Originally from Adelaide, South Australia, VIDA volunteer Andrew Leane is now based in Bacolod as a GIS Officer with NISARD on a 12-month assignment.

Read on as Andrew shares stories about living in the Philippines and his insights on volunteering.

Q: What have you been doing before joining the AYAD/VIDA program?
A:  I was working on various Geographic Information System projects at the University of South Australia (Social Epidemiology) and with the SA government’s Department of Transport.

Q: What made you decide to go on assignment in the Philippines?
A:  This time around, because I had enjoyed my time as an AYAD, and learned about another GIS position that was coming up. Too good an opportunity to pass up!

Q: You’ve been in the Philippines for some time now. What have been your best memories in the country so far?
A:  Working with producers in the lower slopes of Mt Kanlaon – their friendship, resolve, resourcefulness, and humour. It’s also a beautiful area, with a great view of the plains of Negros below, and Mt Kanlaon volcano towering above. 

Q: Do you have any misconceptions/bad impressions about the Philippines that you proved entirely wrong?
A: I’m a vegetarian. I had heard horror stories that living in the provinces I would lose 10 kg and be living on pineapples and rice. Perhaps unfortunately there is so much good, inexpensive food in Bacolod and Tacloban, that I gained 5 kg.

Q: Tell us about your assignment. How does this fit in the HO?  
A: NISARD works to encourage sustainable organic agriculture. My role is to assist NISARD with setting up a Geographic Information System or GIS. The idea is that if local producers have a better idea of the size, shape and elevation of their farms, NISARD can help them strategically plan what areas to focus their efforts on. For example on our coffee project we are focusing on planting 1 million Arabica trees in coming years. We are targeting producers living at higher elevations, because that is where Arabica coffee grows best. Hiking up Mt Kanlaon is just an added benefit to the job.

Andrew shows the locals data from the GPS.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge in your assignment? How did you respond to that?
A: Learning another language – a lot of our training sessions and meetings are held mostly in the local dialect of Illongo, so I continue to take lessons in it. I can understand quite a bit more these days, but speaking is still tricky. Those prefixes and suffixes are hard!

Q: What do you do in your spare time in your assignment location?
A: Try and improve our badminton skills against impossibly quick, deadly accurate locals, who never get tired and (impossibly) seem not to sweat at all.

Q: What are your top 3 Philippine destinations?
A: Caluwayan on Samar, Mt Kanlaon on Negros, and basically all of Bohol.

Q: Give us your top 3 favorite Filipino dishes.
A: Banana Que, Mango float and fresh coconuts/rambutans/marang straight off the tree ... yes I have a sweet tooth.

Q: How has the program helped or changed you as a person?
A: For me it was about re-gaining perspective. Having lived most of my childhood in Nepal and then returning to Australia for study, it really helped to volunteer in AYAD and VIDA and get a better idea of what I want to be doing with my life, before I got too bogged down in the rat race.

Q: Any message for those who are thinking twice about volunteering in the Philippines?
A: I think the Philippines is still relatively unknown in Australia, I certainly knew very little about the country before coming. I now see that as an opportunity to fill in the void in my knowledge and understanding. This is made easier as I find the Philippines is one of the more straight forward countries in Asia to settle into and travel around.

For the wide variety of potential volunteers who may want very different things out of their AYAD/VIDA assignment, the Philippines diversity is its strength, there are so many different experiences it has to offer.