Always an Adventure

Always an Adventure by Mair

I had several topics on my mind for my blog this week… but then nature took over and provided one for me.  Yesterday, November 15, as I was teaching mathematics to my grade two students, it started to rain.  Not just rain, pour.  By the time we were walking across the island to go home, the streets and alleys were flooding.   Hotel lobbies and people’s businesses were also flooding.  Since I was so disappointed about not having my camera last time it flooded, I have kept my promise to myself and now carry it everywhere.  So I have pictures of what we walked thorough on the way home.  It is hard to capture the event on still photos, but it gives you an idea.

Around 3:00 pm (school day starts at 7:30 am with a 30 minute lunch, so it is done by 1:30pm) I received a text saying the school was flooding.  Apparently the retaining wall that is above the school backing onto the neighbouring Muslim community gave way and water began pouring into the kindergarten classrooms and other rooms in the building.  Along with water came plenty of bright red mud.  Ugh!  The staff that were still at the school scrambled around trying to lift all the classroom items off the floor and sweep away the water. The construction workers tried sandbagging the retaining wall in an attempt to stop the flow.  It was a bit of a losing battle and several of the classrooms ended up with four inches of muddy water across the floors.  There was no real danger… just mess.  We tried to get back across town to the school to help, but were advised by the mission leadership to stay home as the roads were flooded.

So, today, November 16^th, 2011, school was cancelled and we all gathered at the school, in the sunshine and began the clean-up process.  This was one of the many times when we needed to take our Filipino friends’ lead.  In the Philippines work is often done manually.  In most homes, food is still cooked on open fires, clothes are washed by hand and hung in the sun to dry, building supplies, such as bags of concrete, are carried on people’s backs to the building sites, and flooded rooms are cleaned using brooms made from small twigs, rags, soap and water.  And guess what?  It totally works.

The process was simple.  We got everything we could up off the muddy floor and started pouring water onto the mud and sludge.  Then, working in a line, we “broomed” the water across the room to an open door and swept it out.  We repeated the process until the mud and most of the water was gone. Then we got on our hands and knees and using ripped up cloths as rags, we dried the floor and cleaned the walls.  Finally, when it was safe to use the electrical outlets, we plugged in fans and started the final drying process.  Then came the task of washing all the toys and other items that had been splashed with mud.  At one point someone hooked up a hose, which helped with the spreading of the water.  But then it began to leak, like a geyser.  As the water spewed forth at a great speed, I stood there thinking, “Hmmm… I think we need duct tape or some kind of Home Depot tool, or perhaps…..” and as I was pondering all the items that we didn’t have to solve the problem, one of my Filipina friends grabbed a plastic bag, wrapped it tightly around the leak and fixed the problem.  I never cease to be amazed at the ingenuity of the Filipinos.  It is like the old saying “Necessity is the mother of invention.”  They just know how to “make do”.  Incredible.  

Walking Home from School - the pic just doesn't do it justice!

This is the "After" - can't figure out how to move it where I want it to go!

Fruit market worker trying to clear drain with a broom.

Mair... singing in the rain!

Using bucket and twig broom to clean up

Becca the girl with the big smile!

Enjoying the day... it's all about attitude

Kylee and Cecile hand washing toys. 

The Filipino Fix

The best part of the whole process was, someone had some worship music on his cellphone, which had an external speaker (like I said everyone has a cellphone) so we were able to sing (and gab) while we worked.  It was actually very fun and quite a bonding experience.  The day ended with us washing ourselves off in a beautiful, warm, blue ocean, basking in the hot sunshine.  It doesn’t get better than that.