Nobody Home

Seems like I won't be at site for quite a stretch. I just got back from a training of trainers (TOT) in Manila for the Tudlo Mindanao program, a program funded by U.S.A.I.D. and manned by the Peace Corps to bring 150 teachers from the island of Mindanao (an island to which we as Americans are forbidden to go for security reasons) to either Cebu City, Manila or Baguio for a week-long training. My training group specifically focused on Information & Communication Technology (ICT). Six of us, roughly, will be holding classes for the incoming teachers to teach basic computer skills. The basic assumption is that most of these teachers (about 70% last time the program was held last year) had little to no experience with a computer before. Therefor, our lessons will begin with using a mouse and, by the end of the program, using Microsoft Office products. I have never worked with this level of novice before; it will be challenging but, at the same time, quite rewarding.

Tomorrow I will leave for the island of Samar with my regional manager to scope out sites for the incoming batch (268) volunteers arriving in just a couple weeks.We will be visiting high schools who applied to receive a volunteer, interviewing host families, investigating needs of high schools etc. for the next three days. I feel honored to be a part of this selection process and that Peace Corps trusts my standard of viability for a site. Basically I am only coming along to give my two cents whether the site would be worthwhile for a volunteer for two years and how I would feel about being there myself. Very cool. As an added bonus, PC is paying for me to see more of the Philippines. We'll see how it goes.