Can't even fight

Our helper, Mariss and I were talking about the 'real' rich people in the Philippines. She then told me what happened to her 50 some year old aunt (her father's sister) about 8 years ago (1998). Her aunt, a single woman, was told by one of their distant relatives that a prominent rich Spanish family was hiring a helper, she got the job. She had to from Cebu to Manila for this job though, that was fine with her, since she needed a job.

Two weeks after she started working there, Mariss' family received a phone call telling them that her aunt had died of a high fever. They were shocked, they shipped the body back to Cebu for burial, but upon looking at the body, they all realized that she did not die of a high fever, because there were bruises all over her body and there were rings of purple and blue lines across her neck. They knew she was beaten, and probably strangled to death.

Since that happened, this rich Spanish family has moved to Cebu and live in North Townhomes, a subdivision just across the street from where we live, we are down the hill, they are up the hill. We were told when you enter the subdivision, there is not one hint of the Philippines that you can see in this subdivision, you can't even see any houses from the bottom of the hill.

Mariss' father and brother went to North Townhomes to try to talk to this family, hoping to find out what really happened to her aunt. You have to understand that for them to have the gut to go was difficult, because the rich and poor just don't 'talk'. In fact, the poor people in the remote provinces won't even look at you when you talk to them. You probably figure out what happened to Mariss' father and brother, they couldn't even get past the front gate, the guards stopped them, they were not allowed to step foot on the ground of North Townhomes.

They talked to a lawyer of some sort (at least that's what I understood), but was told that a poor family like them cannot possibily fight the rich, and they better be prepared for the financial and emotional strain that a lawsuit would bring to the family if they indeed proceed to sue. Mariss' father thought about it and decided not to sue, because they don't have any money, and they didn't think they would win the lawsuit anyway, the rich always wins. They are leaving it to God to do the justice, whenever it will happen and whatever form it might take.

I ask Mariss if this Spanish family still lives in North Townhomes, she said as far as she knows, they still live there, in fact, that distant relative who told her aunt about this job probably still works for them. It changes my heart everytime we go home, because we always drive pass North Townhomes, because I now know someone who have committed gross injustice lives there.

Mariss said her father, and the whole family, is very hurt by the loss of her aunt, but also felt helpess, because they are poor and powerless.

I am very disturbed by what happened to Mariss' aunt. I guess I am too naive to think that things like this does not happen in the 21st in the Philippines.

Dumagete

We were invited by John and Jannet Baxter, fellow missionaries, to go to visit Dumagete, the major city on the island of Negros Oriental, right across the Tanon Strait from the southern tip of Cebu island. They have never been there, but heard that there was a nice hotel, clean and tidy, so they wanted to go take a look. Since we are so new here, they invited us to go outside of Cebu city to travel a bit.
We were glad to get away for a while, so we jumped on the opportunity, not knowing what to expect.
I have to say I was a bit rush to make this decision, I was hoping for a beach, if not, maybe a pool in the hotel. But when we arrive, I realized that the city is not quite what we thought it was.
However, this trip has offered us some amazing things to see and experience. The following photos show what we saw in our three day trip.


After a about a two hour drive from Cebu city, we arrive at the pier, where we took a boat over to Dumaguete. The car rode on the deck and people up on top.


Kioni was exhausted after the car ride, hot and sweaty also, hanging onto daddy while mommy took some photos.


Dumaguete from the ferry


What a creative way for seating customers, four pots and a table, though I suspect the temperature of the 'seats' would be quite high after a few hours of baking under the hot sun.


Our first tricycle ride, Kioni was hot, she was not in the mood of anything while we were out and about, neither was mommy Amy. The lady on the right is Jannet Baxter.


We were surprised by a parade celebrating the Buglasan (bamboo) festival. We were able to watch the whole parade on the fifth floor balcony of the hotel we were staying in. There was sea breeze blowing and it was cool the whole time. The following few photos are some highlights of the parade.










Pay attention to what they wore, yep, flip-flops! All of the dancers in the parade wear flip-flops, brand new ones, all matching their costumes. They danced for hours making unbelievable movements, quite a interesting sight.




Acacia trees lined the seaside boardwalk.


Our hotel is on the boardwalk, therefore, we had perfect view of the parade. However, since there was a conference being held in the hotel, we could only rent the remaining two rooms, which has no view of anything but the windows of the room opposite to us.


A street in Dumagete with festival flags.




A fishing boat off the shore of Dumaguete ferry pier, the island in the background is the southern tip of Cebu island.


The beautiful blue water of Tanon Strait.


Eating at a restaurant by the sea on our way back to Cebu.


The restaurant server asked us if we would like to eat in the gazebo, why not? Well, for me it is a bit tough, the sun is setting, and it is shinning right on the gazebo, there was no wind, that means bugs were present. It looks pretty though, isn't it?


Watching Kioni like a hawk so she won't fall from the gazebo into the sea, though no harm will be done because it was mostly wet sand down there with just a tiny bit of water.

Handymen with no tools

It is quite interesting to see all the workers who come to our house to fix things carry very little tools. They do carry a back-pack, maybe with a newspaper and some basic tools, but every job seem to be able to be done by hand. Sanding the whole second floor using sandpapers only, no power sander. Putting putties on with their fingers, painting polyurphene with a paint brush. Everything does take longer, but they get things done eventually. With Dan being the civil engineer, it was hard for him to just stand back and let them do their work the Filipino way, but I could see him interferring as little as possible, other than a few times when the guys was creating more problems than we originally have, or not doing the job right at all.

It also seems like only the foreman has some knowledge of handy work, the other guys 4-5 of them, are much younger and are learning things on the job, which we don't mind, since we know next time they do the same job, they will be much better at it.

I don't know how much they are paid each day for their work, (they get paid by the day), but we are sure not very much. One time the painter guy came a few hours earlier because of miscommunication between his boss and the painter, Dan gave him 50 pesos ($1 U.S.) and told him to go get some lunch and come back. He had the biggest smile on his face, and ever since then, he always come on time and always smile at us and is doing a wonderful job.

We need wisdom to know what to do with the extreme poverty in this country.

Being Rich

It has been four full weeks since we arrived in Cebu, we are still adjusting to the sound and smell, the poverty and crowd, the heat and humidity. Today I wanted to save some electricity, so I sat in our room with our door to the balcony wide open and work on the computer a bit, but after about 15 minutes, I was soaked in sweat, it was running down my neck. Eventually, Kioni woke up and I went into her air-conditioned room to cool down. I felt so blessed to be able to have A/C while we sleep, or else, I cannot imagine what kind of impact it might have on our family life and ministry if everyone in the family cannot sleep due to the heat.

We are learning about the Philippines everyday, what to do, what to say, what is culturally appropriate, what are we 'rich' people supposed to do and not do. It feels awkward to be in the 'rich' category, it doesn't feel that great because we know we are not rich. However, when you can afford to spend $20US dollar on a meal, you are 'rich'.

Let me give you an example: We were at the mall buying some dishes that were on sale, I was picking out several plates that's worth about 50 US cents each. I was maneuvering the stroller through the narrow isles, (our US size stroller is way too big for most places), in the mean time, Kioni was trying to touch everything that she could reach. I also had a shopping basket with me with several plates in it, and I was trying very hard not to break them, and trying not the run into other dishes that were on the shelf with the stroller. A sales person appeared from nowhere and started speaking in Cebuano. By the way, he spoke Cebuano to me because he might think I was a rich Filipino-Chinese. I replied in English and told him I didn't understand Cebuano, he then repeated what he said in English, "Ma'am, I will be at your service to carry your shopping basket for you while you shop." What!? Carrying my shopping basket for me while I shop? He is going to follow me around while I am shopping?

This incident immediately reminded me of what happened one time when I was flying United Airlines back to Hong Kong. I only had a small carry-on suitcase with me. It was heavy because I packed it good. I was having a hard time putting it in the overhead bin because of the weight and because of my height (I should say, lack of). The bag was mostly shuffled inside the bin, but I did need another push for it to go all the way in. A flight attendant stood three feet away from me watching me the whole time while I was 'weight-lifting' the bag into the bin. After a while, she said this to me while looking at her beautifully manicured fingernails, "If you can't put the bag in there, don't pack it so heavy." She did not attempt to help me at all. By the way, she was taller than me at least by a head, it would not be hard for her to give my bag a little push.

OK, you can say it is only the difference between being in the Philippines, a service-oriented country, and being in the U.S., not a service-oriented country. But in my gut, I know there are more that. You don't suppose Bill Gates would get the same treatment, do you?

It feels strange to be 'rich' when you are not, in fact, before we came here, Dan and I were in the 'on a budget' category. We have exhausted our savings on Dan's education, and we have to watch every penny we spent. So it is a big change now that we are here.

People do treat you differently when you are 'rich', don't know why, but they do give us instant respect. What does money do to people's head, mind and heart? It is so sad to see this happen. I am not saying this only happens in the Philippines, it is a problem since mankind was created.

Living like a supposedly rich person will definitely help me put things in perspective in the future, now that I am on the other side of the world , i.e., the rich people's world, I know how better to think of the rich. It is a very interesting place to be, I mean to be 'rich'.

God sends little friends

This morning, Dan got up early to pick up Earnie, a fellow missionary, at the airport. After he came home at around 7:30am, he asked if I would like to go to Bo's Coffee for breakfast, they have big (American size) pancakes, eggs, ham and coffee for about $2.00U.S. As soon as we walked into the coffee shop, we saw an American looking couple with two little girls. We said hi to each other, and sure enough, Susan, Eric, Alexandra and Isabelle are from Ohio, they are here for work purpose for about 3-4 years. We found some commonalities during the course of our conversation, and surprisingly, they are the 'newbies' comparing to us, they have been here for only about two weeks, half of the time we've been here.

Then came Sally with her two year old girl Lily. Sally and her husband are Anglican missionaries from London. All of a sudden, we are surrounding with little friends for Kioni.

Kioni was not ready to say hi to anyone yet at the beginning, because she just woke up and has not eaten. But after breakfast, she was playing with Lily just fine.

Isn't God amazing? Sometimes when we asked, He answers amazingly quickly.

Party Crashing and the traffic police...

Incident 1: No food in the fridge
Incident 2: Dan met with the Dean of the seminary and he happened to tell Dan a good place to eat, a chain chicken restaurant called Sunburst. The one that is close to the seminary just had a renovation, added some American style food to the menu.
Incident 3: We wanted to treat our helper, Mariss, for dinner

So we went to Sunburst. There were ballons and flowers everywhere outside of the restaurant, the place looks new, nice and bright. Two ladies opened the door for us and welcomed us, so did a guy in a light green shirt. We walked in and found the restaurant packed! Strangely, they were mostly Filipino-Chinese, and they looked well-to-do. A guitarist dressed like a cowboy was strumming on the guitar and singing songs from the Beatles and American folk songs from Jim Taylor and such, he was, in fact, fairly good. Mariss asked a waiter if we just found a place to sit down, we got no reply, since the music was loud and everyone was busy serving. Dan was waiting to be seated. However, no one came to seat us.

After a few moments, the guy in the green shirt came over to Mariss and tell her to sit anywhere and go ahead to the buffet table, today, the food is free! What!? Mariss told that guy that she is with us, the guy in green shirt walked over to Dan and told him today is the grand opening of the restaurant, we are welcome to seat ourselves and have all the food we wanted.

So we cramped into a long table with people already seated on both sides. We couldn't hear each other very well even when we yelled at the top of our lungs, because the music was going, the people were talking and the glasses are clinking.

We went out to get their signature dish, fried chicken, and some other yummy dishes. When we started to eat, Mariss got talking to a gentleman sitting next to her. That gentleman said to Mariss, "Today is the grand opening of the restaurant, the owner (the guy in the light green shirt) is having a private party for his friends and family to come and celebrate."

A private party!? How in the world did we get in? We were puzzled. Mariss said probably it was because Dan is an American and I am a Chinese. The owner is a Filipino-Chinese, that's why there were so many Chinese in there. And by me being Chinese, I was welcomed, and Dan, an American of course, was welcomed.

We had some very good chicken, some traditional Filipino dishes, and drinks, all for free! Mariss had half a glass of red wine for the first time in her life! We enjoyed the time, and the unique experience. Kioni danced to the music, ate a couple bites of some bright red hot dog, fresh pineapples, watermelons, a lemon square, a bite of a very moist chocolate brownie and a purple sticky rice dessert.

Since it was getting late, we took Mariss to Ayala Mall so she can catch a jeepney to go home, right after a turn by the mall, we got pulled over by a traffic police! Yep, our first experience in getting pulled over in Cebu. He asked for Dan's driver's license and papers, after he took a look, he came back and told Dan what the violation was: He turned left without a green arrow, although he did have a green light to go straight and there was no traffice coming in the opposite direction.

The police officer then told Dan he was going to impound his license, he had to go somewhere else to pay a ticket, take a class, and after all that, he would be able to retrieve his license.

Dan pleaded with the officer and told him it was our first violation. Well, nothing mattered, he was determined to carry out what he told Dan to do, until . . . we rolled down the window and Mariss began to talk in Cebuano and some English to the officer. We caught a few English words here and there, and it seemed like she was pleading to him also that we were new here and this was our first violation, however, we also heard her mentioning some other people's names and telling the officer her last name. After a while, the officer walked back and forth and then walked up to Dan and gave the license back to him, all he gave was a verbal warning, no tickets!

We both looked at Mariss wondering what could she has said that made such a difference. Mariss replied with an smile:

"I had to use my connection. My cousin is in the Filipino Army, and is the head of the Criminal Investigation Department in the Cebu Police Force and he is named one of the top 10 policeman in the Philippines. The traffic police was stunned to hear that, but he did not believe me, he asked for my ID, but I didn't carry one. I told him if he didn't believe me, we can all drive to Guadalupe and have him talk to Pablo Labra. I also told him that this was only your first offense and you let Filipino's get away with a first offense. Moreover, you have only been in the Philippines for three weeks. I also said to him, 'Do I need to go and report this to Pablo Larbra, come on.'"

What a night!

Chinese church experience

We have visited two Filipino-Chinese churches in the past two Sundays, they are very different from the Filipino church we visited the first Sunday when we first arrived. We were told that Filipino-Chinese are much more well to do, they own lots of businesses and are considered wealthy here in the Philippines. I am convinced after visiting two Chinese churches. Both churches are clean and have air-conditioning. The people are obviously richer, from the way the walk and dress, you can just tell.

However, I can also see how they love the Lord just the same, it does not matter if they are richer.
The EFCA-IM missionaries currently has no presence in the church of the largest minority group in the Philippines, making up 2% of the population, that's about 1.5 million. "The Chinese Filipinos are unique in Southeast Asia in being overwhelmingly Christian. " With myself being Chinese, both Dan and I thought it might not be a bad idea if we keep our minds open for attending a Chinese church here in Cebu, they need missionary presence just as much as Filipino churches.

To show you how different it is in a Chinese church, let me tell you this story. We were at the first church we visited. I was asking some of the people there where can I find good Chinese food. Several places were suggested to us, but since we have only been here for such a short period of time, we didn't really know the names of the roads they were talking about. A very humble looking gentleman walked us out of the door, and said to us, "Let me talk to your driver and tell him where to go for those chinese restaurants." Dan smiled and said, "I am the driver." Yes, they all have drivers, and several maids at home. Their kids attended Sunday School earlier in the morning, then they were taken back home for the maids to take care of while the parents come to the Sunday Service. I am not going to comment on this practise, but this is how it is like in this particular large Chinese church.

The second Chinese church we visited is smaller, but still neat and tidy and air-conditioned. They practically owns the whole hill up on Cebu, other than the church building, there is also a school, and they are also building a 4-story high seminary. It was quite a sight!

We are still in the process of finding our home church, it might take a while, and it might not take long at all.

Almost three weeks

(Our rental house in Cebu is the one on the left, a three-story townhouse. The two people on the roof were installing a satellite dish.)

We are getting onto our third week in Cebu. Last Sunday we visited a Chinese church, it was quite impressive to see the big tall building with very familiar ways of conducting the service. What's more interesting about the church is the people. We were told that Chinese in the Philippines are rich, we had no idea what that is like until last Sunday.

First, we didn't see any children during the service, we asked them was there a Sunday School for the children, several people said, yes, at 8:00am, the service was at 9:30am, but we didn't see any children at the service? Where are the children? They were not at the service, but the Sunday school is over. Answer: they all went home. Only a couple remained at the service. They have maids at home to take care of the kids while the parents attend the service.

Secondly, I was asking some of the ladies where can I find good Chinese food, they were very helpful in pointing out places and how to get there. A gentleman asked Dan if he can tell our 'driver' the directions, so we can go there. Dan said, "I am the driver."

We are getting more use to this place now. The heat is still unbearable at times, but I have learned to hide in the air-conditioned room when I can't stand it anymore. Kioni is still very irritable when she is hot and sweaty. She can't even concentrate on her Kumon! She is much slower than normal in finishing her work. In the past 4 days, I have been working on the sound "oi" as in "soil", for some odd reason, this is very difficult for her, or maybe she is just too hot to concentrate. I don't know.

I know where to get meat, Mariss will get most veges for me. The wheat bread is pitiful here, it falls apart when touched, so it becomes impossible to spread anything on it. I am hoping to have the courage to deal with the heat and bake my own bread, we'll see how it goes. I will go to the supermarket next time and see if I can find all the necessary ingredients to bake whole wheat bread.

I have been coughing like crazy in the past two days, it interrupted my sleep, so got to go and get some sleep now.