AYAD Stewart Spencer is working as a Communications Officer at the Gelacio I. Yason Foundation – Family Farm School (GIYF-FFS) in Roxas, Oriental Mindoro. Read on as Stew shares his experiences and insights on living a volunteer's life in the Philippines.

Q: From where in Australia are you from?
A: I grew up in a little town known as Selby in the Dandenong Ranges about one our east of Melbourne.  Not many people would know Selby but they probably would know Belgrave and Puffing Billy – an old train that runs through the foothills.  I really enjoyed growing up in the hills because it was such a beautiful place with huge mountain ash trees everywhere and a really laid back and relaxed energy to the place.

However before I came to the Philippines I was living in Rye on the Mornington Peninsula about one hour south of Melbourne.  I also enjoyed living there mostly because I was able to surf more often.  

Q: What have you been doing before joining the AYAD/VIDA program?
A: I am 23 years old now and before joining the AYAD program I have been mixing life up a fair bit you could say.  However there has definitely been one theme to my life over the past few years and that has been travelling and experiencing different cultures and ways of living and viewing life.

I completed a three-year Bachelors degree in Environmental Science (Wildlife and Conservation Biology) at Deakin University.  Through this I was lucky enough to study abroad for one semester in Costa Rica, after which I chose to do some volunteer work in Guatemala with Volunteer Peten for one month.  Living with a host family with no electricity, it was here I that I was fully exposed to life in a developing community and I think this experience really affected me in a very positive way.  

Since returning to Australia after my time in Central America and finishing my degree I have travelled through South America and volunteered in Venezuela and Ecuador on some amazing programs.  My time in Venezuela was spent with Idiomas Sin Fronteras (language without borders) where I mostly taught English at a secondary school, but also assisted in developing an ecotourism project to benefit local indigenous communities and helped out at a centre for kids with disabilities.  My time in Ecuador was spent with the Andean Bear Project where my responsibilities involved tracking the highly endangered Andean Bear though cloud forest and local communities using radio telemetry and GPS equipment.

In between my travel adventures I worked as a Project Fire Fighter (PFF) with the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) based in Rosebud, Victoria.  This work is seasonal and only guarantees 4 months employment over the summer months, which allows me to work during the summer and travel during the winter.  As a PFF with the DSE we are responsible for wildfire suppression and prevention within public land (National/State Parks etc) areas of Victoria.  As you could imagine this is a very challenging job with many weeks spent away from home in the occurrence of a major wildfire.  I found this work to be very rewarding both physically and mentally.   

Q: What made you decide to go on assignment in the Philippines?
A: To be honest I actually applied for an Ecotourism development assignment in Vietnam but the AYAD program asked if I was interested in this communications assignment in the Philippines.  I was thrilled with this offer and quickly read the assignment description and began to research the Philippines.  It did not take long for me to decide that this assignment and destination could be an amazing experience, so I reapplied for this new recommended assignment and here I am.

Further research into the Philippines and I soon realised the amazing potential it has as a travel destination.  English is widely spoken, there is surf, the people are known to be the friendliest in the world and there are hardly any foreign tourists with plenty of off the beaten track adventures to be had.  I discovered that the Philippines is actually much more appealing to me than Vietnam for all of these reasons.    

Q: You’ve been in the Philippines for some time now. What have been your best memories in the country so far?
A:  The whole experience has been amazing and I am very happy with my assignment, my Host Organisation and my location.  I think that my best memories so far would have to be my experiences during family visits.  I work at a Family Farm School, which is an alternative school with three-week cycles – two weeks at school and one week at home. During the one week home period teachers visit each student and their families with the aim of assisting in the implementation of sustainable farming techniques learnt from the school and also enterprise projects to assist with family income.  My role during these family visits is to work with the teachers and interview/survey families with the aim of gaining socio/economic information and document success stories.  I have been filming these interviews and plan to produce a short promotional video for the school.  These family visits really allow me to get into the heart of the communities and experience life from a rural Filipino farming families perspective.  This level of seeing a different lifestyle and culture would be very difficult to achieve without volunteering I feel very fortunate to have been granted this opportunity with the AYAD program.

Q: Tell us about your assignment. How does this fit in the HO?   
A: My Host Organisation is the Gelacio I. Yason Foundation – Family Farm School (GIYF-FFS) and my position is Communications Officer.  My role as Communications Officer is to increase the capacity of the school to enrol more students and reach more families through producing Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials aiming to raise funds, resources and awareness for the school.  

Before arriving at the farm school I was very unsure about the nature of my position and having no experience in the past with communications work, was a little nervous.  I made it very clear to my supervisor that I had little experience with communications work and because of this we have developed more of a partnership work relationship where we develop ideas and the direction of my assignment together.  We are both learning about best practice of communications and the benefits it can produce if done correctly and efficiently.  

So since commencing my assignment I have learnt a lot about the farm school and communications.  My initial assignment outcomes were 1) Developed a communication plan for the GIYF-FFS relative to the Environmental Education Centre, 2) Developed communication and marketing materials for the environmental education centre and FFS and 3) Trained staff in communication planning and materials development.  These outcomes have changed very little with only small adaptations being made.

The production of a communications plan proved to be a very complex process.  Firstly we identified our target audiences to which communication efforts will be aimed.  We separated past and current support with potential support, as each will receive different communication tactics and activities.  We then developed our key messages to communicate with each target audience.  To do this we developed a socio/economic survey and interview questions for the families the school serves with the aim of painting a clear picture to our support network of whom the school is serving and how the school is helping.  Finally we allocated different communication tactics and activities to different target audiences and developed further talking points for key messages.

So now we are beginning to enter all of this gathered data and information into IEC materials for the world to see and hopefully gain more support.  We have recently printed our maiden issue of DEVCARE – the schools newsletter and we are currently planning the content for our website which should be up and running by the end of the month.  We then plan to produce a brochure, video, e-newsletter, email and facebook campaigns, another newsletter printed in Tagalog for the local community, PowerPoint presentation and continue with funding proposals.  With all of this work to be done we have realised that the initial 8 month assignment duration would not be enough time to ensure the sustainability of the outcomes, therefore I have applied for a 2 month extension.
      
Q: What’s the biggest challenge in your assignment? How did you respond to that?
A: I have faced many challenges relating to my assignment since the beginning.  One of the biggest challenges is communication with my work colleagues.  I find it very frustrating when important information about something that I should know is not communicated to me.  For example there was a day when all fourth year students presented their Family Enterprise Projects (FEP’s) to the tutors.  Part of my work plan is to document the success stories of these FEP’s and I would have thought that I would have been told about this presentation day as it would have provided me with some good information on their FEP’s.  I was not told however and as a result I had made plans to take that day off because my father was visiting.  Luckily I found out the day before but only by a chance conversation with one of the staff members.  I was able to participate for half of the session and then my father and I had to leave.  Occurrences such as these happen regularly and now I have come to accept them as part of the Philippine culture.   

The other frustrating aspect of working here is when some work I have done does not get acknowledged or used.  A few times I have created something useful for the staff members that won't be used.  I guess that they have their own way of doing things and it is hard to convince them to do it a different way.  I know that is why I am here and I find this very challenging.  I sometimes think that how can my way be better and why should they listen to me when they have been working and living here far longer that I have.  But then I also tell myself that I am here and doing the very best I can do and it’s probably more of a learning experience for me as it is for my HO.

Q: What do you do in your spare time in your assignment location?
A: I live at the Family Farm School (my HO), which is in the very small Barangay of San Mariano.  This is rice paddy and farming country and San Mariano is a one street town with a few shops, a few churches and a few elementary (primary) schools.  That’s the thing about the Philippines, even the smallest towns have a population big enough to support three or four primary schools.   From San Mariano it’s a 30-minute tricycle ride into the town of Roxas, which is a lot bigger than San Mariano but still not very big.  

There really isn’t that much to do in my spare time around San Mariano and Roxas except visit friends and hang out at peoples houses.  There are no bars or entertainment facilities and the beach is no pristine white sand paradise, but it is clean enough to swim at.  There are a few sights near by such as caves and rivers but I have had no chance to explore these yet.  One thing I really want to do is hike into the mountains and visit Mangyan (Indigenous people) communities.  The school has some Mangyan students and I would love to spend the weekend with their families.  Hopefully I will find time to do this before the end of my assignment.

Q: What are your top 3 Philippine destinations?
A: 1. Calicoan Island – When my Dad visited we went on a one-week surf trip to South East Samar and stayed at ABCD beach on Calicoan Island.  We were able to surf every day and ended up finding some amazing waves.  We stayed in a hut right in front of the surf with cooking facilities so we were able to just stay there and cook for ourselves and surf every day.  It was paradise for me for sure.

2. Coco Aroma, White Beach – Coco Aroma is a sweet little rustic resort situated in White Beach, Puerto Galera.  Puerto Galera is around three to four hours away from where I live so it is very close.  This place has a stunning beach and relaxed vibe and some good nightlife.

3. Pagudpud - This could be calling it a little early as I haven’t been here yet but what I’ve seen looks very promising.  Pagudpud is situated at the very northern tip of Luzon and has some great surf and beautiful beaches.  I am heading up there this week with my Sister who surfs and my Mum.  Vigan is also close by and is one of the oldest towns in the Philippines.  They say that walking down the street is like walking through a museum.

Q: Any message for those who are thinking twice about volunteering in the Philippines?
A: I would strongly recommend volunteering in the Philippines.  Everyone here loves it.  The people are the country’s biggest asset I think.  They are so friendly and happy and warm that you can’t help but absorb it all.  There are too many places to see and things to do and the In Country Management Team (ICM) is the best the AYAD program has to offer.