Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, but It's been quite a week! So things on the farm have been going really well. Another American intern, Diego, joined Jessie and I on the task of creating social education plans for the different groups at the farm so we've been doing a lot of brainstorming for that and it's extremely nice to be able to put three heads together towards the effort. This Monday through Wednesday, the American interns and a couple of the French agreed to help out with a sort of camp for some kids from the Raya school in metro Manila. This is one of the best prep schools in Manila and because of this, many of its kids are very wealthy. The purpose of this visit was to expose them to farming and sustainability because otherwise, they would not know about it at all. It was a very interesting experience and the kids were all pretty excited to be there but I think even over the three days that they were there, they were able to learn a lot from the experience.
Helping some of the Raya kids skin and prepare a chicken for their meal.
On Friday, we all decided to head to Manila for the weekend. Upon recommendation from the French, we decided to stay in a hostel called the Jeepney Hostel. It was a very nice and cozy hostel which had everything we needed for our stay and it only cost us about 10 dollars a night. We visited a mall their called Glorietta 3. It was huge, and it was only 1 of 5 Glorietta malls in the city. On top of that their were SM mega malls and other shopping centers sitting amongst the skyscrapers in metro Manila.
Our hostel in Manila, The Jeepney Hostel.
Upon arriving and driving around the city a little bit, however, I noticed another type of building thrown into the mix right next to these towering malls and skyscrapers. These 'other' buildings were significantly smaller but more crowded together. They were often made of wood and sheet metal with long tarps thrown over them carelessly. Rows of colorful clothing hung from the awnings of the second story of these buildings and barefoot children were running around on the street in front of them. It was amazing to me how the slums could be thrown into the mix right next to these towering skyscrapers. How could the wealthy walk home out of a mall or from work and literally pass through these slums and do nothing? Many people just walked nonchalantly through on their iPhones with their fresh haircuts as beggars (older people and young children alike) taps them and pulled on their bags begging for any spare change. It seemed crazy at first but when I thought about it more, it's not really that different in the states in our large cities. The slums may not be located right next to the malls and skyscrapers but they are pretty close. And it really just illustrates the wealth disparity between the wealthy and the poor in the world in general. It reminded me of one of the first talks we attended here at the farm where we talked about the economy in the Philippines and how some consider it to be the worlds fastest growing economy. This is true on paper but Chris, the leader of the talk also explained how much of that growth does not take into consideration the severe poverty that places like Manila face. Similar to the United States, the top one percent of the population owns a disgustingly large amount of the wealth of the country and these two instances are not in any way singular. There are many countries like this, and that is one of the reasons for much of the corruption, poverty, prostitution, violence, and general evil around the world. It was very interesting to see this firsthand as we were pretty close to a street that was littered with "nightclubs" and people selling literally anything to make some money. We had a man walk up to us and offer us drugs, a stun gun, and a laser pointer all in the same sentence. In the parking lot of one of the clubs we went to, I witnessed a woman walk past two police officers and slickly give them some money while masking giving them a handshake. Upon having conversation with some locals I learned that police corruption is a huge problem here and it became very evident as you pay more and more attention to the everyday occurrences in the city. It's very interesting because I feel like you don't really realize how real things like this are until actually witnessing them happening around you. And it's also something that doesn't have a clear and easy solution. It gives me a lot to think about however. That's for sure.
Well, that's all I have for right now! But I'll hit you with another one soon. Thanks for reading guys:)
Helping some of the Raya kids skin and prepare a chicken for their meal.
On Friday, we all decided to head to Manila for the weekend. Upon recommendation from the French, we decided to stay in a hostel called the Jeepney Hostel. It was a very nice and cozy hostel which had everything we needed for our stay and it only cost us about 10 dollars a night. We visited a mall their called Glorietta 3. It was huge, and it was only 1 of 5 Glorietta malls in the city. On top of that their were SM mega malls and other shopping centers sitting amongst the skyscrapers in metro Manila.
Our hostel in Manila, The Jeepney Hostel.
Upon arriving and driving around the city a little bit, however, I noticed another type of building thrown into the mix right next to these towering malls and skyscrapers. These 'other' buildings were significantly smaller but more crowded together. They were often made of wood and sheet metal with long tarps thrown over them carelessly. Rows of colorful clothing hung from the awnings of the second story of these buildings and barefoot children were running around on the street in front of them. It was amazing to me how the slums could be thrown into the mix right next to these towering skyscrapers. How could the wealthy walk home out of a mall or from work and literally pass through these slums and do nothing? Many people just walked nonchalantly through on their iPhones with their fresh haircuts as beggars (older people and young children alike) taps them and pulled on their bags begging for any spare change. It seemed crazy at first but when I thought about it more, it's not really that different in the states in our large cities. The slums may not be located right next to the malls and skyscrapers but they are pretty close. And it really just illustrates the wealth disparity between the wealthy and the poor in the world in general. It reminded me of one of the first talks we attended here at the farm where we talked about the economy in the Philippines and how some consider it to be the worlds fastest growing economy. This is true on paper but Chris, the leader of the talk also explained how much of that growth does not take into consideration the severe poverty that places like Manila face. Similar to the United States, the top one percent of the population owns a disgustingly large amount of the wealth of the country and these two instances are not in any way singular. There are many countries like this, and that is one of the reasons for much of the corruption, poverty, prostitution, violence, and general evil around the world. It was very interesting to see this firsthand as we were pretty close to a street that was littered with "nightclubs" and people selling literally anything to make some money. We had a man walk up to us and offer us drugs, a stun gun, and a laser pointer all in the same sentence. In the parking lot of one of the clubs we went to, I witnessed a woman walk past two police officers and slickly give them some money while masking giving them a handshake. Upon having conversation with some locals I learned that police corruption is a huge problem here and it became very evident as you pay more and more attention to the everyday occurrences in the city. It's very interesting because I feel like you don't really realize how real things like this are until actually witnessing them happening around you. And it's also something that doesn't have a clear and easy solution. It gives me a lot to think about however. That's for sure.
Well, that's all I have for right now! But I'll hit you with another one soon. Thanks for reading guys:)
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