# Positive attitudes...



## Cebu Citizen (Dec 13, 2013)

In light of a recent and unnecessary rant in a now "closed thread", (Thank you Jet Lag for doing what needed to be done), I thought it might be appropriate for each of us to share something positive about the Philippines. We all know that there are ups and downs to any place on the planet and every race of people has their bad apples but there is something special about the Philippines for me and I love the country and I love the people.

Here is my story that I would like to share...an incident why I made my choice to take that final step and get married to the love of my life and settle down in the Philippines.

I am the Executive Director of a Nonprofit Humanitarian Organization called WATER for the WORLD, (PONDS for PEACE), and we travel all around the globe helping those in need following a variety of natural disasters. We were in Haiti after the earthquake, we were in Japan after the Tsunami and three days after the devastating Super Typhoon that destroyed Tacloban, Leyte, we had two teams on the ground providing clean safe drinking water for more than 250,000 people in the Philippines.

The part that amazed me then and still does to this day is that these people had nothing! Yet they smiled and cherished life! They had no food...they had no water...they had no shelter...and they had no jobs to earn money to buy the things they needed because the jobs were destroyed as well. These people had absolutely nothing...yet they greeted me with a sincere smile and invited us into their make shift shelters made from storm debris...and they offered us anything they had. They did not ask for anything but offered us everything...and they smiled!

One particular family invited me inside their make shift shelter made from a tattered old tarp and through a conversation I found out that it was their nine year old boys birthday. I ask him what would he like for his birthday...and it was not a toy...it was not a bicycle...it was nothing for him personally...he said he only wished for a small bowl of rice for his mother because he had noticed that she would give up her portions of food to feed her children and he knew she was so hungry!

WOW! A little boy with such selfless convictions to use his own birthday wish to provide a meager meal for his mother, who herself was sacrificing everything for the welfare of her family after this devastating storm robbed them of everything.

It broke my heart and I had to do something...anything...so I asked the little boy if he would like to have a nice birthday dinner for his whole family and his face lite up as I handed him everything I had in my pocket, (about 3,000php), and told him to have his mother buy what she could and tonight your family will not go to sleep hungry. We drove them about three kilometers down the road to a small Sari-Sari store that had been set up following the storm and they purchased the staples they needed to get their family through a few more days.

What marvelously resilient people! I had been thinking long and hard about relocating my life to the Philippines but on that particular day, I made my decision that these were the type of people I wanted to live among.

I am anxious to hear other stories from other forum members of the reasons they love the Philippines and the people of this beautiful island nation. And thank you all for what you do for the people in and around your lives as we all affect those around us and a little POSITIVE ATTITUDES go a long way!


----------



## Cebu Citizen (Dec 13, 2013)

A few images from that fateful day...


----------



## evanderwaal (Jun 3, 2014)

I agree with you Cebu Citizen as a filipino I love my country and my husband loved being in the country. It might be a rubbish for some but it is a paradise for most... 

It is one of our reason to live in Philippines is that one day we will make a difference to a childs future. We cant help everyone but atleast 1 step at a time.

My husband and I have a bad experience from the earthquake last October and we were at the 11th floor of a hotel in Cebu. All I can think of was my son and my family. 

For being thankful that we all still alive and our unfinished home in bohol still standing, my husband and I send a little help to the victims. Like you said even they are homeless they can still smile and are very thankful that they are still alive. We cant help everybody but atleast we able to feed 350 families that day...


----------



## George6020 (Apr 18, 2014)

Yes, you hit the nail on the head...........so much has to do with attitude. Good story, I would like to know more about your organization.


----------



## PogiBaby (Apr 2, 2014)

I have been married to my husband for 6 years and dated him for 2 years before that... so my knowledge of the Philippines has mostly come from Filipinos that I had met in the States during this time period.. One thing that everyone always told me was how friendly Filipinos were. That you would always be invited into people's homes and fed. I have visited here 3 times, but it wasn't until we moved here last December that I actually experienced this. There was a woman who jogged in the evenings by the house we stayed in.. and she would always stop and greet my son. One day my husband, son, and I were walking around the neighborhood for a morning stroll and this same woman came out of her home to say hi. I mentioned that I liked her garden (she had bought the lot next to her home and made a yard/garden which is so rare here, especially in the city) and she invited us to walk around it. Then as we were looking at her flowers she insisted that we eat brunch with her. She was grilling salmon and she said her daughter wouldn't eat much so it was all for her... Of course I am not used to this treatment so my husband and I were trying to politely decline.. but finally she insisted to the point that it would have been too offensive for us to say no. She invited us into her home and we ate brunch together. We met her college-age daughter and had a lovely conversation. When we left she told us that our son (who was 18 mo at the time) was welcome to come play in her yard anytime he wanted that she built it so her kids could run around and play when they were growing up. She even instructed her helpers that we were allowed to come play any time even if they were not home. I thought that was an extremely generous offer and it was a lovely experience right when I needed it.

My husband's family said the woman was crazy when he told them about her, but I reminded him that for 8 years I've been told this is how Filipino's are. He thought about it and agreed, he just wasn't expecting it in the city. He said usually that is behavior you find in the provinces. I felt like God had sent me someone just when I needed a friendly person here.


----------



## greggw2gs (Jul 7, 2012)

Tess and I have been married for 30 years so I know the Filipino culture more than most. I love the hospitality, loyalty, faith, hope, and views of elders of the Filipino culture!!! The food rocks too!!!!!


----------



## Cebu Citizen (Dec 13, 2013)

George6020 said:


> Yes, you hit the nail on the head...........so much has to do with attitude. Good story, I would like to know more about your organization.


George6020...first of all thank you for your interest in what we do...the Forum Moderators graciously allowed me to post a link to WATER for the WORLD and the PONDS for PEACE Initiative, (above), in the original thread post. Feel free to private message me if you have any specific questions as I do not want to misuse this Forum thread for promoting this nonprofit organization no matter how worthy the cause.

Basically our mission is very clear...after a natural disaster, people are left without many things but it is important to remember that we can survive without shelter...and we can go as long as 30 days without food...but the human body can only go about 5 to 6 days without water and in a tropical climate following the stress of surviving a natural disaster, the number of days a human can survive without water can be reduced by as much as half...meaning that these people have only 3 or 4 days before their bodies begin to shut down with irreversible damage.

Many other organizations do what we do and provide life giving water after a natural disaster has occurred but we believe they are going about it all wrong! Charity Water and Water.org were also here in the Philippines handing out much needed bottled water after Super Typhoon Yolanda...but the difference is that after you hand someone a bottle of water, they open it and drink it...and now they are right back in the same situation! NO WATER!!!

We on the other hand manufacture and distribute, (training included), a series of water purification filters. We showed the people of Tacloban, Leyte how to properly collect, purify and store their much needed water supplies. Now these people not only have water for today but also for tomorrow and the foreseeable future.

It is like the old saying..."Give a man a fish and he eats for one day...BUT teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime!" We do the same with a long term solution for water..."Give someone water and they quench their thirst for the moment...but teach them how to collect, purify and store their water and they will never be thirsty again!"

Our portable water filters have three separate power sources...solar, battery and electric. If you have electricity...great...if not, use the battery...if the battery dies...use the solar power...great for remote areas following a natural disaster. AND one filter will last up to ten years and provide enough water for up to 250 people per day!

If the Forum thinks it would be appropriate to post additional information or photos, I would be glad to do so or add some additional digital images of the devastation from Ormoc City to Tacloban but if it is against the rules of the Forum, just shoot me a private message or visit the website for more information.


----------



## Barrymay (Nov 19, 2013)

I also love the food here. Lumpia, Menudo, Afritada, Lechon, Pandesol, BBQ on a stick, just to name a few, all washed down with cold SMB!


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

Same here. I really enjoy most of the local foods at home. My wife is an excellent cook and has adapted many of the recipes for me. Some remain the local recipe but all are good. Many are far less fattening than western food and cost (depending on the dish) can be lower as well.
My only weaknesses are Jollibee, Chowking, and occasionally Burger King..
Forget TGI-Friday's. Just trying to digest the prices on the menu gives me heartburn-Hahaha!

Note: We have been seeing an advert on TV where they cook bistig and when almost done cooking whole cream is added and made into a sauce. Let me tell you-IT IS GOOD! Now I have a new favorite and can't get enough..


----------



## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

While I have not spent nearly as much time in the PI as I want to, I did live as one of only two non pinoy expats in a very remote and isolated construction camp of 12 expats for 4 years.

Great people on an individual basis
Great food
Beautiful women

Only drawback is that they all like Karaoke 

Everything else that I have seen here as a negative is common across Asia.


----------

