Bring on the bird and wildlife sanctuary!!

I feel it’s about time I write a blog update, so much has happened since I have last written, but instead of boring you with all these things that have come and gone, I will focus on what recently has inspired me to write in the first place. This may be a long one, full of nothing but good news and revelations. Enjoy ;D

So I just heard back about the VEG (Volunteers in Environmental Governance; US AID grant opportunity offered for Peace Corps volunteers) grant I wrote to develop Barangay Ginablan as a bird and wildlife sanctuary and ecotourism destination. This idea was one that my mayor and the community members brought to my attention when I arrived here last year. This was something they were interested in starting, I merely helped push it along by facilitating meetings and tapping into some funding sources. The project has three main goals I would like talk about.
First, the project is designed to conserve the ecological biodiversity in the lagoon area, mangroves, and caves of Ginablan. We have actually been hacking away at this goal since I arrived last year. This required getting local support in creating a Municipal Ordinance by which to enforce the local protection of wildlife species. Under national law, wildlife species are protected but especially in the Philippines, it is essential to create local laws and ordinances for effective enforcement.
Secondly, we will raise awareness, educate, and promote participation in coastal resource management amongst community members and visitors. This is where some of the funds come in. Most of the funds I have obtained through VEG go towards educational materials, trainings, technical surveying equipment, IDs, and uniforms. The NGO Sikat Inc. that I work with very closely contributed significant funds for the construction of the boardwalk, guardhouse, educational center, and proposed watchtower. The Municipal Government also contributed funds that will be used to conduct IEC (Information Education Campaign) in each of the 25 coastal barangays by providing gas and snacks for participants, as well as providing catering during the training. For this VEG funding opportunity, they required a 25% community counterpart contribution of funds; this proposal exceeded that amount at about 45% of the total funds coming from the community. This helps to ensure the community has vested interest in the project and has put forth their commitment. Without this community contribution, the project may likely fail because the community has “nothing to lose” so to speak, and the commitment is just not nearly as strong. This has been shown time and time again in community development projects around the world. As Peace Corps volunteers, we don’t come with funds necessarily, but we come as dedicated, educated, and experienced individuals looking to “help communities help themselves”.
Which leads me into the third goal, perhaps most important, is to build the capacities of community members in bird sanctuary management during a training led by Fauna and Flora International. We will host a training to teach the community members how to identify birds, conduct basic data analysis, giving tours for tourists, and first aid for injured birds. Not only will these community members learn about how to manage a bird sanctuary, but they will gain experience in environmental education, leading tours, and managing income-generating activities, all while improving their English proficiency.
Anyways, that was a very brief thrown together summary of what I wrote in my proposal. I will receive the funds on October 1. Then we start the construction of the boardwalk, watchtower, guardhouse, and educational center. While the laborers are laboring away, the NGO, my counterpart and I will be working on putting together a local educational booklet on bird identification, as well as preparing educational billboards, and a video. Then by December we will host the training after I have bought all the technical equipment, and by March will be going to each of the barangays to teach/spread awareness about the bird sanctuary and the importance of biodiversity conservation. I will try to be more on top of it when it comes to writing blogs, I have lost a little inspiration in the last several months to be honest.
On to new matters… I am no longer the only volunteer on my island. I welcome Julie Crow, a new female volunteer assigned to Romblon, Romblon as an English teacher at the high school. We work about 75 meters apart or so, but we live almost 10 km apart. I am no longer the newbie…. Feels weird, time sure does fly, I have been in the Philippines for over a year!
Lately, I have had a variety of different opportunities come up to visit different sites in the Philippines to help out with other Peace Corps projects, camps, and assessments, but I have turned a lot of them down to focus on my site. I really enjoy being in Romblon and want to push through my own projects here. I don’t think I could leave here without feeling like I have accomplished anything. On the other hand, it’s nice to know there is an abundance of other opportunities for work if things are slow here. If I wanted to, I could easily leave once or twice a month on work travel. In fact, in a year, I have only taken 2 vacation days because so much of my travel is to help with other projects. But I do love it here. I have never felt so relaxed in my life. I have the freedom to do as much or as little as I want. It’s a wonderful feeling really. If I wake up and feel like staying home all day and dinking around my garden, reading, chatting with random passerbyers, watching movies, doing some occasional data analysis, writing, and cooking, there is nothing to stop me from doing that, other than myself. But obviously, that it is neither satisfying nor rewarding to make that a habit, considering not only the sacrifices I have made to be here but the money you as taxpayers in the US have paid to send me here.

Well that’s all for now, more later on as the project progresses….

Ingat po kayo!