My name is Sarah Shainker, and I am a Coastal Resource Management volunteer in the Philippines. I am from Atlanta, GA, and graduated from the College of Charleston in South Carolina in May 2016 with a degree in marine biology. I joined the Peace Corps and moved to the Philippines in July 2016. The Philippines is an archipelago in Southeast Asia, made up of over 7,000 islands. It is located in the Coral Triangle, an area of the Pacific Ocean that has more coral reef species than anywhere else in the world. At least half of the population is dependent on fishing for their livelihoods and food. However, there are many threats facing this livelihood, including climate change, illegal fishing (dynamite and cyanide), and overfishing by commercial vessels. Coastal Resource Management volunteers are assigned to our local governments. We work together with Filipinos on environmental education, habitat protection, and community organizing. The national languages are English (taught as a second language in the school system) and Tagalog as it is spoken in the region of the capital city, Manila. However, there are a staggering 170+ languages spoken in the Philippines! I live in the province of Northern Samar, a rural area in the typhoon-prone Eastern Visayas, where we speak Waray Waray. Check out this video- it’s a fun language to learn :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQm_1k6gbdc Filipinos typically eat rice 3 times a day and I am often told that no matter how much food you eat, it is only a snack unless you partner it with rice. My favorite common Filipino foods are tinola (a soup with fish and papaya) and chicken adobo (cooked with vinegar, bay leaves, and soy sauce). No celebration is complete without a LOT of food. Lechon, a whole roasted pig, is popular at big events: Christmas, birthdays, funerals, baptisms. My favorite current current trend here in the Philippines is Budots. This dance is hard to describe but easy to recognize once you’ve seen it… and anyone can do it as long as you don’t take yourself too seriously :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdSPq5uPm4U&t=22s Budots is the perfect showcase of the fun-loving, bright, easygoing nature of Filipino culture. Despite being a poor country that is often taken advantage of by corrupt politicians, and hard-hit by natural disasters (everything from earthquakes, typhoons, landslides, volcanoes, the list goes on…) Filipinos are incredibly resilient and maintain positivity and humor through the most trying of times. During World War II, 60,000-80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war were forced to walk 60+ miles under inhumane conditions by the Japanese. It is said that the Filipino soldiers were still making jokes even in the face of physical abuse, starvation, and exhaustion. In the words of one of my coworkers: “We need to laugh to break the monotony of life.” I look forward to sharing with you my experiences of this country I have grown to love! |
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