A Lesson Learnt in Window Making (the hard way) – Day 109 – 7 May

After sleeping for a good amount of time (hours, days who knows?) I awoke feeling better and even slightly more human so I asked to be allowed back on the job. Today I would be working alongside Liz and Evelyn for a team leader called Mitch, an Australian and a joiner by trade. We would be making the house windows from rough (often warped) wood. Evelyn was set up on cutting the lengths of wood with a cross-saw whilst me and Liz were putting the frames together. Evelyn was cutting wood like a woman possessed and we made the mistake of not checking every one of the cut lengths but just carried on putting together the frames and between the two operations it turned out that one or two of the frames we had made were wrong. They were not out by much but enough that they needed re-working by Mitch simply to make them fit – it had all seemed to be going so well too. He did not kick up a fuss though he simply pointed out where we had gone wrong and then set to work correcting our mistakes. Sometimes when you are feeling rough these little things, like being given a break when really you should have been hauled over the coals really does make a difference – believe me. Thanks Mitch wherever you are.

A somewhat restless audience awaits

I had survived the day though and that in itself was a success for me as we had been working without cover in the direct sunlight on another scorcher of a day which would have been a grueller even had I been feeling 100%. I felt that a corner had been turned.

At night we put ourselves forward to go along to the ‘Little Dreams’ film evening. Little Dreams is one of the All Hands projects which simply tries to keep in touch with the previous project sites that the volunteers have worked on and this is done by going round one of them, a different one every week, and showing the kids that live there films or sometimes playing games with them. So when we got back from work we just had time for a quick bite, shower and change and then we helped load up the movie equipment onto the Jeepney.

Why are we waiting, why are we waiting …… come on Dom (lol)

The Little Dreams ‘crew’ for tonight was made up of, an American Lady [one of the AH Managers], Dom, an English lad a staff member who publicised AH on the net, Evelyn our workmate from the day [also Dom’s girlfriend], Nadine [a Dutch girl] and me and Liz. There was a bit of a debate in the Jeepney as to what movie would be shown tonight but we finally settled on the Walt Disney film, Mulan. We were actually going to the Barangay we had visited earlier when we had the project orientation trip but this time we were hoping there would be quite a few more people about. We were not wrong either as the minute the Jeepney rolled in kids started pouring out from their houses and shouting and running alongside and after the van. It was great, little kids skipping along with their parents and the older kids helping not only the little ones but also the very old grandparents who were coming out to watch the film too.

The audience stop watching for a photo, meanwhile in the background …..

Dom set the film up on the laptop, projector and ‘screen’ and the assembled brought out stools, chairs, boxes anything really that they could perch on and watch the proceedings. They do have televisions in the Barangays in Tacloban but it is a bit like Britain in the 50’s and 60’s – only so many TVs per area and when it is on everyone goes round to watch. This means that the Little Dreams movie night is not only well attended but everyone is absolutely rapt possibly like our faces used to be back in the day when we first got a Colour television and all of a sudden snooker started to make sense. It was a brilliant night though, the movie itself was not bad but we actually spent more time watching the audience. We could see parents torn between watching the film and their own children’s faces whilst they watched the film. We, as outsiders, had the privilege of being able to take all of this in – amazing. The film ‘screen’ was actually a sheet lashed to the side of the Jeepney outside and as the clouds started to clear it left us all underneath the stars too, could it get any better? During the film Dom and Evelyn took Liz and myself to see the school and he explained a bit more about it and the difference it had made to the area.

Once I would have taken the mickey but now I know All Hands and the Audience much, much better

On the door was written ‘the school that love built’ which by and large I would’ve said was quite a crass thing to put if only I had not seen the faces of the kids watching Mulan many of whom would be going to this school – this cynic must be softening! We managed to get back to the film for the ending and the kids cheering and then everyone had to depart. A lot of the kids walking home said thank you and/or goodbye before they went and suddenly all the day’s aches and pains did not seem quite as bad as they had before, maybe this kind of thing grows on you.

You would never know we had been there!

Happy Birthday to Me – Day 107 – 5 May

Today I was 50 years old – Yes it was my Birthday Folks! – and it was strange because in truth I definitely felt very much older. My body was aching all over and still leaking water from every pore but I was determined to crack on with it. As more of the youngsters found out my age, I got ribbed more which caused more people to find out about my age, which meant I got ribbed more – you get the picture I guess! It was all said in good fun though (I think) and today I was going to be on the rebar again – setting up the framework for the foundations – so hopefully this would give me a respite that I think my body needed.

Once again I was working with Lindsay (the American from our room) and she was not only good laugh but a real good worker too and we were working for Taylor (a joiner from Australia) and although it took a lot of doing and finally not a small amount of help from the Filipino building crew we were finally in a position to get some concreting done just before we broke for dinner. The mixing of the concrete would have to be done by hand though as the mixing team had already finished and cleaned up for the day and were busy on something else. Once again, this is something I would have thought nothing about back when I was in the building trade in my late teens but today feeling the way I did, the fact that it was the hottest time of the year in the Philippine and as my birthday proved I was a good deal older to boot, the mixing proved to be a killer. We managed it but to add insult to injury one of the people helping the team leaders told us all to mix more such that we ended up with too much concrete for the bit we intended to do so we started another part of the foundation. This then meant that we had to make even more concrete so that that part of the foundation could be finished off – a pain, literally, that I really could’ve done without!

That said these were the working events of the day but at dinner I had seen Liz whispering something into a mobile and not our mobile too and it all seemed a bit suspicious to me, so I knew something was afoot.

And there I was thinking I had kept it secret!

Back at base and my suspicions had been well founded, there were banners on the stairs once again pointing out my age and at the end of the meeting Mike asked if there were any birthdays and even more strange there was another person, a newbie called Leon from Columbia, whose birthday it was too but they soon got round to me and I was presented with a huge chocolate cake.

They did not have the Fire Insurance cover to light the full complement of candles!

This is what Liz had been secretively arranging over the phone with one of the guys who was laid up back at the base. Needless to say that it was all greatly appreciated even though I felt so bad I was really made up. The cake itself was delicious, the beers were flowing and people from all round the World were wishing me, an old fella from Grimsby, a Happy Birthday.

Me and the Missus – my very own Secret Squirrel – Love her Loads x

I managed to eat a piece of cake and have a couple of sips of the beer Liz had got me and then I had to leave them all to it as I really felt poorly and just needed to get into bed. It really was nice to be working with, and accepted by, such a great group of people – very nice and very humbling indeed – a better birthday (besides the same again but this time me being well) I could not have wished for.

Surrounded by the All Hands crew wishing me a Happy Birthday – men also work there as well!

Liz carried on through the night – as a good wife is supposed to (lol) – and ended up Salsa dancing with Edwin which she said was a great laugh.

My wife in full concentration mode!

Race Day and I start to feel badly – Day 106 – 4 May

Today, Liz was now feeling better but it was now my turn to start feeling like crap and there had been a fair bit of illness going about the base. It is probably not helped by the living conditions especially the nights when it was red hot and stuffy and the cramped sleeping arrangements, if one person got something it soon spread quite quickly throughout the camp.

Although not feeling well I still opted to work for the Gladiators team which was a bit strange as besides mixing this is one of the harder things to do but as we had put in a good shift towards then end of last week I thought I could manage it. Gladiating has changed a fair bit since Roman times and here at All Hands it consists of providing each of the camps with everything they needed to function. So this bagging up sand, gravel and taking it along with the large bags of cement to the mixers, delivering wood to the joiners and basically everything else for anyone else who needed it – sometimes just helping out too – Veni, Vidi, Vici eh!

Kids at one of the Mixing Sites – not on the day of the Race!

The team leader for the Gladiators was a young guy called Carl who actually looked Filipino, sounded American but was actually from Sweden. He looked over the amounts required by each group for the day and it appeared that during all the hype of the race build up no-one had actually given a great deal of thought to how much would have to be provided by the Gladiators nor to how we could provide it simultaneously to two different sites. As he put it – today, if we got through it would be of record-breaking proportions. Would this day be written down in the annals of All Hands history?

Aside from my head banging and me feeling like I was running a fever – though this could have been the weather which once again was a scorcher (something else not accounted for by the race organisers) – I actually enjoyed the day. Carl and most of the others could work like Trojans and I did the best I could, which was not too bad all things considered. The cement bags were a real pain to lift as I had no real technique at all and they were each 30kg and delivering these was first on the list so we could get the mixers up and running. Then the rest of the day became a blur of bagging sand and gravel at a gravel yard All Hands had and then delivering the same to each of the individual sites. We went back and forth all day, we had to have a late dinner and then go back early to continue but it was simple, if hard, work and I am a simple fellow by and large so I really enjoyed it. Once again the Jeepney was full of people from all round the globe but everyone gave 100% and everyone looked out for each other – when I was feeling exhausted someone would send me to get a drink of water whilst they took my place filling the bags then later I would be sending someone who looked knackered whilst I took over, great camaraderie. It ended up for us being a really great day as we had actually managed to provide everything we were asked for.

Another photo of the Barangay again NOT on the day of the Race – we were otherwise fully engaged!!

The race, however was not such a success as everything seemed to go well for one site and not very well at all for t’other. The meeting at night discussed some of the pros and cons of holding such a race but for me, the heat being the way it was I would say that such a thing could really be quite dangerous. A lot of people get seriously involved such that they do not take care of the amounts they are drinking and keeping your fluids up is vital. Good responsible advice, oh my I must be getting old.

However, by the end of teatime I was sweating profusely and so left Liz to it whilst I went upstairs to bed – hopefully  tomorrow I would be in a better state.

‘Relegated’ to Housekeeping and finding out what it is all about – Orientation – Day 103 – 1 May

At the meeting of the night before we had found out that we were to be given housekeeping duties for the morning of the Friday, which as we felt like we were making real progress yesterday, felt like a bit of a demotion again. We were not too despondent though as everyone has to do housekeeping duties and in the afternoon we were to find out more about the All Hands project (Project Leyte) at Tacloban via the orientation.

The housekeeping went well enough our team being me, Liz and Edwin and with his Dutch efficiency (or perhaps he had borrowed some from a German) and our knack for hunting out crap we started in the kitchen and worked our way through the house. It was a big house and, as you can imagine with any house having a large percentage of youngsters, some of the rooms were obviously inhabited by ‘Stig of the Dump’ fame. I was on bathroom duty so gave it my best shot and ensured each of the rooms were at the very least okay – Okay!

We stopped for dinner, then me and Liz along with Muriel, Alex (a guy from Belgium), Mikey the Workshop Team Leader and a young lass who fashioned her style on Amy Winehouse and who turned out to be a freelance journo from London. Alex one of the staff (from the US) took us first to the waterfront at Tacloban where we were met by Mike (the All Hands Project Manager). Mike was there to explain the next stage of Project Leyte for which he had just received the funding for that morning. As you can imagine he was somewhat excited at this point and it was really good to see as when we first met he looked quite exhausted. Mike was responsible for getting the funding for the project so the fact that the money had been granted, well you could see the relief on his face.

 

The Old Basketball Court soon to get an All Hands Revamp!

Mike explained that these new funds would enable All Hands to start work on another part of the project which would take place on the waterfront. The new project would be to build ‘centre places’ at each of the Barangays on the waterfront for each community but these places would also chosen by the community as well. In the Philippines basketball is followed and played fanatically so for one Barangay an old court was to be re-vamped so that as well as being able to play basketball on it there would also be a stage for the local kids to hold plays on or for the grown up to hold Barangay meetings.

The Barangay Area by the Waterfront – the whole area was devastated!

It all sounded really good but struck me as being a bit strange as the work was being done for those communities which the Filipino government wanted to move away from the waterfront to residences higher on up in the hills – so that if bad weather struck they would not be flooded. The residents themselves did not want this as most of them earned their livings by the water – catching fish or eels and the like – so All Hands (as I thought) were putting themselves almost in a confrontational position against the governing forces. I put this to Mike but he did not find this a worry as I think he knew the politics of the situation far better than I – in that the residents would probably never be removed to a new area or if they were it would not be for a very long time. Just before we left Mike a young lad came over and tried to give him some money towards the cause which I think choked him as much as it did the rest of us present.

We got back on our Jeepney transport and drove out of town, along the way passing a completed project which looked really good. It was a small housing estate but each of the houses were of much better construction than the owners’ previous wood and corrugated iron dwellings. These new houses would be much more resistant to the extremes of weather the area has to deal with.

The new housing built withstand Typhoons and the like!

On we went to a Barangay where a school project had been completed by All Hands. Alex explained to us just how much work had gone into the construction of the school and also what it had meant to the people living in the area. The driver of our jeepney and his family actually lived in this Barangay so here was a person who firsthand was benefitting from All Hands work. Many of the Filipino carpenters used by All Hands to bolster the skills set of the volunteers came from this area as well. It was really good to gain a better understanding of what our volunteer work meant in relation to the area of Tacloban and its people and how, in the scheme of things, such little work gave so much back to the community.

The New School Built by All Hands

There was great excitement in the jeepney on the way back to base as this was to be a full weekend off the one full weekend for the month. At All Hands there are usually six working days in a week and Ruth – the lady from our room – had been busy arranging a trip to Padre Burgos for this special full weekend. Me and Liz had no idea what a ‘Padre Burgos’ was but it sounded good and perhaps edible so we signed up to join the motley crew. Liz now sitting next to me tells me that she wanted to join the trip to ‘bond’ with the people on the base, either way it was all good by me and would get us away from the base and its ‘cruel, cruel’ living conditions for a short respite (lol).

So we had a quick bite to eat and then all boarded the minivan Padre Burgos bound. It was quite a trip and we had had problems with the cash machine but spirits were high on the van even though there was a lot of coughing and spluttering going on. We finally reached PB after good long drive and all feeling a bit knackered but when we got there we managed to get the double room at the guesthouse which was absolute luxury especially after All Hands. Nice fluffy towels, a fridge and even a HOT SHOWER – amazing!

Mixing at the Baranguay – Day 1 at All Hands – Argh! – Day 101 – 29 Apr

Looking back, how can I actually describe today – it had bits of everything in it really but everything was influenced by the overwhelming and searing heat. Both Liz and I felt like we had somewhat acclimatised to the heat as we had been out in SE Asia a good three months now but no this was normal heat folks, this was the hottest part of the year for Tacloban and that meant hot, very, very hot.

The day started off okay we had something of a breakfast although the choice was somewhat limited – Marmalade, Watered down Peanut Butter or Jam on toast or bread and a cup of tea, which if you were unlucky you had to drink from a jar but it filled the belly enough to start the day on. After brekky we went downstairs and put on our new shiny workboots and went to meet our team leader Oletta a young lady from London, she showed us our transport and told us which tools we would be needing – just shovels and away we went. Even in the Jeepney (with no windows) it was still red hot and as I said Tacloban being like a building site – everywhere was covered in a liberal coating of dust. On our team was our roomate Edwin but also an Italian guy called Miguel plus possibly another (Sophie Ann?) events of the day make my remembering of it now much later, a bit hazy to say the least.

Edwin top guy and our adopted son whilst we were there – Day 1 though he looked after us!

The Barangay when we reached it was great though, all the kids knew the All Hands crew, a lot of them by name. Me and Liz being new, each of the kids we met would say ‘Hello, what is your name?’ in order that they would then learn our names too. The littlest kids even if they could not say much at least gave us a big wave it was enough to melt the heart of even the most cynical of people and I like to think I was not quite at that level.

The kids next to the mixing area

Then the work began and it was an absolute killer. The heat was excruciating but this was more than matched by the work which was a killer. In my younger days I used to mix concrete and cement but the day’s heat put this on an entirely different level. On a number of occasions I felt like I would faint such was the heat and me and Liz did not seem to be the only ones struggling but it was possibly hitting us hardest. The only thing that got me through the day I think was the attitude of everyone on our team and out of it – everyone wanted to make sure we were okay and not just because we were old but simply because that is what they do at All Hands. Another thing which helped me through were the sugary drinks called Cobra, which was like drinking liquid sugar but it boosted the energy levels up just enough so that you could carry on. To be fair the rest of the Mixing team carried us this day so how they coped I have no idea but Edwin, Miguel and Oletta all worked liked machines.

The dinner was okay but it was difficult to enjoy anything as we simply concentrated on getting as much rest as we could in order to be ready for the afternoon. The afternoon though was no better and Oletta kept making sure both me and Liz took plenty of water breaks and had as easy a ride as we could.

This is the end result – a house built to withstand the ravages of the weather of the Philippines!

 

And this is what it means to the people you are working for!

Back at base there was no water in the upstairs showers so we had to get water from a pump in the yard downstairs – which made showering a really tedious affair – let alone a very cold one too but after the heat of the day this was almost a relief. We felt totally knackered but after the evening’s meeting, during tea everyone we spoke to who had been there a while said they too had struggled with the workload and the heat early on as well but they also said that as you go on it does actually get better. Our only worry was that it needed to get better quite quickly so that we would actually feel like we were of any use to the team because after day one we certainly felt not too much better than spare parts. Only at the end of the day with a beer in our hands did we start to feel a little bit better but this was somewhat tempered by the fact that we seemed to be demoted from the mixers to the pourers so we hoped this job would give us time to ‘find our feet’ on the job.   

The 100th Day of our Journey and first impressions of All Hands – Day 100 – 28 Apr

We started the day with a very nice breakfast before walking the short journey to the minivan stop in Ormoc – it was quite small, so small in fact that we even managed to miss it first time around. The minivan was to take us to Tacloban. We had no idea what to expect when we got there but the journey itself was pleasant enough. The countryside in Leyte was very nice and the road up and down through the green hills was really nice. One strange thing was a set of roadworks manned by kids – I can just imagine now how that would go down in the UK – the kids would be on their mobiles and carnage would ensue! Every now and then the driver would stop to have a fag (nerves brought about by children manning roadworks?) or for some other more random act but finally we reached Tacloban.

Our first impression of Tacloban was that it was very very hot and very very dusty but we had an address and some instructions should we get lost so hopefully everything would be okay. We had problems getting a tuk tuk to stop but finally a cyclo guy stopped and he appeared to be some kind of gibbering crazy man but needs must where the devil or crazy man drives – so me and Liz and our two heavy backpacks got onto his cyclo. We even asked him if he was okay to be taking us but in his own inimitable but crazy way he assured us he was fine (I think!) and off we went. Well rather he peddled and peddled until at last the wheels very slowly began to turn and albeit at a snail’s pace – we finally moved forwards. The journey was not too far but fair play to our crazy friend he made it even though it was so very hot – perhaps the heat and his craziness were somehow linked but I shall never know as off he peddled cackling madly into the sunset a forlorn figure whilst we turned and surveyed our new home for the next two weeks.

The place looked a bit like an old school and we were welcomed by the few staff that we there at the place (as everybody else was out at work) and then shown to our rooms. First off we were given two separate rooms but after a bit of a swap around we finally ended up in the same room – a room containing three bunkbeds – a very cozy affair. We were told to go to the main town centre to grab a couple of camping mattresses for our beds. So off into town we went – the entire place seemed like a dusty building site, which is not too far from the truth of the matter as the place had been devastated almost two years earlier by typhoon Yolanda.

These are the people we would be helping most!

At the Savacentre shopping mall we not only bought mattresses (I have read thicker newspapers!) but we also had a very nice Mexican as well which unbeknownst to us at the time was to be the last good (non-rice) meal we were to have for a while. We had been told to get back for the meeting they held every day before teatime which we duly did. We arrived back at base just as the workers were coming back home. The volunteers all seemed very young and straight away you could see (and hear) that there were many different nationalities. We chose a table and then the meeting commenced held by the main organiser or head who seemed to be a bit of a nervous looking guy (which turned out to be a very wrong impression) called Mike who seemed really nice and he had an excellent rapport with the workers. As we were newbies, during the meeting we had to stand up and introduce ourselves giving name, rank and serial number which was a bit daunting having fifty pairs of eyes looking at us!

Everyone gets their water from a few taps dotted about the housing

Once again I had this nagging feeling that it may all just be a sham but everybody genuinely seemed really up for it. On the board it appeared that there were number of houses all being built all at various stages of completion as part of Project Leyte – Barangauy 83C (a small housing ‘estate’). There were team leaders who stayed with the house for the build’s duration but everyone else signed up for tasks so you did not have to do the same thing every day. It turned out that we were supposed to put our names against a task which we did not do so by default we ended up on the concrete mixing team. So after chatting with a few of the people in the communal area we went back to our room to ready ourselves for the morrow. We introduced ourselves to our ‘roomies’ – a tall Dutch guy called Edwin, a lady from Dorset called Ruth and an American girl called Lindsey. We chose our bunkbeds and after cold water showering (again unbeknownst to us this was to be our last proper shower for a while too) we bedded down for the night. The room was incredibly hot the only air coming from a couple of standalone fans so it was difficult to drop off to sleep and stay asleep once we had got off but here we were ready for action.