Project Approval taste so good... and so do star apples

So again there has been quite a lapse since my last post, but it's definitely a good sign because I have been staying very busy with work and all.

Good news today... I got my project approved for funding! Yeah!!!!

But I guess I should start with what this said project is... a few weeks ago, while doing fisherfolk registration at a coastal barangay, I noticed the waste segregation bins around this particular barangay actually had segregated wastes in them (most of the bins around town have a mixture of plastic and leaves in them, indicating segregation is not really occuring). So I arranged a meeting with the person responsible for the effective waste segregation. He is a councilman in the barangay and we are very well acquainted since he also is the president of the Municipal fisherfolk organization. He gave me a tour of the barangay's solid waste management and told me how he implemented and managed it. There was successful waste segregation but the compost piles were not actually composting, but rather just sitting in heaps of leaves and branches. But the general waste segregation was working so good, I had to try to replicate it on the other barangays.

After finding out what the Jordan Ecological Solid Waste Management Board was and that they also had a yearly budget of 250,000 pesos to fund related projects, I immediatley set to writing a project proposal. The board met today and I presented the project, which would require an estimated 92,000 pesos. The board loved it and it was approved for funding! Although knowing Filipino timetables, I am not exactly sure when the funds will be available for me to start the project, but the big victory here is that it will happen!

So what is this magical project you ask?
It is a Solid Waste Management Project that includes IEC (information education communication) and waste segregation for all of the coastal barangays. I will have an IEC presentation informing residents about why burning and burying (because so many still burn their trash right in their front yard) their trash is bad and why waste segregation is good. I will also teach them how to properly segregate trash and how to compost. Following each meeting there will be a community clean-up in that area. Next we will be implementing waste segregation bins and composting bins throughout each barangay as well. So hopefully what we present, they will implement.

I am very excited about the prospect of this project and will continue working on getting it done. Meanwhile I am also helping my sitemate with a project. Her office (social services) is giving a 2-day workshop in all the barangays on "Effective Parenting" and they asked me to be a resource person for the environment. So I have been giving presentations on "keeping a healthy environment for you and your children".

And I am preparing to move out of my host family's house. I will be moving next month to a house near the nipa hut I discussed in my previous post, and another PCV will be living next door in the nipa hut :)

So that is all for now, hopefully next time I post there will be lots of these in my coastal barangays:

Successful waste segregation in the Philippines

P.S. Shout out to Sam! Miss ya girl and I will be seeing you in Taiwan soon enough!

Halong!