Manila; terug van niet zo lang weggeweest
Manilla
Filipijnen
Kokkeeri
Manila; terug van niet zo lang weggeweest
(sorry in het engels ivm bloggen voor een internationaal publiek)
Earlier then expected I wastraveling to the lovely Philippines. Again. After my Sharepeople Group Programm last november,I will be on my own this time! This time my assignment is for OCCP, a certification organisation for organic agriculture. And I will be working on a communication strategy and IEC-materials. Information, Education and Communication materials that is.
A very exciting assignment! I couldn't wait to start. But first some time in the plane, before I am back in the county of Balut, Karoke, Jeepneys and San Mig Light.
After a reasonable flight with 5 consecutive episodes of the Simpsons, 4 of Family Guy, 5 times Friends and just a little sleep I arrived in Hong Kong. Nice to stretch the legs in between the flights and always good to have a pot of noodles for breakfast.
And 2 hours later my plane touched the ground at the airport in Manila. So there I was; back in Manila, not a city i fell in love with the first time around. It was clear that the traffic situation hadn’t changed since last year. Still a messy chaos. But the dog, with a little helmet, on the back of a motorcycle was something new….
After a quick rest a few necessary errands (the most important of course; get a Philippine mobile phone number to be able to text…) Regina Gaza (the Sharepeople liaison) picked me up to meet the people of OCCP. Lani Limpin and Luz Rio welcomed me at the OCCP office. We discussed my stay, assignment and schedule. Fortunately Lani and Luz managed quite a lot of interview appointments with customers, stakeholders and members of the organization. So the schedule is quite packed, even some stays in the more rural areas are included. Can’t wait to ‘really’ start now!
After the meeting Regina and her colleagues took for a lovely introduction dinner. And then I realized again what I’ve been missing since my last visit; the garlic rice, grilled squid and San Mig Light. Good to be back in the Philippines!
First day at the office was quite productive until a total ‘brown out’ spoiled the fun. Luckily that happened only at the end of the afternoon. In the morning I got introduced to the OCCP organization and all the other organizations involved. As usual in this country the abbreviations were plenty. After getting to understand DTI, AANI, DA-BASAF, OPTA, OTOP, AMASA, CIRES and APTFI (among many more) it was time for lunch . A very nice lunch, taken from a kind of home-cooking food-stall down the road. Definetaly a big advantage of 'hanging around' with locals.
In the afternoon I was shown my own little cubicle. Ready to start working. But not after the curiously reading the papers stuck to one of my cubicle walls which said 'Healthy tips' and another one named '2010 Handbook'. Quite surprised by 'advices' like 'drink plenty of water', 'Live with the 3 E's; Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy', 'Don't over do! Keep to your limits!', 'Smile and laugh more' and the rather scary 'Answer the phone with your left ear. it will spoil your brains if you do it with your tight'....I hesitated. But after moving myself away fro the phone and stocked with a pot of coffee (is a kind of water as well) I could start anyway. I gathered some more background information about organic agriculture in the Philippines and prepared the forthcoming interviews. A fruitful day, so to say. Until the ‘brown out’ that was.
But that didn’t spoil the plans for the 2nd introduction dinner. The venue of choice was Access Point; a place I visited last year as well. For a moment I was afraid they would recognize me from the awful karaoke-show I put up last time around and throw me out straight away! But I was lucky. The ‘brown out’ made the place fairly dark and I could hide in the candlelight! And because of a live band, there was no need to be afraid of new karaoke adventures.
So far so good!
Tomorrow on the programme; 'ambush interviews' in the 'Conspiracy bar'........
Foto's
