I have arrived back this past weekend from our second and final field experience in Puerto Princesa. I forget how much I love being in the field and living with the researcher until I come back to Manila.
We were allowed to leave 3 days early so that we could do some site seeing on our own before meeting up with the team on Monday. For those that do not know, Palawan is an island in the Luzon region to the left of the Philippines. It is one of the biggest tourist spots in the Philippines- and know I know why! Aside from the crystal blue fluorescent waters, incredible rock formations, dozens of islands, beautiful resorts, and plenty of places to visit, Palawan is also full of wonderful people.
We arrived Thursday night at the quaint little Puerto Princesa airport and headed to our hotel for the night. The next morning we woke up super early to be picked up by our tour guide at 6am. We got on a boat and traveled 2 hours out to Honda bay so that we could…wait for it… swim with wild whale sharks! Yes- the biggest fish in the sea. It was absolutely incredible and by far one of my most memorable experiences.
The next day we took a 5 hour van ride up to El Nido- what Palawan is known for. It was absolutely stunning, we even had the opportunity to go island hopping! On Sunday evening after and incredible weekend, we traveled back to Puerto Princesa to meet up with the team on Monday.
The field work:
It is shocking to me that even in a place with so much natural beauty and tourism, there still exists so much poverty and those living in underwhelming, impoverish conditions. Although, it really does makes you realize that poverty exists everywhere. Including places that are so desirable. This is also true in America. Although it may be less obvious than here, I learned in my previous Advocacy class that Poverty is always hiding in plain sight. However in Palawan, it is a matter of black and white living in the same place.
Although our field experience was much shorter (5 days compared to 15) we still had that opportunity to visit 5 different Barangays. That meant we were able to meet 5 new subteam, and we did in fact make a tik tok at every one.
The 5 barangays we went to were: Maunlad, Manghan, Bagong Sikat, Liwanag, and Matahimik.
Although some barangays we were only there for a matter of hours instead of a few days like Ilocos. It was still so much fun getting to know the researchers and having a small taste of what each Barangay is like. In one of the households we surveyed, there were over 15 people in the family we needed to collect data on ranging from elderly to newborns. We were there for 2 hours. I even got the opportunity to measure MUAC and ht on an infant scale- the baby however wasn’t too happy about the whole thing. It was so much fun trying to get the children to be on board with all the measurements. I also had fun practicing my manual BP skills on all the respondents.
Being apart of the field work with the researchers makes me appreciate them and all they do to collect important data about their country. Their resiliency and endurance to live out in the field and work as hard as they do every day is truly inspiring.
One of the most bittersweet moments from this trip was having to finally say goodbye to our incredible field supervisor, Ma’am Carol. However, we grew so close that we called her MomC or our Filipino Mom. She had taken care of us during both field experiences and we could not have been more grateful for everything she did for us. It is a bond that I will cherish forever. I know that know. anytime. I come back to the Philippines she will definitely be someone I make a point to visit. Love you MomC!
I am so sad our field work is complete however, I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to learn and see the things I did. It is an experience that will last me a life time and has provided me with things I will take with me through my future career endeavors.