October Report

October had been a month of ups and downs. Typhoon Juan hit my providence and did some pretty substantial damage just north of where I am staying. A drove north to see the damage after the typhoon left, and there is more devastation than you would believe. As I went deeper into the damage, the landscape when from collapsed improvised homes, to roofless houses, to fallen trees and electric poles, to collapsed buildings. Above a certain latitude, the winds were strong enough to blow every leaf off of every tree. There is no more green anywhere in northern Isabella. It also hit during peak harvest season. Many people who rely on the sale of this rice are going to ironically be eating a lot of rice until they can make ends meet again.


A personal theme of mine this month has been to earn my lunch. I have been treated very well since I have arrived, and I am motivated to live up to my treatment. This has been my biggest challenge since coming here. My two biggest projects continue to be the charcoal briquetting project and the solar pump project. We have begun producing briquettes mostly from branches fallen by the typhoon. I was the facilitator of our biggest workshop yet last Saturday. I was able to implement some well received ideas, which were perfectly executed by the SKEP youth.

The solar project is where I could make my biggest impact. Fr. Clarence (my boss) and I have designed a solar powered pump and battery charging station that will cost far less than anything currently available. If this works, I could cut the cost of a 20,000 USD project to less than 5,000 USD. This project is also repeatable, and could save hundreds of thousands dollars for churches and charities installing these systems throughout the Philippines. But first I need to finish designing it, import some parts, install it, and have nothing go wrong.

All this work is really starting to pay off, and I am really enjoying my time here. There may be struggles, but the fact is, most days here beat the hell out of most days in New York. I have seen many things that people only get to see on TV, and tried many things that most people don't even know exist. I am definantly glad that I am here right now.

November should be a very exciting, because I will be traveling throughout the second half of the month. I will be in Baggio for a conference. Then I will be spending a week in the mountains near where Melanie (my predecessor) was last year.