Here I go, my first blog about my experiences at the Philippines. I am not a writer so I will try my best to get my message across and help you to understand what I have experienced.

First impression that I had about the Filipino's culture was that they both wonderful and awful drivers!! Lanes, with white markers on the road, does not mean anything to drivers, nor traffic lights or pedestrian crossings. There are no right of ways. You drive however you need to drive to get you from A to B, being mindful of people working on the road, motorbikes, stray animals and stalls... Yes... Stalls as in selling goods and foods, in the middle of the road! Driving around Manila requires nerves of steel! While the chaos represent them as terrible drivers, they are also wonderful drivers considering they get to their destination without a disaster.

After arriving at Manila, we visited the British Embassy on our first full day in the Philippines. The Ambassador wanted to welcome us to the country and give us advices and insight to the country to get us prepared. The Ambassador was a honest man who told us from the start that being disabled in the Philippines meant a very difficult and challenging life in terms of work, access, financially and most importantly - socially.

We must remember that the Philippines, though poor, is a developing country and socially they are very behind. Comparing to the Philippines, UK had come a very long way. In the Philippines, being disabled brought shame and embarrassment to your family, being disabled meant that you were hidden from the public and you are not spoken off, as if you never existed. Being disabled also means that you are not recognised by the government. There is no support for disabled, if you need equipments to aid your needs, you have to fund it yourselves, and that include wheelchairs, hearing aids and even crutches. Disabled people do not have rights in the law, no discrimination act, no equality act, nothing.

All that is quite sad, especially for me as I could not afford a hearing aid, the recognition of deaf and our standing in the law meant that I am provided a hearing aid.

The Ambassador was honest to is and agreed that so much more need to be done. We asked if we could really achieve equal access for disabled, we were told off for questioning the potential. We must say 'WILL'. We WILL achieve equal access. We WILL achieve language recognition.

We can change so many things in the world, but the hardest thing to change is the attitude. In order to shift people's attitude, we must shift our own attitude first.

My purpose during my stay at Cebu is to show the deaf Filipino that you CAN achieve many things. Deaf means unintelligent people who can't hear in the Philippines and I want to change that attitude by encouraging deaf Filipino to stand up for themselves. If British deaf people can do it, they can.

We were given lunch money to spend for our own lunch, we were given 120peaso each. 1 pound is roughly 60peaso, so 120peaso is about 2 pound. Instantly I had doubts whether we could actually have something to eat, but then we were reminded that produces around here is very cheap. We all had a macdonalds upon arrival at Manila and ordered 5 meals and was totalled at 445peaso which is under 10pound. Fuelled by this theory, we set off to find something to eat only to realise that almost everything was over 120peaso. A cheese sandwich was 180peaso, ham cheese coissants was for 150peaso. Diet coke was 70peaso so all I could afford is a drink. We all settled for a drink and had some change over for about 150peaso. We agreed to use the change to buy Pringles and share between us all.... We couldn't even afford Pringles!

I have made a mistake. I went out searching for food that I wanted to devour and end my hunger; thinking only about the food. Everyone else in the Philippines thinks about the money first. They ask themselves what can I afford and they enjoy their food. I was just greedy. If I am to survive on very small Income for the next 3 months, I must change my attitude fast!