Day two was sort of a boring blur. I woke up early to have breakfast, went to the gym, and then sat at the pool even though it was raining. I was able to chat with a couple new acquaintances from the workshop; Nina from Conservation International and Jason from USAID. Mostly, we talked business, but in that gossipy kind of way. There are all kinds of interesting tidbits of information being exchanged that would not be exchanged during a real meeting. These are good things for me to pay attention to. As I’ve learned quickly at SEEP, the development community in DC is very small and EVERYONE has a reputation; it’s best to learn theirs and keep your mouth shut. I’m so new to the industry it’s best to work my ass off, get a good foundation, and let things grow from there. Anyway, everyone was really nice and it was good to get to know them before the work started. On a sexier note, Nina was also referred to as “sexy” while she was checking into the hotel that morning. Not to say that Nina is not sexy, however she had just flown in from the US on a flight with 6 layovers…there are going to be more sexy stories throughout this blog, I guarantee you that.
Day 3 was much more interesting! I got up early to meet the crew for breakfast (actually Elizabeth gave me an early wake up call at 7:45) and then went with Marian and Ivan to see the office of SDC Asia. SDC Asia is a company that runs a business making products from agricultural goods indigenous to the Philippines. They produce banana chips, dried fruit, oil, and many others and work with big companies such as Sunsweet and DelMonte. This week will focus on their cardava (a Filipino plantain, used for cooking) value chain.
Side note about what I’m doing and value chains: A value chain is sort of like a supply chain except that it’s not just one chain from a company to the source, there are different pieces that all interact at certain places in different chains. When looking at a product like banana chips, the value chain goes from the farmers who grow the banana, to those who transport them to the processors to make the banana chips, to the market where they’re sold—those are the main players. There are going to be steps in between, but the point of our project is to look at their value chain and assess where improvements can be made. There are two other projects involved in the workshop: one is looking at the value chain of eco-tourism in Madagascar and the other agri-business in India. The group wants to learn from each others experiences and apply them to their own projects. USAID provides the funding for each project to implement new innovations into their programs and entices them to share their experiences. Why are SEEP and USAID involved with businesses? When a business grows and has multiple players in their value chain, it spurs economic activity on many fronts, especially employment, which usually involves poverty alleviation for low income families.
The SDC Asia office was very quaint and everyone was super nice. We looked over some materials they had put together for the workshop, tried some of their banana chips, and viewed the space we would have for our “cultural night”/party. Then we were chauffeured through the city to the local mall so we could get last minute supplies.
While in the supply store I was definitely stared at the entire time. One man came up to me after he heard me speaking English and asked if I was an American missionary. I said no and walked away because he was strange and had definitely followed me into the isle. I realized I was in a Christian bookstore once I heard Jesús Cristo in the music over and over again, so then it sort of made sense.
Melissa and I walked around a bit just to compare prices of the stores in the Philippines with those in the US, like Body Shop, Naturalizer, and Lacoste, then Melissa said we had to check out the Dunkin Donuts. Apparently, Dunkin Donuts started in Boston, Melissa’s from Boston, therefore she had to taste-test their coffee. We walked into the store and they asked her if she wanted jello in her iced coffee—not a good sign if you ask me, but she said yes. As we were waiting I noticed that there were no coffee machines or expresso makers. Hmmm. My guess is that they used Nescafe instant coffee and never actually had to brew a cup of coffee at all. While we waited there was an Indian man talking to the girl behind the counter, inquiring about the prices of donuts and how many went in which box. He chose the box for a dozen donuts and said “make it look sexy.” What the hell is up with the work sexy in this country??!!! Melissa and I figured if the arrangement of donuts in a box could be described as sexy that perhaps we should do further investigating on the usage of this adjective.
Mani, our escort to the mall, picked us up and immediately I asked him what the word “sexy” meant to him and how it’s used in the Philippines. He said it was the best compliment a woman could be given in the Philippines and that every woman wants to be called sexy. It’s equivalent to beautiful. I noticed there was no actual mention of “sex” in his description. He could just be shy, but I wonder if perhaps something has been lost in translation between us and the Filipinos. Either way, it’s hilarious. I guess while I’m here I can’t help but be so sexy.
Anyway, we returned to the hotel and realized there was small protest against President Arroyo outside our street. They were yelling and singing all day and let me tell you, you cannot mistake a happy Filipino for an angry Filipino. It’s not like in Arabic where two people having a perfectly happy conversation still sound like they’re yelling at each other; in Tagalong, Visayo, or whatever dialect they are speaking, you can tell when they’re pissed off!!! If you want me to do an imitation of an angry Filipino when I get back, let me know. Also, I thought it was weird that the entire demonstration was in Visayo/Tagalog, but their signs “Arroyo is a Bitch”, for example, were written in English. It turns out that the President will be in town this week; she is doing a tour throughout the Philippines and visiting all the mayors for a “loyalty check.” There’s talk of wanting to throw her out of office, so she’s being pro-active.
I lounged around at the pool for a bit and read Kite Runner, then met up with our facilitator to plan for the workshop the next day. Lucky for me, SDC Asia was helpful with logistics, so a lot of the issues were already dealt with. We then met up with others from the group and walked past the angry Filipinos, to the market.
It was weird. It was sort of indoors, but people sat outside the store and every time you walked by would say “take a look inside ma’am” and open the door for you, regardless of whether you were walking towards it. Unfortunately, most of the time, the air conditioning is more appealing than what they’re actually selling. I walked into a few places and watched my co-workers negotiate prices. I’m going to have to get better at this; I feel bad because I’m already getting things for a low price, but you can tell they’re inflating the cost because they pause after you ask how much something costs and before they say it to you…plus we’re all white! There are no price stickers on anything.
We walked home and I took a few random pictures of Jeepneys (little truck-like taxi cars that pick up and drop off people) and two random Filipino skateboarders that wanted me to take their picture.
I spent the next hour and a half by the pool with Halo halo! It’s a famous Filipino desert with shaved ice, ice cream, fruit, BEANS, jello (apparently they like that a lot here), and something similar to rice crispy treats. It was very good, but I think I could have done without the green and red jello…and perhaps the beans too. The pool was very sexy at night, but I didn’t go in.
It’s now about 11 pm in the Philippines and I’ve managed to blog, as well as do some work for Melissa. Good news for me; I am going to have my first opportunity to be published in the development world! After this workshop I am going to write a “Note from the Field;” this is a USAID document that will be distributed throughout its network. It will focus on technical learning from this workshop, but unfortunately what I am going to highlight can’t be planned in advance as we don’t really know what’s going to come out of it yet. Either way, I will be taking a lot of notes for the workshop each day, so I’m sure I’ll come up with something.
Day 3 was much more interesting! I got up early to meet the crew for breakfast (actually Elizabeth gave me an early wake up call at 7:45) and then went with Marian and Ivan to see the office of SDC Asia. SDC Asia is a company that runs a business making products from agricultural goods indigenous to the Philippines. They produce banana chips, dried fruit, oil, and many others and work with big companies such as Sunsweet and DelMonte. This week will focus on their cardava (a Filipino plantain, used for cooking) value chain.
Side note about what I’m doing and value chains: A value chain is sort of like a supply chain except that it’s not just one chain from a company to the source, there are different pieces that all interact at certain places in different chains. When looking at a product like banana chips, the value chain goes from the farmers who grow the banana, to those who transport them to the processors to make the banana chips, to the market where they’re sold—those are the main players. There are going to be steps in between, but the point of our project is to look at their value chain and assess where improvements can be made. There are two other projects involved in the workshop: one is looking at the value chain of eco-tourism in Madagascar and the other agri-business in India. The group wants to learn from each others experiences and apply them to their own projects. USAID provides the funding for each project to implement new innovations into their programs and entices them to share their experiences. Why are SEEP and USAID involved with businesses? When a business grows and has multiple players in their value chain, it spurs economic activity on many fronts, especially employment, which usually involves poverty alleviation for low income families.
The SDC Asia office was very quaint and everyone was super nice. We looked over some materials they had put together for the workshop, tried some of their banana chips, and viewed the space we would have for our “cultural night”/party. Then we were chauffeured through the city to the local mall so we could get last minute supplies.
While in the supply store I was definitely stared at the entire time. One man came up to me after he heard me speaking English and asked if I was an American missionary. I said no and walked away because he was strange and had definitely followed me into the isle. I realized I was in a Christian bookstore once I heard Jesús Cristo in the music over and over again, so then it sort of made sense.
Melissa and I walked around a bit just to compare prices of the stores in the Philippines with those in the US, like Body Shop, Naturalizer, and Lacoste, then Melissa said we had to check out the Dunkin Donuts. Apparently, Dunkin Donuts started in Boston, Melissa’s from Boston, therefore she had to taste-test their coffee. We walked into the store and they asked her if she wanted jello in her iced coffee—not a good sign if you ask me, but she said yes. As we were waiting I noticed that there were no coffee machines or expresso makers. Hmmm. My guess is that they used Nescafe instant coffee and never actually had to brew a cup of coffee at all. While we waited there was an Indian man talking to the girl behind the counter, inquiring about the prices of donuts and how many went in which box. He chose the box for a dozen donuts and said “make it look sexy.” What the hell is up with the work sexy in this country??!!! Melissa and I figured if the arrangement of donuts in a box could be described as sexy that perhaps we should do further investigating on the usage of this adjective.
Mani, our escort to the mall, picked us up and immediately I asked him what the word “sexy” meant to him and how it’s used in the Philippines. He said it was the best compliment a woman could be given in the Philippines and that every woman wants to be called sexy. It’s equivalent to beautiful. I noticed there was no actual mention of “sex” in his description. He could just be shy, but I wonder if perhaps something has been lost in translation between us and the Filipinos. Either way, it’s hilarious. I guess while I’m here I can’t help but be so sexy.
Anyway, we returned to the hotel and realized there was small protest against President Arroyo outside our street. They were yelling and singing all day and let me tell you, you cannot mistake a happy Filipino for an angry Filipino. It’s not like in Arabic where two people having a perfectly happy conversation still sound like they’re yelling at each other; in Tagalong, Visayo, or whatever dialect they are speaking, you can tell when they’re pissed off!!! If you want me to do an imitation of an angry Filipino when I get back, let me know. Also, I thought it was weird that the entire demonstration was in Visayo/Tagalog, but their signs “Arroyo is a Bitch”, for example, were written in English. It turns out that the President will be in town this week; she is doing a tour throughout the Philippines and visiting all the mayors for a “loyalty check.” There’s talk of wanting to throw her out of office, so she’s being pro-active.
I lounged around at the pool for a bit and read Kite Runner, then met up with our facilitator to plan for the workshop the next day. Lucky for me, SDC Asia was helpful with logistics, so a lot of the issues were already dealt with. We then met up with others from the group and walked past the angry Filipinos, to the market.
It was weird. It was sort of indoors, but people sat outside the store and every time you walked by would say “take a look inside ma’am” and open the door for you, regardless of whether you were walking towards it. Unfortunately, most of the time, the air conditioning is more appealing than what they’re actually selling. I walked into a few places and watched my co-workers negotiate prices. I’m going to have to get better at this; I feel bad because I’m already getting things for a low price, but you can tell they’re inflating the cost because they pause after you ask how much something costs and before they say it to you…plus we’re all white! There are no price stickers on anything.
We walked home and I took a few random pictures of Jeepneys (little truck-like taxi cars that pick up and drop off people) and two random Filipino skateboarders that wanted me to take their picture.
I spent the next hour and a half by the pool with Halo halo! It’s a famous Filipino desert with shaved ice, ice cream, fruit, BEANS, jello (apparently they like that a lot here), and something similar to rice crispy treats. It was very good, but I think I could have done without the green and red jello…and perhaps the beans too. The pool was very sexy at night, but I didn’t go in.
It’s now about 11 pm in the Philippines and I’ve managed to blog, as well as do some work for Melissa. Good news for me; I am going to have my first opportunity to be published in the development world! After this workshop I am going to write a “Note from the Field;” this is a USAID document that will be distributed throughout its network. It will focus on technical learning from this workshop, but unfortunately what I am going to highlight can’t be planned in advance as we don’t really know what’s going to come out of it yet. Either way, I will be taking a lot of notes for the workshop each day, so I’m sure I’ll come up with something.
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