Finally! After more than two months of grueling “Pre-Service Training,” we were sworn in as bona fide Peace Corps Volunteers, Philippines Group 263. The festivities were meant to begin at 6:30pm sharp, but as we’ve experienced time and time again here, nothing ever starts on time. Excuse the corniness, but what was sharp was us. Many of the males sported a barong, which is lightweight Filipino formalwear. Apparently the one I bought is suitable for a wedding. One of the female volunteers wore a stunning orange dress sewn that very day by her host mother.
And Dumadag Farm itself had never looked better. Tiki torches were abundant, a fruit table with a towering fountain, and plenty of theme-appropriate Dugong centerpieces. (Yes, that dawdling, dull endangered species of the sea somehow became the 263 mascot. We even took up a pool to adopt a real live dugong as a group.) Papa remarked it was as if we had entered the center of the jungle. I must admit I was a bit taken aback at all the splendor and glory. We’re just here to help out and fit in with our communities, and what do you know, the biggest party is in our honor. And we haven’t even gotten started on our tasks yet.
Things got started off with a fine rendition of Lupang Hinirang, the Filipino national anthem, and then a lackluster Star Spangled Banner. We were all called up on stage and the forty-one of us who first came together on a chilly day in San Francisco, took the oath in unison. ‘Tis a strange oath, including a bit about promising to defend the US from its enemies, both domestic and international. I’m sworn to it now.
After the oath, the U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Joseph Mussomeli, whom we met in Manila early Feb got up and started his keynote speech “This is terrible. You’re all gonna stand there through my whole speech? Go back to your seats…I don’t trust 41 Peace Corps volunteers behind my back anyway.” He went on to tell us we needed to take national anthem singing lessons from our Filipino counterparts. Then, on a rare serious note, he asserted his opinion that dollar for dollar, the Peace Corps is the best use of U.S. Taxpayer dollars.
The next speaker was the lame duck mayor of Tagbilaran (3 three-year terms is all you get) who humorously welcomed the chargee as Mr. Mussolini. And then a last minute stand in for the governor, who told us he hopes Peace Corps will still be in The Philippines in one-hundred years. Actually, the way I see it, what we are trying to accomplish is our own obsolescence. The day that The Philippines tells us they don’t need us anymore is the day we can fly out onto a huge naval vessel in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and bask in the sun under a “Mission Accomplished” banner, if you know what I mean.
After dinner there was some lighthearted gimcrackery. A witty fellow PCV called Kevin organized the duGong show. I was enlisted mere minutes prior to my act, which I called “Underwater Melody.” I handed the Chargé the “Executive Dugong,” explaining that I was about to perform a number for him in an effort to make up for the dismal Star Spangled. I got very wet gargling the first verse of our war-themed anthem, before I choked and was duGonged the heck out of there. I doubt I’ll dare set foot in the U.S. Embassy ever again.
Then came a wonderful acoustic guitar quartet of PCVs Tommy and Eric, Jun Reputana and son. Jun Reputana is a member of a dying breed. A craftsman, who builds some of the most beautiful guitars I’ve ever seen, using local resources such as jackfruit wood and seashells as a decorative inlay. His skills he has inherited from his father, and he is passing them on to his sons. His factory is his front yard. He is an honest, soft-spoken man, who meets deadlines. He charges his same low price to Americans as he does to Filipinos, because he is delighted that people are playing his guitars, instead of those coming off an assembly line. The “labor of love” is not a part of assembly line manufacturing. Apparently, it was hard to coerce Jun to perform. He was shy to perform in front of distinguished guests, but he churned out twenty guitars for PCVs in the past two months, so with some insisting from his adoring customers, he came, and brought down the house.
Then things were stepped up a notch, with the Dugong theme song led by Tommy, a rambunctious number, with a constant refrain “Dugong, Dugong, Dugong, Dugong…” The all-star jam made me nostalgic for my hometown heroes, those fun, underwear wearing Dufus folk.
And then it was time for a speech by Kim and me, regarding the goals and aspirations of 263. It was kind of boring, not because we don’t have goals and aspirations, but because we are so sick and tired of talking about them, we just want to get out in the field and get to work.
Soon enough, the formal part of the evening was done with, and the local hip-hop cover band H2O (bearing no relation to the New York Hardcore outfit) was presented to us as a gift from the Dumadag family. We did some coconut bowling, attacked our dugong piñata, reprised the dugong song, as well as the dirty dugong anthem, and danced, danced, danced until 4am.
It’s good to be in the Peace Corps Philippines. Thanks Mom and Dad.
Posted by dbs at April 13, 2004 06:12 PM