Sacha's December Greetings

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Everything here is going well. December has been a month full of travel for me. In early December my club went to a small town in the mountains called Currey. This village was actually built and funded by rotary so that the inhabitants could live within an area which would provide stable land for them to grow sugarcane as their source of income. The club donated gifts, clothing and small treats to the local children while also giving a small amount of money to each family. The families were so grateful for the goods, especially clothes. I have never before seen anything like that in my life. As soon as the rotarians said ,"Clothing for young girls", there was a line 20 deep of children hoping to just get a t-shirt or a pair or shorts. Earlier this year a volcano erupted in the province of Sorsogon. The inhabitants of the city near the volcano were affected by the ash and also the lahars that followed. (A lahar is like a mudslide but caused by the mixing of (rain)water and volcanic ash. Usually much more dangerous) A few members of my club and myself went with other rotarians from the surrounding provinces to distribute care packages to the families of the closest Barangay to the volcano. A Barangay is the smallest form of Filipino government. Each city or town is divided into Barangays which have some power to govern themselves. In case the families have to evacuate the area they now have some nonperishable goods which will last a family for a few days until they are able to get more. I was able to talk to the children about what it was like when the volcano erupted and what plans they have for the future in case the volcano does erupt. From the 17-22 I was at the house of one of the exchange students from Brazil. We had a lot of fun and her host club was really nice. On the last morning I was able to climb a gorgeous mountain and see the view for miles around. Christmas here is different from Canada in a lot of ways. At midnight on the 24th everyone goes to church for Christmas mass. Right after that everyone goes home eats a big dinner and exchanges gifts. At my house we went to mass then ate dinner and had a gift exchange, like secret santa, with the workers of the house and family business. After that not much happened. From most peoples accounts of Christmas it was a bit more subdued than usual. On the 25th we do nothing so it was a bit hard for me on Christmas day. I skyped back home to my family but that's about it. On the 27th I went to the town of San Jose which is where my host grandmother lives. Its a very small rural area and the people there live in really traditional ways. Some of the houses are still constructed from bamboo and fronds. On her birthday Lola(grandmother) invites lots of children to her home and gives them a hot meal for the night and any old clothes, toys or useful things she has around the house. The parents each go home with a package of food for their families. A host uncle of mine used to be the Barangay chairman in the area and so he was telling me a lot about the people who live there. Most of the farmers don't actually own their land and as such they pay rent or a percent of the profits to the true owners. Some people lend money to the farmers but if the crop fails, due to weather reasons, they are left in huge debt and have to sell their land to the debtor. Another hard thing for the people is that after planting their rice there is little work to be done until three months later in harvest season. Most people don't have skills to practice between planting seasons or the work is just so sparse that it can't be shared between everyone. It's saddening but its really the reality here. The more you know and see the more depressing the situation of the country becomes. Anyways! A new year approaches and so does the second half of my exchange. I'll be changing families in January for the first time so it's a fresh start for the new year. Hope all of you are doing well. Take care on the slopes!