"Typhoon Unday hit the Luzon area, where Manila is located. My training site is in Leyte. To get to Leyte from Manila. you have to take an hour flight. I was not affected by the typhoon at all. Apparently, the news in America is making it sound as if all the Philippines are underwater, but if there was a flood in Florida, the people in Sierra Vista wouldn't even get a drizzle. So while I was asleep in my bed far from the storm, my friends and family were waking up in America finding out about the floods in the Philippines, and I got a text at 3 a.m. from a friend checking up on me, and a worried phone call from my parents at 8 a.m. In fact, when a typhoon does hit my area, because it is so rural, there will be no news coverage on any of the American news stations."
Philippines Peace Corps Volunteer Cassie Pardee writes: Safe from the storms
Cassie's Chronicles: Safe from the storms
Sat, 10/10/2009 - 23:25
As many of you might have heard on the news, there have been many typhoons in the Philippines recently.
Typhoon Unday hit the Luzon area, where Manila is located. My training site is in Leyte. To get to Leyte from Manila. you have to take an hour flight. I was not affected by the typhoon at all. Apparently, the news in America is making it sound as if all the Philippines are underwater, but if there was a flood in Florida, the people in Sierra Vista wouldn't even get a drizzle. So while I was asleep in my bed far from the storm, my friends and family were waking up in America finding out about the floods in the Philippines, and I got a text at 3 a.m. from a friend checking up on me, and a worried phone call from my parents at 8 a.m. In fact, when a typhoon does hit my area, because it is so rural, there will be no news coverage on any of the American news stations.
However, recently, I did find out where I will be living for the next two years. So now the question is: Do you know the way to San Jose? That is, San Jose, northern Samar, to be exact. From my training site in Leyte, I have to catch a jeepney to the big city of Tacloban, where I get in a van with 14 other people and take a seven-hour ride across a bridge and rough roads to the northern tip of Samar. Then I have to take another jeepney 30 minutes to my permanent site in San Jose. Before the site visit, all the trainees got to read about their new office and the resources they will be provided. Some people had scuba gear at their disposal, others had boats, one girl even had a house she can stay in while living there. As for me, under resources listed I had: a stapler, a yellow notepad and a marker.
During my site visit, I got to talk to the "local government unit" that I will be working with. They were all very excited to meet me. The area I will be working in is just being developed, so I will have to start all the coastal plans from the ground up. This means a lot of talks and training with government officials, fisherfolk, and town leaders. I will also have to do a lot of biophysical surveys of the coral reefs, fishing zones, and mangroves. It is a little intimidating as a new college grad going into an area where I am supposed to be the expert, but I am also excited to help these people create a management plan, a marine protected area, and educate them on the importance of protecting marine resources.
While I said before I was not affected by Typhoon Unday, I was relatively close to typhoon Peping while I was in northern Samar. The typhoon was off the coast from north Samar, meaning there was a lot of rain and wind, along with a phone call from the Peace Corps telling us not to travel back to our training site right away. This was a little frustrating because I was starting to miss my current host family and all my brothers and sisters. However, when I woke up the next morning, it was sunny and calm and with the change in weather, I got another phone call saying to go home now before the weather changes again. So I had to run around packing my bag and rushing to the nearest town to catch the seven hour van ride back to my training site and my new Filipino family.
CASSIE PARDEE is a Peace Corps volunteer from Sierra Vista. After graduating from the University of Redlands in California, the Buena High alumna entered the Peace Corps and was sent to the Philippines, where she is living with a family. She's sharing her experiences with Herald/Review readers.
