life on the farm

Hey

So I'm starting to settle in here. It helps a lot that the monsoon has arrived and I can sleep at night. I just moved into another room that has better ventilation as it is at the corner of the house. This week I went exploring, found 2 good bakeries. I haven't found a good coffee place yet. Coffee is plentiful and it's brewed, but it's too sweet.

News --

So two days ago 3 Canadian volunteers departed for home, on June 12 the rest depart and then I'll be the only whitie for miles.

On June 1 I move into Bulanao where the school is. I'll be living in the dorm. It's currently under construction, mostly gut and rebuild. There's a crew of about 40 locals and then a bunch of Cdn construction workers who have been here since April 4. They've been working 7 days a week since I've been around to see. Yesterday I took the day off, did some laundry, played with the kids on the farm, played with giant beetles, chilled in a hammock. I also went on a fruit tour of the farm, complete with a red ant attack. I was valiantly defended by a crew of toddlers and 6 year olds . We found gauabano, lumboy, chico, jackfruit, mango and another one I can't remember the name of. It's great to just wander out of the house and find some fruit to chow down on.

A little more about the house, it's on a farm outside of Bulanao. There are 2 small houses, one larger 2 storey house and a barn for storing rice. There's a large tarmac for basketball and now, becaause it's harvest season they are drying rice out there. The homes are built of concrete (walls) and corrugated sheet metal roofs. We have electricity but no running water or toilets. There is a pump at the back of the big house with a shower area and a place to wash clothes. We have an outhouse type structure for toileting, essentially it's a crack between some boards, so you just squat to go. It does have a light so this is really convenient for nighttime.

There are several families that live on the farm, Anita and Agallo, Remy and Fernando (Remy is my supervisor) Sarah Jane, the cook, and Junior our driver, who is Remy's brother. Between all these people there are about 10 kids. Then at the big house, where I stay there are 2 other Cdn volunteers, 3-4 kitchen workers who are scholars working for them for the summer, the NGO founders and their son. Anita and Agallo's house is attached to the back of the big house. There's also Remy's mom, and an older woman who was just released from the hospital, her daughter works in the kitchen.

Last week Remy and Fernando's son fell off his bike and injured his foot. In response to this the family had a pig butchered to ward off evil spirits and ask for good healing. This is called palanao and it happens in honour of positive events as well. So I got to witness a pig butchering and for good measure several chickens were on offer as well. The butchering went like this, two boys go catch the pig, then they wash it. They grab a stool and put the head of the pig on the stool and one boy holds the back legs up. It's squealing like crazy. Then Agallo comes along with his bolo, a long knife. He slices a little into the pig's throat, then sticks a sharped piece of bamboo into the hole. Then the blood comes gushing and the pig convulses to his death, almost. To finish it off they start burning off his hair in the fire at which point the pig ceases to emit tortured sounds. After this the chickens show up and get defeathered in the same manner.
On this same night there was a clan meeting to resolve the amount of a settlement to be offered to a member of another tribe. The settlement is to make up for an attempted crime against a person in that tribe. The perpetrator has already gone to jail, this is tribal justice. No word on what they offered.

One last tidbit, I tried red ant eggs at a ceremony last week. And they were delicious!

Peace,
Miriam