Baba sa Suba (Mouth of the River) – Part 1

This is the first of two posts that will take you through a project I had that turned into two. It started when I heard about a program that takes place on neighboring Siquijor, where a few years ago a PCV initiated a program called “Plant to Graduate” where graduating elementary and high school students are required to plant a couple mangrove seedlings as part of their graduation activities. We have an area near the mouth of a river, also nearby the local high school, that I was eyeing as a mangrove rehabilitation zone.

I worked with a teacher at the HS to flesh out the idea for the plan. Not only were we going to plant mangroves, we were also going to plant in two different areas upstream for upland reforestation. Then the transportation to upland areas became a problem. Instead, we decided to involve other upland high schools – but never heard any response from them. Maybe next time. We got approval from the Mayor, and from the Principal, and set our date. Then changed it a couple times because Amihan (the southeast monsoon, which creates high winds and large waves damaging to young seedlings or propagules) kept going later and later. I remained optimistic as people around me expressed doubt about the planting. We set the date and began the planning. Finally, one day while measuring the planting area, my counterparts told me we couldn’t go forward with it due to the Amihan. I felt very defeated and kicked a coconut in anger, breaking my flip-flop in the process. I sat down for a while to think and then eventually just walked home like an idiot with my broken sandal, not even wanting to return to the office. Eventually I decided we’d just have to do an event timed with the beginning of the school year in June.

My teacher counterpart was more positive and suggested doing a coastal cleanup instead as a graduation requirement. So on the appointed day, I went in and gave a (hopefully) inspiring presentation to the graduating students on the problem with waste and its effects on the environment. But I made sure to emphasize that coastal cleanups are not a final solution. In fact, I have pretty mixed feelings about coastal cleanups, which I can get into at some other time. After my talk, all the students lined up into their ROTC brigades and marched on to their designated areas.

The cleanup went alright. It’s rare to see an area completely cleaned during a cleanup. Possible reasons: a lack of motivation, getting tired, feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of trash, a misunderstanding of what is actually trash, and a sad complacency with garbage piled everywhere. It can be disheartening to be the last person in a long line of participants in a cleanup and realize you’re picking up more trash than anybody ahead of you.

Here’s some pictures from the event: