Trs-25 Trophy Opinion

The other side of the mirror ...

Because even the best dreams have a dark side this is one of the shadows of Manila's Smokey Mountain ...

Old open dump, which operated for 40 years, an estimated 30,000 the number of squatters living there, trying somehow to salvage what they could sell to survive, in 2 million tonnes of waste ...

is a hell where the children are naked, and people who wear green shorts are those who are 'lucky' to have the license to go rummaging through the garbage of Manila.

I have accompanied a Japanese student, Yuri, who was a volunteer in the NGO 'Basura House', literally 'house-bin', which makes medical check up and distribution of drugs. During the meeting
distribution over 200 people are passed, mothers aged 17 years or, for paracetamol and vitamins.

One would think that it shows the misery of the world and this is partly true, but there is not much ...
There, as everywhere in this country, one part hope, children playing, big smiles which we know that all is not lost, a huge potential, life ...

PS: I want to say that all images in this blog are copyright klo-in-manila. .. if you want them to another site, or any other use, ask me and put the link to that blog, thank you!

Bankers Life And Casualty Company Complaints

Manila, still, still, and contrasts ... Be Committed

Manila, only one word for dream, I've given hundreds of times before, imagining anything and everything, yet nothing like the images I had in my head.

To give some examples of the contrasting Manila, these are photos of two days in the same city.
The first is a cruise along the Pasig River Ferry, one of the main rivers flowing through Manila, with a late afternoon in Intramuros, the old city of Manila, a small carriage ride.

Tomme de Savoie (3 euros per 100g).

all starts with a small turn in a mall ultra luxurious (even worse than any I had ever seen), and the discovery of a cheese department Savoie by our two (imagine the drool ...)

we go for a ride by ferry, with ice, because we are hungry (and it does 37degrés in the shade)

Makati's Buildings off

1:30 And after cruising quiet arrival in Intramuros, with the old English colonial buildings

The place where national hero Jose Rizal, a fervent activist for the emancipation Philippines under English rule was executed.

short, Tourism and Culture Day!

Identifying Pokemon Cards

One of the many advantages of the third year, this year the dream becomes reality et où l'on découvre le vrai monde, est la possibilité d'avoir du temps libre.
Du temps libre, ne veux pas dire quelques heures ou un samedi après midi pour se reposer, ne rien faire ou aller au ciné, c'est des jours où l'on n'a vraiment rien à faire, et que l'on peut occuper à quelque chose d'utile pour les autres !
Ainsi, l'engagement dans une/des association(s) me paraissait une part importante de ma troisième année.

N'ayant que deux jours de cours par semaine, et souhaitant en garder quelques uns pour voyager, il me reste tout de même un certain nombre d'heures de libre.
Une chose intéressante à noter est que l'engagement associatif à l'université est la règle ici, quand elle n'est qu'une exception à Sciences Po (et encore pire, je crois pouvoir dire, à Jussieu). Cela implique que quasiment tous les étudiants font partie d'au moins une association, et que la majorité font partie de bien plus.

La première association à laquelle j'ai adhéré s'appelle Musmos, il s'agit d'une organisation d'Ateneo qui va, tous les samedis, faire de l'animation pour des enfants qui appartiennent à la low class.
Je n'y vais pas très souvent parce que mes samedis matins sont très occupés par les voyages, mais à chaque fois que je vais à ma matinée Musmos, je reviens le sourire aux lèvres !

These PTIS bou of cabbage, with completely decayed teeth (it really hurts the heart when you see it ...), legs hot by mosquitoes , are smiling all the time.

Due to my very recent experience in animation, I can only say that they are perfect children!

Why?
On more than one hundred kids of all ages, in a space no bigger than a basketball school yard, they are wise, and so happy to play they can, without get tired, spend 30min to Fish Net, when children stop outdoor center after 10min ...
The other part of the program is education, ie they are told a story at each meeting, and after little quiz (and drawings for the youngest), and the kids are still once too too impressive, very concentrated.

short, I love going to that assoc '.

To continue with the university, I also attended a weekend in the construction of houses, which actually carry summarized bags of rubble and land in a neighborhood where houses are built by an association called GK.
was pretty funny, the area is very colorful, and paint a yellow house farting, I think it's quite an experience to remember!
lunchtime, we were treated to a meal I eat in fashion with fingers on banana leaves and I admit it was very funny, especially when lack of experience and put it in everywhere. .. but cats who have passed appreciated.

Chiori, one of my friends in Japan, trying to show his perfect technique!

houses flashy

A good day, so even if the underlying purpose eludes me a bit, build houses for people of Okay, but what followed after that? how to choose the beneficiaries? houses themselves are not necessarily very functional, but hey, it's better than nothing!


Finally I am also engaged as a trainee in a local NGO (outside the university), called Mother Earth Foundation. Indeed, after quite a tour, sent a good twenty emails and CVs / cover letters right to left, met with the director of an NGO who works with street children, I finally decided to get involved more effectively in protecting the environment.
Indeed, it is a small organization, though a fairly large influence in the Philippines. It is part of the international coalition Zero Waste, which as its name suggests has a mission to minimize waste generation.
To this end, the main program of Mother Earth Foundation is to promote waste separation and recycling methods / compost, all in full cooperation with the people and authorities Local.

Thus, the program starts in each district by a survey of existing practices and implementing training programs to educate people about the different practices and at the end of a program evaluation to determine its effectiveness.
And the least we can say is that it works well. Indeed, the latest program I tried was successful in 3 months (a short-term) to put in place in at least one quarter of households compost, and in at least half a segregation Effective waste, with a total cessation of fire (Burning of household and agricultural waste).

A second part of their work lies in the education of teachers and students (but the main target is teachers, more effective long term), the protection of the environment.
For this, we use two U.S. programs called Project WET (Water Education for Teacher) http://www.projectwet.org/ and PLT (Project Learning Tree, more focus on biodiversity) http://www. plt.org / , which have proven in the USA.
They serve as bases for courses / activities for all levels from kindergarten to university, in all subjects, enabling visitors to combine references to environmental awareness and protection, by promoting the existing resources in the Philippines and worldwide.

This work (as does the fact of being in contact with the Filipinos in that organization), I get a lot personally, and it's very interesting to see how a country which, from the point European view seems almost completely undeveloped, manages to develop as effective and innovative projects (in college, where part of the program is applied when you buy a coffee, there is a 'Deposit' of 10 pesos for the return of the cup, and 20 pesos for tupperware when you buy food, there are 4 different bins for compostable, recyclable paper, and more!)

Here for now but I hope to also soon to volunteer in a small association which looks after street children called Urchins, children sidewalks.

Vein Showing In Breast

Be A French Girl In The Philippines And the next day

Steak Barbie Doll

What do these two images have in common? Not much in itself, but in fact it is what I have to look into the eyes of most Filipinos when I pass (and it must be the same for all the white girls ...).

How to describe this strange feeling? Hard to say, it does not necessarily make it account the first time, these are just the aftertaste left in thoughts, in small steps.

First, these huge billboards everywhere with beautiful models, they might as well be in Europe or the U.S., as women or men who are represented are not of here, or at least does not look like people you meet on the street. Why? They are just too white!

With the strong sun of those latitudes, normal people (I mean, not vampires, or in this case, people who leave de chez eux pour entrer dans leur voiture, qui les dépose à 2m de leur destination, pour les récupérer au même endroit avant de rentrer à la maison, cela sans approcher la lumière du jour), sont bronzés ici.

Mais les mannequins des panneaux publicitaires sont aussi ceux qu’on retrouve à la télé ou dans les magazines people, ceux qui ont réussi, qui sont riches, ils sont blancs.

Alors, complexe d’infériorité, occasionné par des siècles d’invasion occidentale, ou volonté d’ascension par l’apparence ? On ne le saura peut-être jamais.

Toujours est-il that girls and boys, Filipinos, will try to stay as white as possible, or to become one.

And all means are good, starting with sun protection. It's a good thing you'll tell me, but when it turns to obsession (not to exit the air in day care, I could tan), it becomes worrisome. The worst is yet to come.

Indeed, how do all these people that they have no drivers or can not afford to take a taxi? Those who work outdoors? Well, cosmetics and pharmaceutical lab always have a solution: the soap / cream / powder bleach or whitener, innocent form, a simple soap, is a stick of dynamite, toxic wish (not for everyone, but what sells on the street should not be certified AB ...), carcinogen; based papaya, or glutathione, or even protein placenta, everything is good to be white.

It's true strafing advertising! Be white, become white, stay white, white is beautiful!
is considered almost being tanned is dirty ... and that will ruin nutritional supplements whitening will get rich later ... it depresses me deeply!
If we fight to kick out the anorexic models in Europe, it also makes clear out the dummies too white here!

But what does a person really white, like me?

First we look at all the time, almost everywhere .... So we must learn not to pay attention, not to watch people. It looks at different ways:
- what is a white girl doing here? AND kind
- Whaa too good, and there two types of reaction:
==> if it's a girl, she'll be laughing to himself, without one really understands why, with the impression she makes fun of you, but it's not even that ;
==> if it's a boy, you will feel to look like a piece of meat, like a sex object, and you will feel you very very very bad, especially if the guy in question is old and ugly or that you're all alone in a subway train and everyone is watching you!

So lessons learned:
- do not walk around in tank tops or shorts too short, even dressed as a big bag of potatoes, you will still be a bomb,
-Do not give your phone number / email / facebook that is bound to ask you, because this is the end of the peace (this is not Marie Laure).
-and learn to refuse (maybe next time), or be fake!

Despite this and any inconvenience this may cause, it's still interesting to see how we can move from a country where the alien is regarded almost as a nuisance or to another, where it is if it does is admired, at least watched with interest and curiosity! Last

small detail: we must learn to ask, because wherever you go, the gens demandent (ou prennent sans demander même parfois), des photos, avec eux ou juste nous ! Je pense que je vais commencer une carrière de top model ici, haha !!

Leather Tape Foru Couches?

San Pablo and the mystical Mount Banahaw Discovery Weekend

Après une soirée mémorable, et une fin de nuit à se balader dans le quartier avec un de mes colloc', au bord de la rivière, on part avec Marie Laure à 5h du matin, pour échapper au traffic en sortant de Manille.
On arrive donc à San Pablo, Laguna à 8h30 du matin, pas très fraîches, mais motivées. Nous voilà partie à l'attaque d'une montagne donc les légendes (et le Lonely Planet), disent qu'elle est habitée par des esprits, mais especially by sects! After beginning his trip on foot, before understanding how to take good jeepney, one finally arrives at one of the last villages, after a road intersected by dirt roads.
was a bit like being at the end of the world, with mountains all around. A strange thing that we try to clarify later, the village has a curfew, from 22 to 4am ... mystery ....

Arrivals near a river, you get accosted by an old woman who could very well be a gypsy fortune teller who offers us a guide, when asked the price, "it's a gift, it's up To You " we will not look any further. It makes us so
buy for 50 pesos a bag of candles, we will subsequently turn around. Here begins the adventure. For the sensitive minds, know that cash is here on the ground of a sect, without really knowing or wanting to, but never mind, what follows is important!

Guides (because ultimately, it gave us both), take us first into a sort of cave, where there is a statue of the Virgin Mary, with candles all around, they ask us to ignite, then the real journey begins in a tunnel more narrow, with only light that of a candle. Arriving in a sort of underground chamber, one of the guides we tend a cup with water from the river, and asks us to drink three sips.

It looks, wondering if our stomach will survive this affront, but stuck in a tunnel with strangers, you end up drinking three tiny sips, then wash your face with the same water. You end up out of the tunnel, about twenty meters and dozens of candles later (to add three new sips ...).

However, we also wanted to power up the mountain 'sacred'. We see them then prepare a bag with a tent, we will buy food, then tell us we should sleep on top, because the ascent to the summit take at least 8 hours .. mhhh is 10.30, with a start at 5am and a sleepless night for me, you say that this is not very reasonable, especially with our lack of training. They take us and see the waterfalls, which was not less athletic!

Indeed, the path is slippery with passages quite acrobatic, even dangerous, uphill climbing with ropes, and bridges over the gap, made from wet wood (ie ice), but as one is motivated we do not think (almost) no (well, yes, Marie Laure is glad to have as many candles lit)!

We meet on the way a hunter (with a real rifle, which worry some, like the machetes of our guides), but hey, all is well.
At the top is a cave with a little mystical drawings of strange and full of chocolate as an offering ...

The descent is somewhat difficult, always be careful not to fall, especially, do not fall!

Marie Laure and our guide

We were too low, very muddy and very tired. Is about to descend on San Pablo, the main town, to go to sleep at the hostel, but our guides will offer us a tent and sleeping 'for free'. And of course we accept! (What have we done ....), not sleep on a hard floor well, always muddy, very wet, with temperatures cooler than normal .... it does not look very well in the morning, especially since I was not exactly reassured (waking in the middle of the night, a brother of the guide would pris un couteau dans le ventre? on n'a pas vraiment réussi à comprendre ce qui s'était passé).

Celle-ci est juste pour le plaisir des yeux, et de la photo 

On redescend au lever du jour, débarquant à 7h30 au Jollybee (le fastfood local) : ouf, des toilettes, des pancakes, et du café, on est reparties pour une journée. San Pablo est une ville envahie par les tricycles, mais aussi par des gens adorables, c'est jour de marché, et comme d'habitude on nous regarde passer, mais cette fois, plus que pour des touristes, on passe pour de missionaires (mmhh chouette....).

We toured one of seven volcanic lakes in the region, the beautiful Lake Sampaloc, filled with red water lilies and floating houses, before returning to Manila, and sleep (finally).

This little green weekend made me think a little about spirituality in the Philippines.

This country is, of course (thanks to the efforts of the Spaniards, very good at this kind of operation), deeply Catholic, there are churches everywhere, the Mass is the same in churches under construction in private schools, the Mass is done at the beginning of each course, we pray before eating, we sign before boarding a jeepney, in short, it smells of religion, full nose. But it's not just Catholicism, the Southern Philippines (where it's dangerous), is a Muslim region, and trends animist / deists are still strong. It is finally, and sometimes a little scary, a huge number of cults: Jehovah's Witnesses have set up shop, with large houses, like the Iglesia Ni Cristo celebrates, their churches are by far genus Cheese Cake, and they recover 10% of revenues from all their followers ... and it is not all such organizations "spiritual" swarming, as in any country in need of moral support!

is the kind of church Iglesia Ni Cristo sect.

Is this a good thing? They may say that religion brings, it keeps cohesive communities, having a social network, the nuns were thought to do good work in the slums of Manila or elsewhere, I still think most things related to the Church are a big bullshit, especially their policy of family planning! The Philippine Church

refuses any form of sex education, abortion is punished as a murder, contraception is a legend, and we end up with girls of 17 or 19 years, barely out of high school, pregnant, forced all abandon, studies, social life and hope of success, to raise their children. Knowing that in most cases the father is gone ... Indeed the Bible does it not say "Multiply you will populate the world," suggests that men have taken literally ... (This is not an invention, but what a Filipino replied, when asked how, being as believers, men in the Philippines could have as many mistresses)

Hypocrisy, giving rise to many disappointments ... Divorce frowned, young women just married single mothers find themselves with a husband gone somewhere else, but their life to them is over ...