By Emily Sealy, USA, on her experience touring Manila
On Saturday, our second full day here in the Manila, Cast A 2010 had the opportunity to experience a few different facets of the rich Filipino culture. We met at the Philippines National Red Cross Headquarters in the Port Area by taxi, which gave us a taste of the very hectic and sometimes overwhelming traffic. I’ve been told that if you can drive here, you can drive anywhere—and I’m coming to agree with that statement, it is a pretty impressive feat. While we were waiting for the entire group to gather, Breton (the band’s drummer from Nebraska) and Tonio (also a musician, and our sound guy from Mexico) had an impromptu drumming session outside of the Red Cross gates. A small crowd of men, children, and UWP students gathered to listen. Some brave souls went in the middle to dance, or to try their hand at banging on the drum. (Some of these “brave souls” were pushed into the circle by their friends.) Everyone was laughing and encouraging the little kids to play with the small shaker percussion instruments, which they did very shyly. Eventually we had to leave that circle but the whole group, Filipinos included, seemed to have enjoyed it.
The cast gathered into groups and got into lavishly painted jeepneys. These are American military vehicles that had been left after occupation, 
which are now basically smaller, uniquely decorated busses. We drove to Gawad Kalinga at Baseco. Gawad Kalinga, put very simply, is a non-profit organization that focuses on revitalizing and rebuilding houses and communities that are less fortunate. Baseco used to be a poor and dangerous area full of squatters who lived primarily on stilted houses with wooden bridges. In 2004 there was a large fire that displaced over 2,500 families. GK (Gawad Kalinga) came in with a vision of giving people back some hope, dignity and the goal of self-sufficiency. Six years later, we walked into an open brick courtyard with brightly colored houses lined up in rows, with flowers and trees framing a sign saying “Gawad Kalinga Baseco”. Almost immediately a large group of children rushed in through the gate, smiling and looking at us with excitement and curiosity.
We were lead into a small, warm room with about ten Filipino children in uniform sitting in a circle on the floor. The children treated us to an incredibly cute dance performance with backing track. The crowd went wild! Many pictures were snapped and many “aww”s emitted. Then the cast was shown a small video about the development at Baseco and the mission of GK. Afterwards we went outside and got a small tour of the site. As we walked, we slowly gained more and more children who shyly took our hands and joined the procession. Two small girls, who I had waved at and said hello to, looked at the rest of the castmembers playing with the other kids and quickly came to either side of me. They spoke to me in Tagalog quietly, probably introducing themselves, but I did not understand. I just smiled at them, they took my hands, and we continued walking. We ended up at two big playgrounds and just started playing. I let them take me wherever they wanted to. Leslie, my friend and a staff member, joined me in pushing them on the swing, going on the slide with them, and chasing them around.
Did I mention that it was hot? It was really hot.
I took out my camera to snap a few pictures and suddenly there were four or five children surrounding me, peering at the screen and whispering to each other. The older of my two girls took it upon herself to watch after my camera, water bottle, and sunglasses. I taught her to put the strap around her wrist when she took pictures, and she wore my sunglasses. The pictures that she took are pretty interesting—they show views and angles that I would not be comfortable capturing, as an outsider. In fact, all of the kids at GK who have taken pictures on my camera have taken very unique and at times very beautiful pictures, snapshots of a world that is so different from my own.
After the playground, we went back to the courtyard and danced around. At this point, I was getting many looks that told me that I had sweated all of my sunscreen off. I had to sit inside in front of the fan for a little while. My friend Dylan bought me a nice cold bottle of water, and that helped a lot. Hans (production manager), Laura Lynn (vocal staffperson), and their UWP Unplugged group played a few songs for the kids and anyone else who wanted to listen. The kids really liked it, especially the songs that they recognized.
It was not easy to leave all of the little kids who we couldn’t understand but held so tightly to our hands and so yearned for our attention. But thankfully, a group of 16 others and myself returned on Monday for another 13 days of Community Impact there, and we interact with the children everyday.
We went into the jeepneys to the National Museum of the Philippines where we toured the four floors of galleries full of the country’s history. The first few floors were all about shipwrecks in the many years of trade, with incredibly preserved Chinese porcelain, rusted sword handles, and clay pots used for food and beverages. It was amazing to see all of the years of cargo that had rested at the bottom of the ocean, and now were sitting in glass cases for everyone to examine. Another floor showed the natural flora and fauna of the Filipino archipelago, including a display of butterflies in a lovely pattern. The last floor showcased the human history in the Philippines, and the evolution of tools, transportation, and civilization. The final room we visited showed large pictures from the more recent years. This included a brief summarization of the many different cultures and countries that have occupied and affected these islands, and how the current state of affairs reflects these many aspects.
While waiting for the whole group to finish their tour, many of us went outside and sat on the steps of the museum. There were three or four vendors outside, waiting for us with tempting treats. It was hot, so ice cream was a popular choice. A messy, but oh so delicious decision.
The next stop on our regional learning tour was Intramuros, which literally means “within the walls”. It is the fort that was built by the Spanish as their main base of operations during their first years in occupation. It has walls 4 meters thick and very tall, with many special security features including small buildings just outside of the wall to protect from oncoming battle, or also to attack those who had breached the fort walls. Most of the actual fort walls still stand, though many of the buildings have not been so lucky. The American military also used Intramuros as a strategic stronghold for their occupation. The cast watched a video about the history of the fort and the efforts to refurbish the area. Afterwards we had a rare bit of free time to walk around. There was a large park with a few fountains and trees in it, and there were streets and sidewalks surrounding it. The majority of the cast explored the many historical streets.
I, on the other hand, took that time to lay in the grass in the shade of a large tree and enjoy the breeze and the blue sky. Tonio serenaded me on the guitar, and Teke (the UWP band’s bassist from Finland) joined us after a little while. Our group gained some members, and some left, but it was a very calm, chilled out period of relaxation with some friends and good music.
Our last site that we visited was Barbara’s restaurant, in Intramuros. The whole cast had changed out of their sweaty play-with-children-in-the-sun clothing, into our nice business casual wear fit for a nice place such as this. We all sat down randomly at tables and chatted with our table-mates. We were treated to an INCREDIBLY delicious buffet with very diverse foods that somehow all complimented each other, and mouthwatering desserts. After eating way too much good food and enjoying Andy (our band’s pianist from Germany) play music for us, we thought that we had had a great day.
But wait! There’s more!
The final surprise for the day was a showing of traditional Filipino dances. Honestly, it was pretty amazing. There were three or four different dances, but they were all cool. In the first one, they were mimicking candelabras and were swinging candles around in cloths. Then they balanced the candles on their heads. Then they balanced glasses of water, without hair clips or glue or anything, on their heads. Still while dancing! We were very impressed.
Tinikling is the Filipino national dance. There are two long bamboo poles that are held by a person on either side on the ground. They hit them together and apart rhythmically, and another person (or more than one person) dances in and out of the moving poles. (It was very cool for me to see them do this dance because in my elementary school in Colorado, we learned how to tinikle during P.E.! We learned it to Beach Boys songs, so it’s not quite the same, but still. It was a blast from the past.) After performing for us, they pulled some people from our audience up on stage to learn some simple steps. When no more people volunteered, then names started being shouted out from the crowd. It was really fun to see our castmates (and some staff) jump around with these talented Filipino dancers. After the show, we found out that they were students from a local university.
It was the longest Regional Learning days that we have had in our tour so far, but it is only fitting seeing that we are here in Manila for an entire month. It was very enlightening to experience all of these activities. Each individual one showed us a different part of the Philippines and the culture. Playing with the kids represented the hospitality and joy that is present in so much of this country, even though about 80% of the citizens are considered very poor. The museum helped us learn about the history of the people and the islands. Intramuros was a very tangible lesson on the different governments, wars, and occupations. So much had happened there, and only recently have the people been able to reclaim it as their own and truly embrace all of the beauty. I feel more knowledgeable about the culture but there is still much to learn here, through our host families and community service projects and just the people we meet on the streets. I can’t wait to see all that we learn! I am already becoming more comfortable around the city, and absorbing all of the Tagalog that my brain can process.
I hope that reading this helped you feel like you were right there with us during our day, and that maybe you learned a little bit, too. (And if you read it all, hats off to you!)
Salamat po! (Thank you.)
And for now.. Magandang abi (good night).
via Email