Water Safety Training

A day at the beach with the local Filipinos...and their trash.

Sunday, July 15 was Water Safety Training at Manila Bay.  We divided the volunteers into two buses and drove for an hour through the rice patty countryside to Manila Bay.  The beach scene at first seemed like a picturesque resort location.  Rows of cabana-style tables lined the beach under the shade of palm trees and we piled out of the buses excited to get into the surf.  Since this is the Philippines, there of course was karaoke in the background.  While the initial beach scene looked beautiful, I was disappointed to see the amount of trash being washed up on shore.  I had been warned before that Manila Bay was not the cleanest location and that we might return home having grown an extra head or appendage.

Everyone had to wear the yellow life jacket/vest distributed by Peace Corps to help save our lives in the event of a water emergency.  The actual water safety instruction was very simple.  Pair up with a partner, go out into the bay in small groups on a boat, jump into the water with your life jacket, swim to the others in your small group, get back into the boat, and sail back to shore.  Simple, easy, done.  When it wasn’t my turn, I played personal paparazzi for the group and tried to photograph everyone as they went out—look for the photos on Photobucket.  

After the brief swim, we were allowed to roam the beach for an hour before we left.  Some volunteers ventured out into the bay to play chicken and do flips into the water.  I thought about joining, but I was content on photographing from the shore and not risking any more exposure to the questionable water than was required.  I also walked up and down the beach talking to Filipinos and getting to better know my fellow volunteers.  Of course, since I had my camera, all the Filipino children wanted to pose for a photo: one serious and one wacky.  It is an unofficial requirement in the Philippines that all photos be taken in pairs with one serious and one wacky.