|
Home
About
Contact Me
Pictures of me
Site
Map
Stats
Where
Am I
Volunteering
Philippines
Ghana
Uganda
Archive
2007
2006
2005
Cool NGOs
GVN
Real Uganda
MACRO
GrassRootsUganda
|
Volunteering in the Philippines
13th April 2006
I was a volunteer in the Philippines from the 27th of September 2005
to the 4th of April 2006. That's a total of 27 weeks. A long
time in anyone's books.
This page is intended as a resource for any future volunteers in the
Philippines.
A FAQ can be found here.
Journal Entries
I wrote a lot of stuff about my time in the Philippines. I
have compiled all my journal entries here for easy access:
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
FAQ
- Where did you volunteer?
I volunteered in Barangay Tabucan, which is found in the
Municipality of Dumangas, which is in the province of Iloilo, which
is on the island of Panay in the Philippines.
Not sure what I am on about? Check this
out for a map of where I lived
- What's the food like?
If you like fish and rice, then you'll be in seventh heaven.
The locals here have rice with every meal. For a sample meal,
check this out.
- What is the accommodation like?
I lived in a "middle class" house. It has
electricity, plumbing and all the modern conveniences you could ever
want. Except for a telephone line. No telephone line
means no internet access. :(
Pictures of where I live can be found here.
- I'm thinking of volunteering there.
What can I bring?
Firstly, just your presence would be great. Don't feel under
any obligation to bring anything extra. If you are so inclined
though, you might want to consider the following.
Money
Knock you down with a feather right? A little bit of money
can be very useful.
Some of the local Barangays (villages) have one water pump per 40
households. A new water pump costs 7,000 pesos. In New
Zealand currency, that's about $175.
The GVN website has many useful ideas about raising money.
Check it out here.
Books
Textbooks are in short supply here. A textbook is often
shared between two or more pupils. I have the only Grade 5
reading textbook in our school...
Any sort of books that you could bring would be appreciated, but you
might want to check out if there are any specific needs that you
could meet.
The only problem with bringing books is that they are so damn heavy
and therefore expensive to transport. You might want to speak
to the airline you are traveling on and explain what the books will
be used for. With a bit of luck the airline will transport
them for free for you. I'm sure GVN
won't mind providing you with a covering letter.
- What's the internet access like?
Abysmal. There is a nearby internet shop that has about eight
computers. All these computers share one dial up
connection. When more than about four people are using the
internet it just becomes diabolical and you may as well give
up.
There are some broadband internet cafes in Iloilo city, which is
about an hour away via Jeepney.
- Do you volunteers have any fun?
Yup. Check out these links:
Dog Hunting
Island Hopping
Resort Islands
Ati-Atihan Festival
Christmas Party at Pulao
Elementary
- Anything other useful links?
Yup. Check these out. These were all compiled while I
was volunteering.
Minutes from volunteer
meetings
School resources
Some general information for new
volunteers
 |
Do you like the work that I am doing?
Wanna help in a real and tangible way?
Then visit GrassRootsUganda.com
and purchase some crafts made by Ugandan ladies. 100% of the profits
are returned to the ladies |
Questions? Comments? Try contacting
me.
Wanna receive an email whenever this site gets updated? Click here.
(c)
2005, 2006 and 2007 Malcolm Trevena.
All the stuff on this site is written by me, Malcolm Trevena. Feel free to
link to this page. Heck, you can even copy stuff from here if you
want. Just make sure you sight me as a reference.
|
