Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright, I felt that I could hold my own in conversation with this Anglican theology professor. I am wondering if Rambie chose him as his advisor so that he can get to know and understand him better in more informal setting in order to be able to follow his lectures in class.
It’s good to be back and we are looking forward to our month here.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Philippines Trip January 2011 #6
Just after I wrote my last post I observed an excellent example of the kind of hospitality I was writing about. The Translation Director in the Philippines has called a meeting of the Kalinga cluster (about 12 people) for January 18. He was looking for help with arrangements for food and lodging for those coming for the meeting. When I mentioned it to Christy she said, “they can eat and sleep here.” I wonder how many of us would be prepared on the spur of the moment to offer such hospitality, especially when we didn’t know most of the people involved. Of course putting up so many people will mean that several will need to sleep on the floor, but they will get the best this home has to offer.
We had another interesting experience that reminds us of how community works in the Kalinga culture. We heard of the passing of one of the older women here in town at 82. She and her husband were teachers in Allaguia, a village next to Asibanglan, when we lived there so we knew them a little. They were also relatives of Pedro, so Christy and Doleng suggested we go visit the family. The Kalinga custom is that when someone passes away the body is prepared in a coffin and then placed in the largest room in the house where friends and family gather to pay their respects and be present to the bereaved family. This lasts for several days. The bereaved family serve food and drink to the guests. The guests contribute to the cost by placing money in a container provided when the sign the guest book. Everyone sits around visiting and reminiscing. The husband and wife in this case had both been respected teachers in Kalinga for many years and all their children are educated professionals (doctors, pastors, etc.) so they have more means than many. In this case they had hymns and spiritual songs playing through a TV monitor, providing a solemn, respectful ambience. The members of this family are affiliated with various branches of the Christian faith, both Catholic and a variety of protestant churches, but in this time of grief they focus on their common hope in the resurrection. Major milestones like this are times when the community comes together in unity to walk through a difficult time together.
The past 2 days I have had some productive time with the translation team for which I am asked to provide consultant help, but I have also sorely missed my staff in Kitchener. When it comes to the most effective use of our new computer tools, I really lean on the younger members of our staff whose minds seem to absorb this technology so much more naturally. In spite of some struggles and frustrations with the technology, I felt like I was able to help the team make some progress. We will see each other again later in our time here when the entire Kalinga cluster is scheduled to meet here with the Philippine translation Director.
It’s Sunday morning here, the roosters busy doing their job to wake the town and the peddler of “pan de sal” (a Philippine breakfast favourite) is waking through town shouting his wares. When he comes to a house that wants to buy some, people just go out to the road to meet him. We will join Christy and Eduardo and their family for worship in one of 5 services at the Catholic cathedral. The Bishop is expected to be ministering at 8:00 and I hope to see him then briefly to make an appointment for next week for a courtesy call and to let him know about some of the events planned for this month. He will be especially interested in the visit of our friends working with the Peacebuilders Community ministry and I expect he may also offer some help with lodging for at least some of those coming for the Kalinga cluster meeting.
We had another interesting experience that reminds us of how community works in the Kalinga culture. We heard of the passing of one of the older women here in town at 82. She and her husband were teachers in Allaguia, a village next to Asibanglan, when we lived there so we knew them a little. They were also relatives of Pedro, so Christy and Doleng suggested we go visit the family. The Kalinga custom is that when someone passes away the body is prepared in a coffin and then placed in the largest room in the house where friends and family gather to pay their respects and be present to the bereaved family. This lasts for several days. The bereaved family serve food and drink to the guests. The guests contribute to the cost by placing money in a container provided when the sign the guest book. Everyone sits around visiting and reminiscing. The husband and wife in this case had both been respected teachers in Kalinga for many years and all their children are educated professionals (doctors, pastors, etc.) so they have more means than many. In this case they had hymns and spiritual songs playing through a TV monitor, providing a solemn, respectful ambience. The members of this family are affiliated with various branches of the Christian faith, both Catholic and a variety of protestant churches, but in this time of grief they focus on their common hope in the resurrection. Major milestones like this are times when the community comes together in unity to walk through a difficult time together.
The past 2 days I have had some productive time with the translation team for which I am asked to provide consultant help, but I have also sorely missed my staff in Kitchener. When it comes to the most effective use of our new computer tools, I really lean on the younger members of our staff whose minds seem to absorb this technology so much more naturally. In spite of some struggles and frustrations with the technology, I felt like I was able to help the team make some progress. We will see each other again later in our time here when the entire Kalinga cluster is scheduled to meet here with the Philippine translation Director.
It’s Sunday morning here, the roosters busy doing their job to wake the town and the peddler of “pan de sal” (a Philippine breakfast favourite) is waking through town shouting his wares. When he comes to a house that wants to buy some, people just go out to the road to meet him. We will join Christy and Eduardo and their family for worship in one of 5 services at the Catholic cathedral. The Bishop is expected to be ministering at 8:00 and I hope to see him then briefly to make an appointment for next week for a courtesy call and to let him know about some of the events planned for this month. He will be especially interested in the visit of our friends working with the Peacebuilders Community ministry and I expect he may also offer some help with lodging for at least some of those coming for the Kalinga cluster meeting.
Philippines Trip January 2011 #5
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.
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.
Philippines Trip January 2011 #4
Good morning on Friday, January 7. Yesterday not a busy day as we continued to adjust to our jet lag and unpacked some of the things we had sent ahead – mainly gifts, books for the library and used clothing. We went to market with Christy her mom, just a block from the house. Eduardo has a “meat shop” there. Each day he butchers and dresses a pig for market. The butchering happens about 3 AM not far from our bedroom window. To keep the pig from screaming too much they insert a rubber blocker in its mouth. Eduardo and Christy shared a concern they have about their business at the market which we are praying about with them. There is a man from one of the tribal communities which is still reputed to be one of the most violent of the Kalinga groups who dominates the market vendors and tries to keep everyone in line with threats and intimidation. All business is conducted on his terms which inhibits any fair competition or growth. Eduardo and Christy have more clients than they are allowed to serve, but he won’t let their business grow. Everyone (including the authorities) fear this man. He shot and killed someone who crossed him in broad daylight, right in the open market last year, but posted bail and was released from prison. This is one illustration of why work on peace building in this community is still so important. Another major conversation we had yesterday with Eduardo and Christy was around the work they are doing on building the second floor of the house we are helping them build here in Tabuk. We did not mention this project in the 3 goals we articulated for this month here. It is a longer term project which we started shortly after the New Testament dedication in 2004. Tabuk is a major gathering place for Kalingas from all over the province. They come here for market, business, health services and education. Christy has inherited the gift for hospitality which we experienced from her family from the very beginning of our time in Kalinga. A major motivator to push forward with the second floor now was the decision last year to help provide a place for translators working in the various Kalinga dialects to stay when they need to come to Tabuk. Our part in this project is mainly encouragement, prayer and financial investment. They shared how the cost of building materials is increasing, so we want to help move the project forward while we are here. Because the Philippines is in the “Pacific ring of fire” houses must be built to withstand frequent earthquakes. The construction style is “post and beam” with sturdy concrete pillars to support equally sturdy beams. The walls are made of cement block. It is encouraging to see the progress that has been made on this project since my visit in October when I left some funds for materials. Construction here is very labour intensive and labour is not expensive. The labourers work for the equivalent of $3/day. The foreman and skilled workers get about twice that. The project is in need of another major investment for materials right now, so our visit is timely. After breakfast today I will have my first meeting with some of the Kalinga translators I have been asked to serve as a consultant. On January 18 we are planning a major team meeting with the entire “Kalinga Cluster” which involves translators working in 4 projects right now. Later in the day we hope to pay a courtesy visit to Bishop Andaya and to follow up on his offer of hospitality for some of those coming for the team meeting and the use of some office space at his “pastoral centre.” He is very supportive of the translation work. His own first language is Kalinga.
Philippines Trip January 2011 #3
We are in Tabuk now. With Ginny along I had decided not to subject her to the 12 hour night bus ride and fly north to Tuguegarao where Christy and Eduardo could pick us up for the one hour ride to Tabuk. By the time our flight got airborne, I was wishing we had chosen the night bus instead. The SIL Director’s office in Manila had graciously arranged for a ride to the airport for us. Unfortunately there was some uncertainty about which of the 3 terminals was the right one. Our driver seemed quite certain that T2 was correct, but after we had paid him and let him go, the guard at the door to the terminal informed us that we were at the wrong terminal. So we had to hop a taxi at the curb to take us back to T3 which we had passed on our way to T2 (not a short ride either). The guard at the entrance to T3 tried to send us back to T2, but by this time I had had enough of cab hoping and asked him to check with the airline check-in counter inside. T3 was correct and he let us in. Check-in went smoothly, but getting from there to our departure gate involved a few more hoops than I am used to. First we had to line up to pay a departure tax. Then we lined up again at a booth where someone verified that we had paid the tax and stamp our ticket. Then there is the line for security screening (they had already passed our bags through Xray at the terminal entrance), but now we had to form two lines, one for men and one for women to pass the full screening including pat down. All the way to the Philippines Ginny had been carrying a small umbrella in her carryon, but here they would not allow her through with it. So, I had to sprint back to the check-in counter, where they graciously checked in the umbrella with another luggage tag, and then back through the various hoops to where I had left Ginny at security. After security we went to our departure gate. There we learned that our flight was to be slightly delayed, which is not unusual for airlines here or in Canada. From there they shuttle passengers out to the tarmac where the various planes are waiting. That went smoothly except that apparently 2 passengers missed the shuttle, so after boarding we had to sit and wait for the 2 remaining passengers – another 15 minute delay. Once we were all on board and both turbo prop engines were running we got in line with the other planes waiting for clearance. We were #4 in line so it would be another few minutes of delay. Meanwhile the plane was beginning to get quite warm in the mid day sun, as it seemed that we would need to get airborne before getting any cool air into the plane. For reasons that I could not understand there was a 10 minute delay between each departure, so by the time we got airborne we had been sitting in the hot plane for another 40 minutes. Meanwhile Christy and Eduardo were waiting for us at the airport in Tuguegarao. The rest of our flight was uneventful, but we had another small adventure after landing. Christy and Eduardo and Doleng (Christy’s mom) were waiting to meet us and it was great to see them again. But when we all got into Eduardo’s pickup truck, it would not start. Like most Filipinos he is somewhat mechanically inclined, so he fiddled with it for a while along with a couple of other guys standing around giving suggestions, but they just could not get any juice flowing to the starter. This is where Filipino ingenuity really shows up. One of the people standing around the truck with Eduardo knew an electrician who lived nearby. So a couple of guys hoped on a tricycle (motor cab) and went to get the electrician. He came on his motorcycle, pulled a couple of tools from under the seat of the motorcycle and before long he had identified the problem and fixed whatever was wrong in the electrical system and the truck started. By now it was dark and we were all a bit hungry and looking forward to getting to Tabuk, a meal and a bed all awaiting us at Christy’s house where we have now had our first nights rest. It is a very pleasant (almost cool) morning and we look forward to our month here and all the adventures awaiting us.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Philippines Trip January 2011 #2
Yesterday was a good and relaxing day for us here. I am still waking up at 3, but in general we are handling the jet lag very well. Ginny is recovering from her infection and has not found the travel too taxing. It has been good to stop here at the Manila Guest house for 2 nights to catch our breath before heading up north to Tabuk where we will be with people all the time. We have had the privilege of meeting and visiting with a few old friends/colleagues at the Guest House here. Rambie did not have any classes at the seminary yesterday so he came over after their morning chapel and spent most of the day with us. He and I took 3 cases of our heavier luggage (books and things) to the bus station. The bus company also acts as a cargo service for things like this. Later today we will fly up to Tuguegarao which is about an hour’s drive from Tabuk. Christy and Eduardo will meet us there.
Rambie’s Spiritual Advisor (Fr. Frary) from the seminary wanted to meet us so last night Rambie took us to the seminary for evening prayers and then we went out with Fr. Frary for Japanese food. Fr. Frary is an elderly American priest who has served in Asia (Philippines, Korea and Japan) for much of his ministry life. He entertained us in style, first taking us to his room at the seminary for appetizers and an aperitif. Then we went out to his favourite nearby Japanese restaurant where they cook the food right in front of you. As he said, “if conversation wanes, the cooking is entertaining in itself.” Conversation did not exactly wane, but the gentleman speaks softly with a New England accent and is sometimes difficult to hear and follow even for us, especially in a noisy restaurant setting. I don’t know how Rambie manages to follow him. Since my favourite theologian these days is the Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright, I felt that I could hold my own in conversation with this Anglican theology professor. I am wondering if Rambie chose him as his advisor so that he can get to know and understand him better in more informal setting in order to be able to follow his lectures in class.
It’s good to be back and we are looking forward to our month here.
Rambie’s Spiritual Advisor (Fr. Frary) from the seminary wanted to meet us so last night Rambie took us to the seminary for evening prayers and then we went out with Fr. Frary for Japanese food. Fr. Frary is an elderly American priest who has served in Asia (Philippines, Korea and Japan) for much of his ministry life. He entertained us in style, first taking us to his room at the seminary for appetizers and an aperitif. Then we went out to his favourite nearby Japanese restaurant where they cook the food right in front of you. As he said, “if conversation wanes, the cooking is entertaining in itself.” Conversation did not exactly wane, but the gentleman speaks softly with a New England accent and is sometimes difficult to hear and follow even for us, especially in a noisy restaurant setting. I don’t know how Rambie manages to follow him. Since my favourite theologian these days is the Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright, I felt that I could hold my own in conversation with this Anglican theology professor. I am wondering if Rambie chose him as his advisor so that he can get to know and understand him better in more informal setting in order to be able to follow his lectures in class.
It’s good to be back and we are looking forward to our month here.
Philippines Trip January 2011 #1
Happy New Year to all. Here is a quick update from Manila. We arrived yesterday afternoon and were met by Rambie (Syrine’s boyfriend whom we are supporting in seminary here. As expected I am up early this morning (3 AM). It takes a while to recover from a trip to the other side of the globe. But I like mornings and it is quiet and cool here right now. Our trip was long (about 40 hours start to finish) but otherwise uneventful. Ginny came down with a sinus infection (high fever and all) 2 days before our departure so we had to get her on antibiotic for the trip. She did really well and is recovering well from the infection. It is good to be back in the Philippines. We plan to spend today in Manila just relaxing and meeting some friends and then head up north to the Kalinga province where we started our translation work almost 40 years ago. This is the coolest month of the year. Yesterday it was about 30 degrees on arrival, but it cools down to about 25 at night – very pleasant. Not much to report so far. I will be in touch through e-mail for most of the time we are here. The following are our 3 main goals for this month:
1. Provide consultant support to several translation projects in languages related to the Kalinga language where we started the project 35 years ago. We have meeting scheduled with the Kalinga cluster (a group of translation teams working on translation in 4 Kalinga dialects) while we are here and hope to work more intensively with one of these teams.
2. Participate in a dedication of the memorial library we helped build in Asibanglan to honour our co-workers like Pedro, who gave their lives for the translation of the Bible. That is scheduled for the weekend of January 22 and will involve a 6 hour trip into the mountains, the last 2 hours hiking in the mud.
3. Fostering relationships for peace making in Kalinga province where peace is often disturbed by revenge killings and inter-tribal conflict. Specifically we will be helping to make connections between the Catholic Bishop in Kalinga province who is very active in peace making and a Filipino couple sent by the Mennonite Church in Canada to develop a ministry called Peacebuilders Inc. The Catholic Bishop in the Kalinga province has been very supportive of the translation work there (past and present), even providing office space for the teams.
1. Provide consultant support to several translation projects in languages related to the Kalinga language where we started the project 35 years ago. We have meeting scheduled with the Kalinga cluster (a group of translation teams working on translation in 4 Kalinga dialects) while we are here and hope to work more intensively with one of these teams.
2. Participate in a dedication of the memorial library we helped build in Asibanglan to honour our co-workers like Pedro, who gave their lives for the translation of the Bible. That is scheduled for the weekend of January 22 and will involve a 6 hour trip into the mountains, the last 2 hours hiking in the mud.
3. Fostering relationships for peace making in Kalinga province where peace is often disturbed by revenge killings and inter-tribal conflict. Specifically we will be helping to make connections between the Catholic Bishop in Kalinga province who is very active in peace making and a Filipino couple sent by the Mennonite Church in Canada to develop a ministry called Peacebuilders Inc. The Catholic Bishop in the Kalinga province has been very supportive of the translation work there (past and present), even providing office space for the teams.
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