The weather in the Philippines is humid and hot as usual even early in the morning. Today I got to do something that I do not really enjoy.
The children's home at the moment is at a temporary site, which has been offered for 18 months. Some very generous people called Glen and Grace have donated a some land and resources so that Kids International could build a permanent facility. The current temporary setup could cope with 20 children max, but the proposed plans for the new site could cope with nearly a 100.
So I went out to the site and in following the footsteps of my hero, Dale Kerrigan, I started digging some holes. Brandon (the Aussie guy who is overseeing the building of the new home), had employed some locals to help. Some of the locals were cutting down wood for the foundations, and some were digging holes.
In the Philippines an average wage for a labourer is about 250 pesos a day, which is the equivalent to about $8AU a day. The tree cutters who were more specialised were on around 350 pesos a day. One of the guys on 250 pesos a day had three kids, and had to put them on school on that wage. Though items are cheaper in the Philippines it still is not a lot of money.
When I was waiting in Manila airport to fly down to Mindano, I read a local newspaper. In the local newspaper they had published the results of a survey on happiness. The top two categories that polled amongst the people were 1) Family 2) Religion. Work, sex and even education were listed significantly lower than these two.
Being here for these past for days, digging holes, playing with kids etc I am reminded at my Westerness. Here the culture is not individualistic, but communal. Even being in the home, yesterday I went running with the boys at 4:30am, then dug holes for 8 hrs, then came home and all the kids wanted to play. So the need for me to have my own space is being challenged. The contrast of life in Perth and life in Mindano has shown me how I have an abundance of personal space, and sometimes maybe even too much. What would my life look like if I learnt from the Filipino people and lived more communally, thinking of others first, and not being so individualistic.
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