Participants:
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM000157S
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00:48 We're taking you again to the Philippines
00:50 which is located in Southeast Asia 00:53 in the South China Sea. 01:20 Quarterly exams just got over at the high school. 01:23 And so all the kids last week went back to their families 01:25 in the villages and this week we're heading out 01:28 and going to spend a whole week in the villages 01:30 because kids are actually going to be peaking out there. 01:32 So they're taking the place with the actual teacher. 01:34 So it's kind of a training program that we have here 01:36 to help, start helping the students feel when 01:39 and how to take the responsibility 01:41 of feeling comfortable in a classroom. 01:43 So we pack everything in this little van 01:46 and started out at 4 o'clock this morning 01:49 and we're heading out here in about 10 minutes. 02:08 Our Layman Ministries' III boat is the life connection 02:11 to the remote villages where we have schools. 02:13 The only other way to get to these villages 02:16 is a six-hour hike over Mount Calavite 02:18 all in various directions 02:20 depending on the village you want to go to. 02:22 Over the years we've had different boats 02:24 but this one is the biggest and the best of them all. 02:32 Soon we were all loaded and setting sail. 02:37 Days like this do not give an honest representation 02:39 of what the South China Sea can be like, 02:41 today it's calm, smooth, with little wind or waves 02:45 but at other times there can be 12 to 15-foot swells 02:49 pounding waves with gale force winds 02:51 blowing water over the entire boat. 02:54 It's days like that you don't want to be 02:56 out in the boat. 02:58 The boat ride is a good time for Jim Webb, 03:00 our Layman Ministries 03:01 Philippines project coordinator 03:03 and I to catch up on the project. 03:05 We're headed from Mamburao 03:07 to the village called Binuangan. 03:09 It takes about four hours to get there by boat. 03:11 This village is on the coastline 03:13 at the base of Mount Calavite 03:15 with a river flowing by one side. 03:29 Soon as we get the boat tied off, 03:31 we start unloading all the passengers and cargo. 03:34 Calm days like this make unloading relatively easy 03:37 but when there are big waves, wow, it's super hard 03:40 and even dangerous to unload. 03:45 The student missionaries, teachers and the kids 03:47 are always excited to see Jim when he arrives. 03:50 Years ago, when the boat would arrive, 03:52 the children would all go and hide, 03:54 their fears are now gone. 04:13 This new boat is pretty amazing. 04:14 When we left the port at Mamburao this morning 04:17 it was all the way down to, down to the words on the side, 04:21 it was really riding low in water 04:23 because it had 1.2 tons of steel on there 04:27 and 106 sacks of cement. 04:29 So it's like a huge amount of weight, 04:31 plus all the supplies for the villages 04:33 plus there was 12 or 13 passengers on board. 04:36 So, this new boat is really critical 04:38 for our operations here 04:39 and it's really proven to be a workhorse. 04:41 This is actually only the second time it's been out 04:43 after it got swept out to sea and was damaged really bad. 04:47 We're running a new rebuild engine right now too. 04:49 So you can see all the cement here, 04:51 looks like a huge amount of weight this thing carries. 05:00 Everyone does their part to get the supplies 05:02 up to the school campus. 05:08 Marie, one of our longer term missionaries 05:10 was busy dealing with a student that had a bad cut in his leg. 05:14 Marie is from the US and has a heart 05:16 for medical missionary work. 05:23 Missionary life here in Binuangan 05:26 goes from being a teacher, to a parent, 05:29 to a doctor, to a cook. 05:31 Actually it can be anywhere it's not in the mission 05:35 what do you think as Africa or Philippines 05:39 or somewhere remotes like in remote places, 05:41 but missionary life can be anywhere. 05:45 As missionary you have to be well rounded. Yeah. 05:50 To everything there is an America, 05:52 no difference except we have the luxury 05:54 of being in the jungle. 05:56 You know how to do manual labor 05:59 instead of teaching, 06:01 you know, should know how to do carpentry 06:04 and anything that, yeah, 06:06 any other things that needs to be done. 06:10 And all the challenges, let's not forget that, 06:14 but is the challenges 06:16 that that makes us better missionaries here 06:19 because we are here for one purpose 06:23 and one purpose only is to serve God 06:26 through taking care of the children He has. 06:32 Camille will do in English. 06:34 Ah, yeah. 06:35 When Jim comes to the village, 06:37 he's communicating with the teachers 06:38 about school tests, problem children, 06:41 and answering questions. 06:43 This is a time where the teachers 06:45 can share their problems, 06:46 both personal and dealing with the school in the village. 06:49 You know that he is the son of the Bejari. 06:51 Yes. 06:53 These are the grades for the first periodical, 06:56 which is like first quarter exams 07:00 from two of Daryll students, 07:02 one we had tremendous problems 07:04 with the young man last year reference attitude. 07:10 And he's showing me his grade three math test, 07:14 he scored 98 on. 07:17 And this young lady 07:19 in a science grade 2 science scorednine... 07:21 who was a dropout last year. 07:23 Who was a dropout last year scored 99. 07:27 So we can't give up. 07:36 Early the next morning the staff 07:38 and our high school students come together 07:40 for prayer, worship, and orientation, 07:43 especially today as this is the first day 07:46 of student teaching. 07:47 The high school students will get a firsthand experience 07:50 of what it's like to be an actual teacher. 07:54 The students always arrive early at the school 07:56 to help clean up the campus grounds. 07:58 All the children carry responsibilities. 08:01 Also know how clean the children are. 08:04 They all bathe before coming to school. 08:06 And at the school they often get better morning meal 08:09 if the parents are up in the mountains, 08:11 and they do other things like brush their teeth. 08:22 Before classes start, the students have 08:24 a flag raising ceremony. 08:28 This morning, there are special instructions 08:30 given regarding the high school students 08:32 teaching many of the classes this week. 08:35 After this, they're all dismissed 08:37 to go to their individual classes. 08:43 Okay. And... 09:09 This is your typical Katutubo village. 09:11 The word Katutubo means indigenous, 09:14 and this particular indigenous tribe 09:16 is the Orion tribe. 09:17 I remember when we first started coming here 09:19 22 years ago, 09:22 things haven't changed that much in the village, 09:24 but they're a little bit better, 09:25 but the kids were like little animals, honestly, 09:28 they had a gloss over look on their eyes 09:31 and they were terribly afraid of us, 09:33 but now the kids are really opening up. 09:35 We have kids going on to high schools, 09:37 but this is a way that they live. 09:39 The Orion tribe is basically a nomadic tribe. 09:43 And as you notice right now, 09:45 this village is like a ghost town. 09:47 There's nobody here because they're up 09:49 doing their rice harvesting in the mountains right now. 09:52 That means the kids are here in their houses by themselves, 09:55 taking care of themselves, getting ready for school, 09:57 they're taking their baths, brushing their teeth. 09:59 They do a lot of that right up at the mission house, 10:02 but this kind of gives you 10:03 an idea where these kids are coming from. 10:04 These are not Filipinos. 10:06 These are indigenous tribal people. 10:08 And they were here long, long before the Filipino 10:12 or the Malay people or the Spanish people 10:14 ever came here. 10:16 I've seen pictures of them from way back in the 1940s. 10:19 And the 1940s pictures and pictures of today, 10:23 like we're taking today are not all that different, 10:25 but things are getting better. 10:27 The progress is a slow work, but it's a blessed work too 10:31 and we have high hopes for the high school kids 10:34 to be able to come back and be teachers here 10:36 and be missionaries in their own village. 10:39 You can see the houses how they're constructed here, 10:41 really rough sawn lumber and lumber is getting 10:45 really scarce here to find 10:47 because it's illegal actually be cutting trees down, 10:50 but the tribal people sometimes still do it 10:52 and they cut it up and they make these 10:54 really crude boards to build their houses out of, 10:57 and then they have this typical grass roofs on it 11:00 which I think it's called cogon, but it's, 11:03 it keeps the places pretty cool in when the sun's out, 11:06 and right now it's October and it's been unusually hot 11:12 'cause usually when you're here in October, 11:13 it's raining more and it's a lot cooler out, 11:16 but it gives you an idea just to kind of see, 11:18 you know, how they live like 11:19 this is actually a what they call their kitchen 11:22 and they burn wood and charcoal in here. 11:24 And it's interesting how they, 11:26 the native people make charcoal here, 11:27 they'll cut down trees that are green, 11:29 and they'll cut it up in pieces, 11:31 and they'll make a big fire pit and build a fire 11:34 and then when all the coals are nice and hot and stuff, 11:35 they throw a whole bunch more wood on top of it, 11:38 and then cover it with banana leaves and dirt 11:39 and things like that and let it smolder 11:41 for about 48 hours until it goes out, 11:43 and then when they dig it up, 11:45 they have this beautiful hard wood charcoal 11:47 and that's what they typically cook on 11:49 for the rice cookers and such. 11:57 You can see here they're cooking breakfast 11:59 on the outside kitchen and whole family will sleep 12:02 in a little house like this one right here. 12:07 It's hard for some people 12:08 to even imagine living this way, 12:10 but our missionaries have it quite nice 12:12 because we have cinder block or cement houses 12:15 for them with cement floors, 12:16 but a lot of these people live with dirt floors, 12:19 very, very primitive. 12:20 And as we came in on the boat, you saw how this one's 12:23 particularly really sits right on the coast 12:25 and there's a big river here. 12:28 And that big river oftentimes during rainy season floods, 12:31 and they'll get big storms 12:32 and so the mouth of the river at the bay changes constantly, 12:36 the river will go out this way sometimes, 12:37 the river go out that way. 12:39 And my daughter actually worked in this village 12:41 for three and a half years. 12:43 And she told me sometimes when they have those big storms 12:45 is absolutely frightening. 12:49 This peaceful river can turn quickly 12:52 into a raging torrent, 12:53 meeting huge waves crashing in from the sea during a storm. 12:58 Because of all the illegal tree cutting 13:01 and the slash and burn done up in the mountains 13:03 flash flooding has become a real problem. 13:09 Because the village of Binuangan 13:11 is located next to the steep sides of the mountain, 13:14 the village lies mostly on a flat strip of land 13:17 right next to the river. 13:22 This red line shows 13:23 where the village's river bank used to be 13:26 and how the river has progressively eaten away. 13:30 To protect the village from further erosion, 13:32 our ministry organized building large gabions 13:35 to divert the water away from the banks 13:37 along the village. 13:39 Much of this was done by hand with a local government 13:42 providing gabion cages and even wages 13:44 for the tribal members who helped. 13:54 We plan to build another one of these 13:56 right next to the village 13:57 just to make sure we stop the erosion. 13:59 To save the least, this was a huge undertaking. 14:07 All the hard work of operating this project 14:10 is worth it when you see these young children 14:12 with their eyes sparkling learning about God 14:16 and getting the basic educational skills they need. 14:20 So 15 correct. 14:22 Multiplied by... I am Czarina Benosa. 14:25 I came from Pangasinan in Region I, 14:31 in the biggest island of the Philippines those on. 14:35 And I find it very challenging, 14:37 but fun with the students 14:40 and with their diverse cultures. 14:51 Forty-six, fourteen. 14:56 Now count by six 14:57 Eighteen, twenty-four, thirty. 15:00 Seven... 15:02 Ready, get, set. Okay, get count by seven. 15:05 Okay, ready, get set. 15:07 Twenty-four, thirty-two, 15:09 forty, forty-eight, fifty-six. 15:13 What is this? 15:16 Fox. 15:18 So. Fearless. 15:20 What's the first sound that you can hear? 15:22 Fearless. 15:25 Then try... 15:29 There. Then try to do. Both of you. 15:32 Okay, F. F. 15:35 Again, let's try to do. 15:47 Okay, okay, okay. 15:57 It's 5 o'clock in the morning 15:59 and we're loading up the boat right now 16:01 in total darkness to go over to Agbalite from, 16:05 what's the name of this place? 16:06 Binuangan. Binuangan. Yeah. 16:08 We're tired. 16:10 We're going in a small native boat 16:12 so we're wrapping all the bags and everything up 16:14 inside a plastic, and then green or rice bag. 16:19 Hopefully, the oceans not gonna be too rough this morning. 16:21 So hopefully don't get everything all wet 16:23 including ourselves. 16:47 We were very thankful that the seas 16:49 were relatively calm that morning. 16:51 As we navigated around the tip of the island of Mindoro 16:54 on our way to the remote village of Agbalite. 17:36 This is the village of Agbalite. 17:38 I first came here around 1994 and 1995 17:41 so that was like about 22, 23 years ago, 17:45 we hiked over the mountains from Pinagbyanan 17:47 and over to here 17:48 and it was actually a lot thicker back then 17:50 and there was only just a small group 17:52 of these nipa huts down by the ocean. 17:55 Somebody previous to us coming here had carved out 17:58 in the forest over there, a small little area 18:00 where they started building a small Adventist Church. 18:03 And that was kind of like the beginning of our endeavor 18:09 to try to come to this area. 18:11 And with over the next couple of years, 18:12 we came here and we secured some land up there. 18:15 And we're the current mission house 18:17 and school and everything is out. 18:19 And we built a school here. 18:21 And a lot of changes. 18:23 If you look over top of this village, 18:25 looking at it from the air down, 18:27 you'll see that it's actually 18:28 a pretty sprawling community now 18:30 and there's a lot of houses here. 18:31 It's actually like a small town. 18:34 It's actual good size village. 18:36 And some people have moved in 18:37 and they started a little store over there 18:39 and you're hearing generators running 18:40 during the day. 18:42 And we've had some real blessings 18:44 and some real challenges in this village over the years. 18:46 And we realized that it's gonna take 18:48 probably a whole generation to start to change the way 18:51 things are as far as the thinking 18:54 and the cleanliness and the hygiene 18:55 and such with the people in this village. 18:58 My wife came here a number of years ago 19:00 with my youngest daughter Neselle 19:02 and taught here for almost seven months. 19:04 In fact, all my daughters at one time or another 19:06 have come here to the Philippines project. 19:08 My daughter Chris I actually went over 19:10 and was in Binuangan and kind of help 19:12 was one of the pioneers in that village over there 19:14 and I think she taught for a while in Pinagbyanan 19:16 and two she was and then my daughter Theresa 19:18 came here and spent one of her summer out 19:21 from the school year coming here 19:22 and helping Jim and Moni, 19:24 but there's a lot of challenges here 19:25 in a village like this. 19:27 And now we're starting to see a lot of these kids 19:30 move on to the high school 19:32 and we have really good attendance. 19:34 I think they said they have 53 kids 19:36 in school here this year. 19:38 And a lot of young children 19:40 and we have good teachers here, 19:42 but, you know, as a community starts to grow 19:45 these people are like a seminomadic people. 19:47 And the whole idea of starting to establish homes 19:49 and staying in an area to have their kids in school 19:53 is being a real challenge 19:54 because the parents wanna kind of like migrate around 19:58 and live up in the mountains. 20:00 And that makes it difficult 20:01 for their kids to attend school. 20:03 So a lot of the people have actually started to congregate, 20:05 like in villages like this one because of the school 20:08 and the parents still leave and go way up 20:11 into the mountains 20:12 and take care of their pile and rice, 20:14 but they leave their kids here unattended, 20:17 taking care of themselves 20:19 and some of them are pretty young, 20:20 and they have to feed themselves and such. 20:21 So sometimes our teachers 20:23 are helping feed the kids and stuff 20:25 because they come to school hungry. 20:29 When we arrived, the school was just about to start. 20:32 We have a beautiful campus and have recently built 20:35 more classrooms and staff housing. 20:37 We are making the newest buildings 20:39 completely termite proof and even cyclone proof 20:43 using cement and tin. 20:45 We have five classrooms to accommodate 20:47 the various age groups. 21:01 The children start their day with proper hygiene. 21:04 They all brush their teeth, and each one is required 21:07 to come to school in clean clothes and bathe. 21:10 Believe me getting them to comply with this 21:12 has been a huge undertaking, 21:14 but now from the years of operating these schools, 21:17 we are starting to see the fruits of our labors. 21:20 Start to sing Amazing Grace 21:24 O the King is coming 21:29 The King is coming 21:33 I just heard The trumpets sounding 21:37 O the King is coming 21:42 The King is coming 21:46 Praise God Praise God Praise God 21:52 He's coming for me 21:58 One teacher has some of the younger students outside 22:00 preparing for class. 22:07 Meanwhile, a student teacher, a team from our high school 22:11 is starting classes with some of the other students. 22:15 It's amazing to see what God has done 22:17 over the years with this project. 22:25 This young girl is named Lozelle. 22:29 Our desire is to train these youth 22:31 to become missionary teachers to their own tribe. 22:34 And they are, they also... 22:39 take care of that plant... 22:42 from so... 22:50 I refer to this place as the Joel Marshall house. 22:53 It's named after Joel Marshall, of course, 22:56 who was a missionary here with Laymen Ministries 22:58 for about four years. 22:59 Right before he went back to Australia 23:01 which is where he was from. 23:02 He built this place and I remember being here 23:04 and helping him do some of the finished 23:06 carpentry on it. 23:07 After a couple of years back in Australia, 23:09 he had the missionary bug and he decided 23:11 he just couldn't be content with living in Australia. 23:13 So he joined up with Laymen Ministries project 23:15 in Vanuatu with Dr. Trevolt. 23:17 They're both Australians 23:19 and worked out really good for that. 23:21 And he stayed there for about two years 23:22 and he was on some of our videos in Vanuatu. 23:25 And then he went back to Australia again, 23:27 and then he came back here. 23:29 And the reason he came back here was twofold. 23:32 One is he wanted to come back to the Philippines. 23:34 He had a lot of great memories here, 23:35 but there was also a former co-worker 23:37 that he worked with, 23:38 was still working here in this village of Agbalite, 23:41 and he wanted to marry her. 23:43 And he had the total blessing of myself and my wife 23:46 and Jim, Moni, Webb, and they were married. 23:49 They worked here for that one year, 23:51 and then they went back to Australia 23:53 and she's getting citizenship right now. 23:55 And after they get their citizenship thing 23:58 taken care of immigrant, they're planning on coming back 24:00 and working with Laymen Ministries 24:01 in one of our projects 24:03 most likely here in the Philippines. 24:06 That evening, we headed out to the village 24:08 to have children's meetings 24:09 with some of the village children. 24:11 This is a great way to bond with the village parents 24:14 and with the kids that do not attend school. 24:17 The songs and stories went well on into the night. 25:31 We were up before daylight the next morning 25:33 and at the crack of dawn, we were on another small boat 25:36 headed to the village of Pinagbyanan 25:38 where we would spend Sabbath. 25:42 Our school campus is located on a small natural harbor 25:45 at the base of Mount Calavite. 25:56 When we arrived that Friday morning, 25:58 the staff and student teachers were just starting 26:01 their morning worship and staff meeting. 26:04 My name is Sophie Spannlang, and I am from Austria. 26:09 I've been here now for almost three months. 26:13 And yeah, it's been very nice so far. 26:16 But, of course, there are also a lot of problems that appear 26:19 because the environment is so different. 26:22 The biggest, of course, is the culture. 26:26 Culture is very different here. 26:29 People just have a different style of communicating 26:34 with each other, but also the whole, 26:36 I mean, the temperature is it's very hot. 26:39 And, of course, there are not so many comfortable things. 26:43 General the luxury, but I think 26:44 this is not really a problem for me 26:46 because I was really used to go camping, 26:49 to go outside, and that's why I also like to be here 26:52 because this style of living is very simple, 26:56 but at the same time, it's very enjoyable. 27:01 Today, it is a special Sabbath. 27:02 We're having a baptism with eight people. 27:04 A couple of the people are getting baptized 27:06 are former students of ours 27:07 that made it most of the way through high school, 27:10 and then they decided they didn't want to continue on, 27:12 they came back to the village and got married. 27:15 We were always really concerned about them, 27:16 but now several years later, they've made a commitment 27:19 to wanna get baptized. 27:21 And there's another lady who is also a wife 27:24 of a public school teacher here in the area. 27:28 And she's had just an amazing conversion experience. 27:31 I guess she was gambling 27:32 and not taking care of her kids. 27:33 There was a lot of things going on. 27:35 Total change in her life. 27:37 And now she's making a commitment 27:38 for Christ today too, 27:39 so they're gonna have the baptism 27:41 down here at the ocean. |
Revised 2020-05-29