• Thanks ...

Team Reports
• Ken Graham
• Tom Chudleigh
• Carol Roth
• Marilyn Olivares
• Nancy Loveless
• Warren Wagstaff

You can also download a PDF version of this report from our Distributions page.

Jeepneys & Fresh Fruit

Tom Chudleigh — Milton, ON

From Philippines 2009 Photo Album

Two- and three-wheeled vehicles that transport both people and products around are not that different from one country to another. Vastly overloaded bicycles and tricycles using pedal power have been photographed by many Sleeping Children volunteers during a distribution. Unique to the Philippines is the jeepney.

After World War II, American jeeps were literally abandoned on the streets of Manila and other cities in the Philippines. Enterprising people began using them to provide transportation for others. They extended the jeep body several times to accommodate more passengers. Eventually, a vehicle was developed to hold fourteen to twenty people legally. Today there are thousands on the streets, sometimes five or six end to end. They stop randomly to pick up or drop off passengers to the consternation of other drivers.

Most are not operated by large companies like the taxis are, but by individuals and provide transportation to work for hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. A ride costs seven pesos to a job that might pay them 300 pesos (about $6) a day. To put this in perspective, it would take two and a half day’s wages to buy a large pizza. This is a stark reminder of the value of the bedkits you provided to 6,000 families.

From Philippines 2009 Photo Album

One of the great pleasures of the Philippines is the abundance and sweetness of the fruit. Available year round are mangoes and pineapples which we found to be the tastiest any of us had ever eaten.

Pineapples look like the ones we see at home; however, the mangoes are solid yellow, with a flat pit inside that is smaller than the pit of the green and red mangoes we get from Mexico.

With temperatures ranging from 38° C in the summer to 20° C in the winter, a huge variety of fruit and vegetables are available year round.

What a great pleasure it has been to represent you as part of the Sleeping Children travelling team in the Philippines, such as enjoying the large brown eyes and instant smiles accepting your gift to the modest and diverse lifestyle that we were part of for two weeks.