Trevor: Sunday, May 27, 2007

I think, after being on Camiguin for almost a week, I can say that I have finally adjusted to the time zone and to the heat. I no longer sweat buckets when I simple venture outside, and I don’t sleep for twelve hours every night.

On Friday, Steve and I caught a ride into town with Diane, and we made a stop at the regional hospital. While Diane talked to her patient, we stayed in the jeep, which just happened to be parked next to the sole ambulance for the hospital. The ambulance is little more than van with some of the back seats taken out and a stretcher on the floor. Apparently, the ambulance often has trouble reaching people in the more hilly areas of Camiguin. People often have to be brought down from hilly areas by another vehicle, and then loaded into the ambulance which, needless to say, does not save time in emergency situations. The back of the ambulance is adorned with the words “Camiguin General Hospital,” and written below is the puzzling phrase “STOP D.E.A.T.H.”

Over the past three days, I’ve had the opportunity to explore Family to Family’s work here even more deeply. Tom has let me borrow copies of their newsletters, which date back all of the way to 1975. There are 130 of these documents, and I hope to read all of them in the next few days. The 15 or so that I have read have given me great insight into just how much Tom and Diane have had to go through during their time in the Philippines. This country is a beautiful place, but many foreigners who visit do not notice the problems of poverty and disease that pervade the Philippines. It’s amazing to me how Tom and Diane have noticed these problems, and have given up so much of their time and energy to try and help to solve them. They’ve moved from feeding a few children in Cagayan de Oro to running an elementary school, providing money for children to attend high school, seeing over 300 patients with disabilities all over the island, and supplying materials to schools in the area.

Most of the people here are very friendly, and when Steve and I go running, all of the kids either want to know “Where are you going?” or “Where are you coming from?” It’s definitely a different greeting than we’re used to.

There’s a basketball court nearby, and we shot around with some of the local children. Now as we walk by one of houses, we hear “Hello Steben! Hello Trebor!” Hopefully we can get along as well with the students at the school when it opens a week from now.