First week at GK

For the past few days I have been attending orientations organized by our on-site supervisor. This past Tuesday, thirty new French interns arrived at the GK Enchanted Farm. Orientation consisted of some background history on the Philippines, speakers such as Tito Tony (the founder of GK), and creative workshops in which the interns tackled the problem of poverty in the Philippines. On one of the days, we sat around with the mothers who live in the GK community. I got to sit with Tita Raney. Through a question and answer session, our group learned the struggles in her life and her hopes for her children in the community. Her story was very touching and inspiring. She now works at a social enterprise in the farm called Plush and Play where she makes stuffed toys for kids. Tita Raney was extremely cute. She giggled so much when it was her turn to speak because she was nervous and also embarrassed at her English speech. I wish I could have spoken to her in Tagalog and assured her not to be embarrassed and nervous. We only saw her as a courageous and strong woman and listened on with great attention.

I also got to hear the leaders of other social enterprises such as Tito Alvin who founded the Golden Duck enterprise. The Golden Duck is a hard boiled egg that has been salted. It is made golden by the addition of a spice called turmeric. It is truly incredible to hear these sorts of successful stories by these entrepreneurs. For example, Alvin sacrificed so much to come to the farm and invest his life and time in this business. His story and many others like his makes me feel empowered to take the same sorts of initiatives in my life in the present and the future.

Today is my birthday. I decided to sleep in a bit. After I got ready, I went to the farm and found the rest of my group digging holes for coffee plants. The eight of us who were working had the task of digging thirty holes for the plants. It was extremely hot and humid outside. I am not used to this type of hard work and at first felt a bit faint. This was probably due to the lack of food and water. After drinking some water, I felt much better and helped in digging the holes. At the end, I felt happy to be helping in the growth of the farm even though it was a small contribution. The farm is truly beautiful in its entire layout. I can imagine this type of daily work to be routine and very meaningful. There are many enterprises that I can participate in here. I am supposed to work in the mushroom farm and will most likely start that this weekend after our meetings with the Agri group. There is so much to learn along the way and it has already been one week! Two months is definitely too short a time for our stay here and I wish it was longer so that I could see the change that takes place in the farm!