I am a traveller. I am seeing every place I go in a short amount of time, like a blink of an eye. I only get a small glimpse of each place I stay, and only from the perspective of someone passing through. I never get the chance to really be part of a culture, to breathe in the essence of a people. Just 3 days ago I believed this was the best way to experience the world. Try to fit as much in to the few days you spend in each place while traveling, and you will take in many cultures as well as learn about yourself. My views have changed.
As I mentioned before I came to the Philippines to pass through and spend as much time with one of my best friends Ali Silva. She is stationed here as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I really had no plans beforehand. All I knew was the people of the Philippines are extremely warmhearted, loving, and overall a beautiful people. My first few days I got sucked up by the city, and only got to experience this when I met Ali's Filipino family 5 days after I arrived. I then made my way back to the city to spend a few days at a youth hostel while Ali spent the week at work. My first two days were wonderful. I had wonderful conversations with so many people at the hostel, and learned a lot about other people's travels (and got suggestions for the next countries I would visit). I spent a day on a Filipino boat snorkeling on a completely protected island where the reef was one of the healthiest in the world. It was all a good time. Then Ali came into town for dinner. We began talking about traveling versus experiencing a country by living there for an extended period of time. Ali said that she was not really interested in traveling and would rather spend anywhere between a month to a year or more in one place, not really to travel around. I told her that she should not make that judgement until she actually tries traveling, because it is fantastic, especially traveling alone! We could not agree, so I did not push the issue, I simply agreed to disagree. Then I began to read.
Ali let me borrow a book given to her by the Peace Corps during her first week of training; it is called "Plundering Paradise: the struggle for the environment in the Philippines". If I could suggest any book to someone traveling through the Philippines it would be this book. Its not a pleasant read, but I could not put it down. Actually I recommend you read this book if you have the chance where ever you are in this world. I had no idea about any of the issues in the Philippines, and I would have went on completely oblivious to the world around me. Yes its a sad world when I began to pay attention, but there is also so much beauty in the power of people. If there are passionate environmentalists in this world, you will find many of them right here in the Philippines. What makes me the saddest is that I have gone my whole life and never had the Philippines cross my mind. I know that there is not much I can do, but what I can do is use my voice. Most people do not know a thing about this country, and the fact is it is a beautiful place but extremely poor. That fact is that we can do more for this country by coming here bringing tourism (and not being afraid of typhoons), being aware of companies that use the Philippines for unsustainable product growth and manufacture, and help further programs that work with the impoverished children and families. I know that everyone has their own lives, with their own problems and worries, but even just educating yourself in issues in other countries could make you a much more sustainable consumer. This alone could help a place like the Philippines. And don't get me wrong, it isn't always a sad story! Quite the opposite! The story of the Filipino environmentalists is an inspirational one, and will help you to take a step back and realize that the term "eco-conscious" is very different for rich societies versus very poor societies. All-in-all though you will have a new found appreciation and education on what it means to be an environmentalist from a poor or indigenous man's prospective. Being eco-conscious isn't always about buying organic food, shopping at New Leaf, wearing hemp clothes, and putting sun panels up on your roof.
All this information many travelers seem to miss as they come through this beautiful country. Talking to other travelers after what I learned from Ali is what made me shift my perception. I saw the world through a travelers eyes, she saw the bigger picture...the world through the eyes of the people. Once I realized that most people come through the Philippines to party at night, lounge around on pristine beaches, and see some of the worlds most beautiful coral reefs without paying any attention to the country itself my mentality shifted. How many countries have I turned a blind eye to just because I was on vacation, and wanted to lie on a beach? Granted that is a wonderful thing to do and I do not need to understand the history and politics behind each country I visit, but am I really learning anything from my travels? Have I taken on anything that I can carry with me throughout my life to make me a better person, to make me understand my place in the world and how I can better it for future generations?
This is why I have to thank Miss Ali Sliva, for opening my eyes. I was just a traveler before, and now she has made me see how wonderful it is to really take in a culture. Its not about how many times you can blink, but rather how much you can see if you just take a moment to look around. I also have to thank Ali for the amazing work she does here as a Peace Corps Volunteer, but most importantly the passion she has shared with me about this country. Without her I would have not seen the Philippines in the same light. Also, the work she currently does in costal resource management really shows her passion for the people of her province, and I know that in a few years she will have created new projects for the people of this province to bring in sustainable revenue. In a small way she is shifting the environmental destruction that happened over the past 60 years to a new sustainable revenue. It is people like the Peace Corps Volunteers that are really out there changing the world, if we pay closer attention we could too even in little ways.
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