In October of 2006, I was in Ecuador working with Afro-Ecuadorian civil society organizations on an intercultural election observation. While there, I received a call from the Philippines. I had previously applied for a position as Operations Coordinator in IFES' field office in Manila and the time had come for my interview. Despite the spotty connection and my anxiety for the ongoing observation outside of my hotel, I thought the interview went well. So it was welcome news to hear I had gotten the job - however, I had just over a month to deploy. So, a few short weeks later, on December 5, I found myself on a very long flight to Manila, a place I knew of only vaguely from news reports, ready to start a new adventure.
My first impression of the Philippines was one of chaos. As I emerged from the airport into the sweltering heat, I saw hundreds of people lined up across from the passenger arrival area waiting for their Balik Bayans, or overseas workers, to return bearing gifts for their families. As I stood observing the scene with fascination, I was approached by an extremely enthusiastic woman who recognized me from my pictures. She whisked me into an air-conditioned car and towards my new home. Stella Platon, our administrative and finance officer, is without a doubt one of the happiest people I have ever met. With an ever-present smile on her face, she handles the day to day operations of a busy field office with aplomb.
After I spent an all-too-brief night in my apartment, I woke early and headed to the office where I surprised the two project coordinators, Chyn San Juan and Fidel Guidote. Chyn, the office big sister, or Ate as they call her in Filipino, is our conduit to the election commission and our local civil society partners. She knows everyone and has an excellent nose for exactly how to approach and deal with people. She is also a warm, friendly person who took me in for the 2006 Christmas holidays when I knew no one and was far from home, treating me like a member of the family. Fidel, who has since left IFES, has an excellent sense of humor and is extremely dedicated and patient, two qualities that are vital to success in the field. I later met our project coordinator based in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Mariam Ali, whose saintly patience and commitment to our work have made her an integral part of the team despite her distance from the main field office. They helped me through those first few difficult weeks, helping me to settle in and become part of the community.
After several months of working together in close quarters, we were fortunate to receive additional funding from our primary donor, USAID, allowing us to hire more staff. So in came Karla Guia, a former election commission staffer and non-stop talker. A wonderful person with a kind heart, she and her husband befriended me and showed me around the fun night spots in Manila. We also brought in Garie Briones; hard working and quiet, he is the person everyone relies on in the office to get things done. Close on his heels was Melody Cacas, our subrecipients specialist who has a knack for getting our local partners to submit reports on time through an impressive combination of shepherd and drill sergeant tactics. The team continued to grow with May Butoy, our specialist on vulnerable populations, who works hard but knows how to have fun, and our most recent hire, Leabel Jordan, who has undertaken the unenviable task of managing both our office and our computer systems.
In writing this field notebook, I took a close look back at my 2 1/2 years in the field in an effort to identify one of my most memorable experiences. And what came to mind over and over again were the wonderful people that I was fortunate to work with. The local staff of the IFES project in the Philippines are my colleagues, friends and family. Their contributions to the success of our work cannot be overemphasized. Local staff are the backbone of our work all over the world. While the international staff come and go, and election experts drop in to provide their expertise, it is the in-country staff who do the day-to-day work of democracy building. It is they who are dedicated to making their own country a better place and who have to live with the successes or failures of our efforts. It is a difficult task, but I could imagine no one better suited or more capable than the staff of IFES. I am proud to have worked with them.