Manila Manila

HI!! I have arrived in Manila after an uneventful, but long flight. Lots of turbulence as we flew into the monsoonal north, but we landed safely and it was great to stretch the legs and get a humid welcome to the Philippines.

The place I am staying is awesome so I was pretty relieved to wander around the pool last night and not feel like I was going to get mugged.

Today I spent the day with one of our most sensational firends here, called Corrie. She is a filipino woman who runs a small NGO in the north of Manila. Her main game is an organic farm training locals to farm in a resettlement community. They fled a dump site after a landslide destroyed their community and now dont have any skills to make a living. Enter farming. It was great. So many stories to share about it, but not enough time on my limited connection here. Lets use some pics to tell the story...



Poolside - not bad eh??

And the view of the CBD from my window. We are about 5 minutes away. Its not such a big city of high-rises, more sprawle than anything else, but this is the extent of big buildings.

Some kisd in Payatas rubbish dump community playing. They were having a blast. Just jump over the pigs to keep the can rolling..

And this is Baby (4y.o) and her 2 year old sister. There is a theory that malnourished children lose the colour in their hair. I don't have any evidence to back up this claim, but it was true that all of the kids in Payatas had brown-ish hair instead of black. Anyone out there with time on their hands is welcome to prove me wrong on this one though. It was pretty confronting and all the good shots are still in RAW so I cant post them now. Will update you all when I get back.
And this is Eimy and Ray. They are a husbadn and wife team who help run the farm. They were amazing. They have a son who is 2and a half (same as crackle). His name is Justin. He isnt their biological son but was left with them when he was 3 months old and weighed only 3 kilos. He is now fit and healthy and can bounce a ball!


And finally, a fun note to end on. Introducing the Jeepny! A major legacy of the US influence in the Philippines . This is the local public transpor t and it screams MASH on acid. This example is modestly decorated, but that is inly because the wildly decorated ones are ususally flying past too quickly to capture on camera. I will work on it though and maybe host a Jeepny exhibition some time soon.
Well, I must run now. But I will try to update you with more soon.
Sarah :)