Day 3: Orientation to FNRI (Monday, June 13th)
In the last 2 days, we were able to acclimate ourselves to the weather, enjoy some really great food, and navigate the city with the help from Tito Mon and his son, Kuya Mellord, and the 2 orientation leaders at UP Los Banos. So today, we were ready to start our internship and get a better picture of what our time will look like in the upcoming weeks. We left UP Los Banos at 6am today to make our way to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) and found out that we will actually be leaving tomorrow for another city. During our time here, we will hit Balacan, Aurora, and Taguig city for our immersion into the field.
We stopped by Jollibee on our way to the institute and tried it for the first time. Apparently McDonald’s is the number one fast food restaurant everywhere in the world, except for the Philippines because of Jollibee. This restaurant was described to me as McDonald’s, but with a Filipino taste. The breakfast chickenjoy was recommended to me and I decided to give it a try. It was a piece of fried chicken and gravy, with rice, and egg
Driving up to FNRI was a huge shock to me. Before coming to the Philippines, I searched the area to get a sense of what it would be like. I looked for nearby restaurants and stores, and it only came up with a mall 20 minutes away on foot. I figured that maybe the area wouldn’t be so crowded. I was wrong. Turning onto our street, there were crowds of people walking and plenty of cars, hondas, trucks, and jeepneys. There were vendors up and down the street leading up to the mall. What seemed like would only be a 5 minute drive easily became 20. The traffic did not let up all day, as today is the first day the kids go back to school, so it was a little more crowded than usual. It was neat seeing all the kids in their uniforms walking to school on our way to the institute.
Anyway, we ended up arriving early since we left early to account for the traffic. The amount of hospitality we were shown here at the institute was like nothing I have experienced before. We were treated with more Jollibee for a snack and were introduced to everyone who was working at the institute, going from office to office, desk to desk–it will take some time to learn everyone’s names. Later, Serena took us to the mall to pick up some items we may need in the field, and showed us the route from our condo to the research facility for when we come back. It was so nice of them to take the time to show us around and give us such a thorough tour of the facility. Everyone has really made us feel at home here in the Philippines since day 1.
Day 4: Rest before Work (Tuesday, June 14th)
The Philippines is divided into 3 main divisions of islands: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. After, they are divided by provinces or regions, then into municipals, then into individual neighborhoods, or barangays. We are going to be staying at Leticia’s Garden Resort in the province of Bulacan, Pulilan, Calumpit until the end of June.
As I am starting my work tomorrow, I’d like to give a brief synopsis about what my internship is about. A national survey is conducted every 5 years about the nutritional status of the Philippines. However, the survey that we are going to take part in is a local updating survey so they are still testing out their interview questions and approaches to get a better sense of what to ask and what to focus on to get the best information. Also they are collecting more local data from the community rather than using a national census to get more information that may vary within the communities. Also, there are teams that look into and map food stores and food establishment for accessibility and affordability of certain foods in addition to more detailed questions that take more time to complete and would not be able to be included in the national survey. There are 6 teams in Bulacan working in all different barangays, and the number of households in each barangay can vary considerably. We will be able to experience working with all the different teams in different locations throughout our stay here in Pulilan, Bulacan. The teams consist of mostly nutritionists, dieticians, researchers, and nurses. They collect data through interviews, biochemical collections, and anthropometric measurements to get a sense of the nutritional status in local communities.
I will go into more detail about the work we are doing once we start. It was about an hour and a half from FNRI to get to our resort, but first we got to meet the mayor of the municipal. He shook our hands and welcomed us to the Philippines. After, we got to meet all of the team leaders that we will be with throughout our stay in Pulilan. I’m definitely excited to be working with all of them.
Day 5: First Day of Field Work (Wednesday, June 15th)
After a whole day of rest, we were all ready and eager to start working. Especially after meeting the team, all of their positive energy rubbed off on us. It was so fun getting to know everyone. I don’t know if I have just been lucky enough to encounter the best people in the Philippines, but Filipino people are the most fun group of people I have ever been around.
We began our day at 7am to meet the Municipal Nutrition Action Officer of Pulilan, who was very kind and met us at McDonald’s for breakfast. Afterwards, we went to the Captain’s house in the barangay we were going to conduct the surveys in (each barangay has its own captain). We also met his parents, and they all provided us with a nice lunch of tilapia and soup. It was delicious–masarap!
There are 8,000 people in Pulilan, so 1,200 people were selected through randomization. In a day, the team is able to survey about 9 households. The work hours depend on how early the households wake up and how late they stay up. Sometimes farmers wake up at 4am, so some team members go to their households as early as 3:30 am to measure their breakfast and coffee. These are the food weigh ins and 24 hour food recalls where we measure the amount of intake within 24 hours 6 times a day (before and after each meal).
The first household that I was able to observe was located right beside a landfill. Suprisingly enough, the garbage did not smell too bad despite the 93 degree weather and humidity. Apparently they treat it with something to make it that way. The house had 2 rooms, one where they stored food and would sit in, and the other where they slept. Their bedroom was probably not much bigger than 1 and a half twin sized beds put together, and the area we sat in could barely fit 3 people sitting, and it was hot. Typically, seeing a single ant or spider would be enough to scare me away. However, the living space was in the open and ants were crawling all over the walls and floors, flies were buzzing around, and lizards would make occasional appearances. I was told that the family goes to the dumpsite to collect leftovers or food around the streets to wash and eat. The 8 year old girl was in the process of making rice while her mom was breastfeeding her one week old son. I sat in while Jennifer interviewed the mother and interacted with the girl who pulled out a book and showed me how much she could read. What surprised me most about this household was that despite what seemingly little they had, they still had the brightest smiles on their faces and almost looked content. It is really difficult being in situations like this because it just makes you want to do everything you can to help, and you realize that so many people are in similar situations and struggling to get by that you can’t help everyone. I talked to one of the team members about this and she told me that the survey is one way to help them because they collect and analyze all of the data to see what kind of changes they need to implement. Also, they get incentives for participating in the surveys, which I will also post about later.
Day 6: Leaving Team One (Thursday, June 16th)
On the second day of our field work, we continued to help taking blood pressures, observed the interview process (most of it is in tagalog), and watched how they measured the food weigh ins.
We also packed the incentives since it was the team’s last day in the barangay as they are finishing up their interviews and getting all of their data together. We went back to my first household and got to give them their package. It consists of rice fortified with iron, pansit canton noodles made from vitamin A rich squash, and 7 packs of rice snacks with protein for the kids.
It was sad leaving this team after only two days. They were a great group to start out with and we will definitely miss them. We might get to see them when we go to Aurora though for our next field experience in July! Maybe they’ll teach us some more tagalog. Thanks to them, I can now ask Ano ang pangalan mo (what is your name) and Ilang taon kana (how old are you), which are great phrases to ask all of the kids we encounter!
Day 7: Joining Team Two (Friday, June 17th)
The team dynamics are so great here. The first team was a lot more talkative than the second, but everyone worked so well together and still had so much fun. I am excited to see all of the different work dynamics. From my experience so far, I have noticed so much positivity and energy despite their long work hours in the heat. We have been lucky enough so far to have air conditioned rooms with enough space to work in, but that is not always the case. So working well together and having fun is a great way to stay motivated.
Day 8: Leaving Team Two (Saturday, June 18th)
We got to visit the market next to the building we are located at.
We tried teaching the kids how to play thumb war, and they showed us their own version.
We also met this talented lolla, who showed me the hat she is weaving.
Day 9: Break Day at the Sandbox (Sunday, June 19th)
My day to day posts have been getting shorter and shorter as the days seem to fly by. The days go by so fast, but we seem to fit so much in a single day. We have already experienced so much both academically and culturally, and we still have 50 days left! We have been learning a lot about the people we work with, the food, the values, the culture, the differences in lifestyles of all of the households, about the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, and government implementations. I’ll have to go back and add some more details when I find the time–and internet access. On a typical work day, I usually get up at 6am to journal and get ready and we leave by 7:30 or 8am. I think we usually get back around 9pm, depending on how the households work out but I’m usually ready for bed by the time we make it up to our room. It’s hard to imagine how the researchers are so energetic throughout the day as they are out so much longer and working so much more–without any days of rest. We’ve already had 2 rest days since being in the Philippines, and it is barely our second week here.
WayinthePhilippines 