Ever heard of Camiguin Norte? Me neither. It's in an island in the Babuyan Islands way above the Philippines, it takes approximately 4 hours on boat (with calm weather) from the edge of the Luzon mainland. This was the next venue of the Kapon Pilipinas team's outreach. This free spay/neuter program was made possible by Balyena.org, another non-profit organization specializing in marine animal research, which was founded by Dr. Jo Marie Acebes, who went to college with KP's founder. The go-signal for this activity was given almost last minute so the usual team of 10 dwindled to just 4 as almost all of the volunteers are unavailable on such short notice, especially the Baguio outreach was literally 2 weeks prior. Commitment foot forward, I was part of that team, spending my remaining vacation leaves at work and hoping I can rise up to the challenge.
The journey north took two days, staying over a convent in Tuguegarao, the hottest spot in the country, literally. Suddenly, I was starting to desperately yearn cuddling up with my dog in my air-conditioned apartment on a lazy Sunday morning. We also got to know the Balyena team, including a Japanese intern, who I guess does not want to be spoken to other than in English. Every time I try to start a conversation in Japanese, he answers in English. It was actually funny, but I guess it was for the good as I can barely consider myself fluent. Dr. Joms is also an intriguing person. A down-to-earth scientist with degrees from Ateneo and UP, a Masters from Oxford and a PhD from Murdoch, she holds one of the most impressive resumes I have ever seen. During our stay at the convent, she told stories about the grants she received from National Geographic and the rigorous process of acquiring one for her research. She also enlightened us how difficult it is still in the field of marine wildlife in the Philippines compared to other Asian contemporaries mainly because it is a relatively new science here.
After hours over the calm Philippine Sea that morning, as phone signals slowly reduced to nothing, and the corporate world disappearing into the horizon, we arrived on the small island of population so few that everyone knew everyone.
As with previous outreach programs, I was mainly tasked of helping during surgery as vet assistant, and restraining during pre-op procedures. My line of work back at home could not be farther from veterinary care but I have enough muscles and hopefully the sensibility and intellect to rise up to the occasion and be an integral part of the small team.
Because we were running scarce of human resources, I volunteered (was asked) to do half of the Humane Education training to at 6 classes of elementary students. I have not done anything sort of educating large groups of people before (except during the occasional tour of visitors at the shelter), but I was not in the mindset of backing down. I really like it when I get in that Elle Woods kind of motivation.
Thankfully, pre-pubescent kids are not a difficult crowd, especially with candy on hand. Frankly, the lectures were a success considering we even had to do last minute revisions to the slides, translating to Filipino and making do of photos from our own phones of our dogs back home, to help keep the children engaged. Good thing I took adorable pictures of Mappy and Lilo before the trip.
Though running water has a continuous flow on the island, the pressure is low and terribly affected by the temperature. The first time I took a shower, it was like dipping on a hot spring for 20 minutes. Electricity is from 3pm to 11pm only, so fueled generators and solar-powered devices are a common part of life in the island. Coupled with the drought that has been affecting the area for a few months then, the intensity of perspiration came as a shock, at least to me. And by the time it was about to leave, I'd say we were about five shades tanner than when we first arrived.
The turnout was fewer than the previous missions we did; we barely made half of the animals from the last one, but to be fair, most of the animals cared for by the residents here are dogs, much unlike the abundance of cats in Baguio or Cebu. I find comfort that the trip was worth it by the fact that animal care has been instilled in the young children of the island, that they are not mere instruments in the farm, or thankless entities who guard houses—they deserve love too, and owning even one is a commitment.
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