Peace, Paradise, and Parasites: The Last Project

I've really let this blog thing slide in the past few months (and I'm no longer apologizing about that), but now everything's wrapping up so it's time to revert back to my college ways and cram everything in at the last minute! I really do need a deadline to actually get stuff done. It's a problem. So now, in the last blog I wrote about the success of my big secondary project, the GLOW camp. With this post I'll tell you the tale of my big primary project that just finished up a few weeks ago. For quick clarification, by “primary” project I mean projects having to do directly with coastal resource management. “Secondary” projects means anything I do outside of that area, like a girls' empowerment camp for example.

My big primary project was the expansion and renovation of the guardhouse at one of my site's marine protected areas (MPAs). I can't remember how much explanation I've done in the past of these terms so I'll just be safe and explain everything. A MPA is a roped off area of water where fishermen are not allowed to fish or even pass through, usually where there are healthy coral reefs. If there is healthy coral then there are probably a lot of fish using that area as their home. The MPA protects this area for two reasons: it acts as a breading ground for the fish so fishing efforts don't diminish the fish population in the area, and it protects the coral from destructive fishing practices that damage the coral and thereby ruin the fish's homes. The size of the MPA depends on the size of the area covered by the coral. Usually all the healthy coral in a concentrated area is enclosed within the MPA, so the sizes vary considerably; some can be 4 hectares and others can be 20 hectares or even more. It's really specific to the area. The idea is that once the fish are big enough and wander further and further from home they'll enter the “spillover” area, or the area just outside the perimeter of the MPA. In this area the fishermen are free to fish. The fish in this spillover area are usually larger because they've had a change to grow and develop (as well as lay their eggs in the breeding grounds), and they're also a species that is plentiful within the MPA, meaning fishing them will not harm the balance of the species populations. If you're interested in learning more about MPAs you can check out this article http://www.philsciletters.org/pdf/2012n2.19p18.pdf about the start of MPAs on an island actually really close to my site that I can see from this guardhouse that we build. Now this is a really well founded strategy for combating the issue of over-exploited fishing here in the Philippines. The only problem is that fishermen don't always acknowledge these boundaries. They're focused on the food for today, not the outlook of the future.

And this brings us to the purpose of the guardhouse! A guardhouse is a small building on the beach overlooking the MPA. The obvious reason it's there is to “guard” the MPA against illegal fishing practices. Members of the bantay dagat (literally translated to beach guards) can use this building as a sheltered base for watching over it. The guardhouse also acts as a meeting place for the community's fishermen's association that meets there monthly to discuss fishing topics and learn about updates in the fisheries world from the LGU (local government unit) that also attends these meetings. The fishermen's association can also use this guardhouse as a site for education campaigns with both locals and visiting tourists, encouraging healthy fishing practices and environmental consideration.

The existing guardhouse at this site was an insufficient building 6'x10', too small to be practical, with holes in the roof (and this is a problem during the rainy season of a tropical climate as you can image). The association that meets here is filled with dedicated local fisherfolk, committed to increasing their fishing output and spreading the awareness of MPAs and the reasons behind their necessity. Improving their guardhouse had been on their to-do list for a few years, they just lacked the funds to do so effectively. That's where I came it! I obtained a grant from one of Peace Corps' many connections and we got right to work!

Since I'm a young foreign female I wasn't allowed to help with the actual construction of the guardhouse (poo), so I assisted on the planning side instead, being in charge of the money spending, coordinating between the association, the materials supplier, and my office, and trying to keep us on schedule. This last part was impossible to do. I thought I had allowed for sufficient leniencies in the timeline even given Filipino time....I was wrong. Originally we had planned for this project to be completed in March, but we didn't even start the construction until mid-July. Many of the reasons for these delays were out of our hands, having to do with transportation issues since this barangay was 45 minutes away from the town proper on bad roads (something I don't recommend trying to deal with if you can avoid it (the having a project in a rural barangay bit I mean, not the bad roads; those are really fun to ride on!)). But despite the delays and pushing back the deadline 4 times it was finally finished!!

We had the blessing and opening ceremony on August 27^th. And apparently it was a pretty important occasion because we had the vice mayor in attendance and a priest with holy water to actually bless the building! I'm not sure what I had expected when I was told we were going to have a blessing, but I didn't think we would light candles, have a small service in front of the guardhouse, and then follow the priest through the building while he sprinkled holy water on the walls. But that's what we did! This was followed by speeches given by all the leaders in attendance, including me clumsily reading from my Cebuano cheat sheet (to many friendly laughs in the crowd at me completely embarrassing myself, which in turn cracked me up and made it that much harder to get through my speech with my tongue getting tied in the middle of every sentence), and then cutting the ribbon, which they let me do! I've never cut the ribbon at a building opening before so I think that's a pretty notable addition to the resume.

I think the biggest success of this project was the fact that it was actually completed given the obstacles of Filipino time and transportation. But we did it! Those obstacles usually mean a slow and painful death for a project in this country. I'd like to think it was my excellent nagging skills that really pulled it off (maybe something else to add to the resume), stopping into the office almost every day asking about the status of this or that. The community members actually did most of the construction work instead of hiring skilled workers for every step, creating real pride among them that I think will help ensure the success of them carrying out the goals of this project. And this was a great project to finish my service with!

Entrance to the guardhouse

The hanging balls are extra buoys for the MPA they decided to use as decoration. And that area painted blue was what used to exist of the guardhouse. Much too small.