travel and work has brought me to cavite, philippines. here for 3 weeks, I will be working on a community development project with my fellow global health classmates. we have been commissioned by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR)- a non profit focused on development in rural communities- to assess teen pregnancy in the area. for the next two and a half weeks we will be developing our assessment tools, going out into the communities to learn of the issue and developing recommendations for IIRR (or what we have come to call Eleven R R).
this post is not about the work, seeing as the work has only just begun. this post is about life in the philippines so far; life that can easily be called art. in the last few days, i have moved from manila to boracay to cavite and back to manila. usually i sleep in traffic (which is heavy in the Philippines) but i found that impossible to do with all…the…art. From city to island to rural setting, art surrounds you.
Jeepneys in the city are packed with people trying to get to work, school or lunch. There is no rush hour here. Every hour is rushed, every minute well spent, every second exhausted. There were moments in Manila when I could not tell if I was in downtown Los Angeles, Dupont Circle in DC or Soho in New York. Manila is engaging. The city is the product of a union between culture and development. the hot sun flooded sky is scratched by skyscrapers and buildings under construction. each block is cushioned with a starbucks, mcdonald’s, jolibee or pancake house on the corner. spas are abundant and nail shops are plentiful. tricycles and motorcycles weave in and out of traffic and what produces a double take is when a woman is seen in the drivers seat.
an invisible line divides manila and the cities in the outskirts. while malls and other luxuries are still available in cavite, it is clear that the people who live here are more simple, more classic, more natural.
the weather has been unpredictable. we experienced a small typhoon in boracay last weekend, punishing heat in manila on monday and showers of blessings on wednesday morning. either way, i’m glad to be away from the triple digit temperatures that have overcome southern california, as i am informed by CNN International. 
overcoming the challenges are also an art in of itself. many people here are not used to seeing black people on their streets. my group has 7 blacks so when they see a group of people, they stare more, point more. we’ve overcome curiosity and ignorance with smiles and education. they ask to touch our hair and ask to take pictures with us. its easy to get upset about the attention. after all, a black man is the leader of the free world. but we remain humble and patient…which is truly an art. a difficult one. 
i am excited about the gift the next two and a half weeks will bring. i am excited to see, smell, taste and explore new arts in my work and play. and most of all, i hope i can give much more than i receive.
this is art. this is life. this is the philippines.
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