Trip to the Island of NEGROS and Dumaguete

Wednesday April 15th at 7:30 am Sisters Darby, Murry, Jenee and I headed out for Dumaguete located on the island of Negros.  We were told that it was a 4 hour drive of which I quietly questioned since it was only 143 KM.  What I did not know was that to get there we had to travel on a two lane road through numerous little cities which slowed us down considerably.  As we passed through each city we encountered a myriad of tricycles and motorbikes which occupied the streets as we tried to pass by.  We had to slow down to almost 10 MPH in many cities - that is why it TOOK SO LONG to get to our destination. We really did not let that bother us as the sights along the way made the drive both interesting and worthwhile.

We arrived at the Liloan Port at about 11:10 AM and discovered that the Maayo Shipping Ferry left at 11:30AM so I hurried and got our tickets as well as the ticket to transport the car over to Dumaguete. Roundtrip was 1800 pesos (abt. $40.55) for all of us and the car.



Maayo ticket office

Jenee onboard the ferry

Maayo Ferry

Liloan Port

We got off the Ferry at Sibulan Port, ahead of our planned schedule which meant that we had time to perhaps see a little of Negros during the afternoon.

Sibulan Port Area

After departing we had about a 20 or so minute drive to Dumaguete and the C&L Bay View Hotel where we had reservations to stay that evening.  This hotel reminded Jenee and I so much of the hotel we stayed in when we took our kids to Cape Town. It was small, but very nice and very colorful.

 

After getting settled in the Sisters decided they wanted to go to the mall to shop and to get lunch.  So we boarded the tricycle and off we went.

The Sisters on a Tricycle

We finished with lunch and shopping at the smallish Robinson's mall and returned to the hotel for rest before we headed out for dinner.  At 5 PM we met and decided to take a walk along the Rizal Boulevard which was along the sea side.

 

 

 

We decided to follow the recommendations of some missionaries for dinner at Don Atilano's. Not anything resembling Italian and the lettuce salads were warm.  We decided we could no longer go on missionary recommendations.  Only Sister Murry enjoyed her dinner.  My steak was tough, Jenee's lasagna was flavorless noodles in a little white sauce.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a good night's rest and there in the grass area along the waterfront we heard loud music and noticed a lot of people dancing. Yay, we joined in with the 'zumba in the park'! It was so fun dancing.

After dancing for about 20 hot minutes decided we best get some rest as we have a big and busy day ahead of us.  We discovered in talking with the lead dancer that the local government had set aside Wed - Fri evenings for this exercise for another month or so.

Thursday is the day for our Stake Youth Conference  presentation.  This activity is being held in Dauin a beach resort about 30 minutes away at The Private Resident VIP Resort and Spa.  We were to be there by noon so after breakfast we decided to travel to Valencia to see one of the local recommended spots, a water fall.  It took us some time to finally find the place since the road signs here in the Philippines leave something to be desired.   Finally after about 40 minutes we located the falls.

In talking with the caretaker we learned when the Typhoon of 2014 came through the islands, there was a flash flood in this canyon that all but destroyed the area and downstream 9 people were killed.  This area was still being repaired as well as repairing the roads to and from the falls.

From there we headed for Dauin since we needed to be there by noon.  We thought it would be easy to find the resort but the resort sign was not as visible as we thought and it took a bit of backtracking and maneuvering to finally arrive.  We arrived and were met by the Stake President and treated to lunch and then we went to the assembly hall and set up for our presentation to 130 youth.  The resort was very clean and quite beautiful.

Our presentation was to introduce the youth to the Education for Better Work and the My Job Search programs available through the Self-Reliance program. Since this area is assigned to Sisters Darby and Murry they were in charge of planning the program;  Sister Darby put together a program that involved playing some meaningful games about "MY FUTURE LIFE PLAN" with the youth and they did enjoy the activity.  The game (Jenee's responsibility) was followed by some brief power point presentations (my responsibility) followed by another game led by Jenee.  After that Sister Darby concluded the activity which in all took about 1 and a half hours.

Upon conclusion we packed up our things and started back for Cebu, at the ferry by 4:00PM and set out at 4:30PM.  From there we drove back to Cebu in the dark which was something you just could not even imagine.  In every little city along the way we ran into those tricycle and peddle bikes but this time it was in the dark and 90% use no lights. You would be heading down the road at 60 MPH when all of a sudden you would come upon one of those motorized tricycles or peddle tricycles or a Jeepnie.   It is a miracle that these people are not killed in this traffic. With cars and motor bikes passing and weaving in and out of the traffic you just put your life in the Lord's hands and hope you didn't hit someone or get yourself killed.

We finally arrived back in Cebu at 9:30 PM exhausted and ready to hit the bed!

Trip with ACE Academy for Creating Enterprise

Friday April 10th.  We have scheduled a trip with Brother & Sister Gibson the founders of the NGO Academy for Creating Enterprise: we are heading out to meet with one of their Academy Alumni who was now successfully self employed at his own 'piggery'.

 The individual we met with was Bishop Chiong of the Awan Ward. He is a college graduate and worked for Lexmark Printers here and in America for a number of years.  But he felt that he could make more income working for himself and have more family/church time.  He tried this business once before with little if any knowledge and it shortly failed.  This time he decided to go on line and learn as much as he could about this industry.  He joined several Facebook support groups who provided knowledge and input that helped him restructure his operation, hopefully to be successful the second time around.   After a lot of study, hard work and preparation he tried it again and this time it is a SUCCESS.  Next month he will be moving his operation to another city where he will have more property and space to grow and develop.

Let me Introduce you to Brother Chiong.

In his backyard he has set up his pig farm as complete as possible while staying within the area he has available. Let me show you what he has done.




His backyard pig farm



3 month old pigs

4 month old pigs



5 birthing sows

He also has an area with 5 (1-month old piglets) and one area where he could have three birthing sows deliver. The gestation time for pigs is 5 months, 5 days, 5 hours as he put it. He has it planned out so that his birthing was a continuous process. His ultimate goal is to have 30-40 sows and 2 bores which will produce enough piglets throughout the year to make his operation self sustaining. There are three other members throughout the Philippines who are running Piggery's and are doing very, very well.  They are working closely with this brother to help his dreams come true to become Self Reliant.

Along with his pig operation, he had several coups where he raised chickens and ducks for personal consumption. After seeing the little farm his wife invited us into their home for a cold drink of Mango Juice and homemade from scratch Chocolate Cup Cakes.  Yum! Sister U told her she should start selling them in the little bakeries.













We went inside, out of the heat, and visited for a time learning more about his family and business goals. Finally we decided it was time to leave but before doing so we wanted to take some group pictures.














We had a great day. While driving  had time to speak with Stephen and get his input. He started coming to the Ph. 19 years ago and has a lot of experience and insight.  We enjoyed interviewing him and Betty about  perceptions as to the success or failure of the Self Reliance Program.  With their vast knowledge and experience of the Philippine people they helped us better understand the culture as well as the people in how they approach life. We are so thankful for his wisdom, it will certainly help us be more effective going forward.  We get the feeling that Jenee is much more cognizant of those things than I am so I have a ways to go yet.

First Holiday Trip

Today, April 2nd is the second day of a three-day Religious HOLY week celebrating Easter.  The office is closed for Thursday and Friday so we decided to go and start seeing the sights of Cebu.  Still trying to get a hang of the roads and driving here in the Philippines we decided not to travel too far but to see what is nearby.

So we headed out to see the Philippines Taoist Temple.  Here is what we discovered.

 

From the top of the hill we could see over Cebu City and onward, a beautiful sight.  We discovered that there is something other than squalor in Cebu.  From the top of the temple we could see where the rich live with their much bigger and more elaborate homes.













After our trip to the temple, we headed out for the S&R.  The S&R is the Philippine's equivalent to our Costco but in a smaller scale. Still bulk purchasing and YES they even have the famous Hot Dog and Pizza Meal deals available! We are really not too far from some of the comforts we have back in Utah. Yay!

First Trip to Bohol

Today, April 1st (this is not an April Fools Joke) Jenee and I joined with Sister Balen, our SRC Manager to go and attend a Self-Reliance Fireside at the Calape Chapel on the island of Bohol.  Several weeks ago we attended a meeting with ACE, the Academy of Creating Enterprise, an NGO started  in 1999 out of Provo, Utah by Stephen and Betty Gibson.  More about ACE later.

Mary Ann picked us up at 9 AM to get to the docks for a 10:30 am departure to take an hour long ride to Bohol.  We first had to obtain tickets from the M/V Star Crafts ticket office in Cebu.



From there we headed to the Passenger Terminal to wait for our departure.



 

We entered the terminal and there we waited with all the others for our departure. At about 10:00 am they called for boarding so we headed to the craft awaiting us.  We had to walk about 50 feet to get to star craft.

 

After our little walk in the hot sun we arrived at our star craft.

 

Star Craft

Seating arrangements / Air Conditioned

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived at the docks to be greeted by the local transportation merchants.  We had heard about these little motorized tricycles but now we get the opportunity to experience them. 

 

We have about a 35 minutes drive to the chapel but before heading out we stopped at the local McDonalds for lunch, afterwards boarding our tricycle Calape.

 

 

Would you like to know how you get two people in the front seat. ???? I could not find a shoe horn big enough.

 

Our trip to the chapel is about 30 minutes away and we had about an hour to spare so we stopped and visited one of the TESDA Centers.  These are governmental sponsored training centers which the Church uses in providing skills training to members in various fields such as Baking, Sewing, Auto Mechanics and the like.

Sewing Trade Center inside TESDA

After our visit with TESDA we headed out for the Chapel and saw the countryside filled with many rice fields.

Drying rice on the roadside

Rice Field as far as your can see

Laborers in the rice fields

We finally arrived at the chapel before our meeting started.  We understood this was to be an ACE fireside but it became a Self Reliance + ACE fireside.  Jenee and I found out this morning on the boat ride that we were going to be speaking at this meeting.




After the opening song and prayer the Stake President said a few word,s then turned it over to Jenee.  She did a great job giving an overview of the doctrinal support for self reliance and the purpose of the new Self Reliance initiative.   After she finished it was my turn.

Here is where ACE comes into play.  Stephen Gibson (the Founder of ACE) and I have been talking over the past three weeks about how we can find a workable transition for the Starting and Growing My Own Business graduates into ACE. As I looked at the SGMB program there seemed to be a gap between graduating and actually succeeding in starting a business. After being introduced to ACE, I saw here a valuable tool that could truly assist the SGMB graduates. ACE teaches the SGMB  graduates how to actually apply the tools they learned by using alumni mentors to teach the practicality of building a business.

After discussing this concept with Mary Ann (my boss) we came to a conclusion that it could be beneficial for both  SGMB and ACE if I became a liaison by showing the need for a successful transition between the two during my visits with the Stakes/Districts, Ward/Branches as well as the ACE Chapters. Finally after a month of doubt, I finally feel I can be a benefit here in the Philippines and am so excited about this development and opportunity.  I will be working with both groups while here in the Philippines.  Next week Stephen Gibson and I are going to visit a member who is running a pig farm to evaluate how he is doing and what can be done to increase his output and profitability.  After that they are lining me up with 12 ACE alumni who have been in business for a while but need further help to increase their operations.

At this meeting I presented a concept, that came to my mind while riding on the tricycle, on how this transition should happen.  I will work on it over the next week or so and make a powerpoint presentation for future meetings.

After I concluded Sister Betty Gibson the co-founder of ACE spoke followed by Stephen.

After the meeting was over we flagged down a tricycle and once again took a 30+ minute drive back  to Tubegon ("toBEgun") catch the 5:00PM boat back to Cebu.

All-in-all this has been a GREAT day. We finally got out of downtown Cebu and into the real Philippines countryside, culture and beauty.  We look forward to many more of these kinds of trips.

 

 



 



FIRST week at the Self Reliance Center

Finally after days of getting to Cebu we entered into the first week at the Cebu Self Reliance Center. Here is a bird's eye view of our facility.

My Office

Computer Room

Reception Desk



Sisters Temporary Room


 



Training room

 

 

 

We started the week off by meeting the SRC Manager, Mary Ann C Balen, a college graduate from China. She is a very equipped individual as well as an outgoing, energetic person.  We spent the week going over the new Self-Reliance PEF Initiative program with all the new materials.  They have been up and running with this program since fall 2014 so we will not be starting at the beginning.

The Cebu SRC Center is responsible for 4 separate Missions which include 24 stakes.  That is a big area but that is how things go here in the Philippines due to transportation etc.  It was decided that we would divide the are into three parts.  Sisters Murry and Darby would cover the Cebu Mission, Elder & Sister Uzelac would cover the Cebu East Mission, and Sister Balen would cover the remaining 2 missions.  That gives each of us (greenies) 6 Stakes and Districts and Sis. Balen 12.

The Cebu East mission includes the northern part of the island of Cebu plus the island of Bohol to the east of us. Cebu has 4 stakes and Bohol has two districts.  One district in southern Bohol is soon to be made into a Stake.

We were also introduced to the CRM Management program which is connected with the Perpetual Education Fund Program. This program tracts everybody on the PEF program and follows their progress.  They will be updating this program within the next couple of weeks, so we just went over an introduction by the area office staff to get an idea as to what it is like and how to use it.  We will address this once the new program is downloaded.  With this program we are to visit those within our assigned areas who are on PEF to follow up any who might be delinquent in their payments and try to assist them in finding ways to become current.  We also follow-up on their progress in relation to  their educational pursuits to see if they are on tract for their expected graduation or if they have reached the point where they might need renewal of their loan necessary for further studies.

We will be holding Career Workshops on an on-going basis for all the Cebu and Cebu East Missions departing fulltime missionaries leaving for home the next day or two. This is to prepare them in the proper steps to finding employment once they return home.  The Jenee and Sister Darby also conduct 2 days a week an American Accent class helping the Philippine people in better pronunciation of the English language. This class lasts for 4 weeks.

Tuesday afternoon we attended as temple session at the Cebu City Temple with the Mission President and two couples who are returning home in a week or so.  The temple is beautiful and it was so good to be there to feel of the spirit and get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life here in the Philippines.  Afterwards we all went to the Mission President's home for dinner and a short send-off for the two couples leaving for home.

President and Sister McCurdy are absolutely the most wonderful people, so full of enthusiasm and love towards the mission work and the fulltime and Senior Missionaries. We look forward to being with them more as our mission progresses.