drtravels: My friend

It was purely by accident I met Daniel. My room in Felmida is about 12 km from the health center and needed a ride each day. The first day the scheduled driver was a no show and I was late and quickly found a replacement. I was unaware this would result in a soon to be great friendship. Daniel drives a "taxi trike" which is a 150cc motorcycle with an attached side car or more accurately, coffin on wheels. I negotiated a daily rate of 40 pesos (~ $1.00) each way but offered 50 pesos if he would drive fast and get me to work on time - later we would joke as he also needed to be back to Felmida and was planning on driving fast anyway and thus took me for an extra 10 pesos (which I would not let him forget until the day I left). Daniel became my driver that day. Later I would find out that the 40 pesos for each ride would result in only about 10 pesos ( 23 cents ) in his pocket after gas and maintenance costs. Tipping became more frequent.

A little about Daniel: He was born in the small fishing village of Felmida and has 6 beautiful children and an adoring wife. I've not met a man who has more love for his family than Daniel or someone with such a quick smile and happy attitude. He lives what he calls an average life but what I would view as modest and most people from the developing countries would say was poor. Daniel has a good command of English as he spent a little over two years working in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan for English speaking companies. While in the Philippines he earns his income by driving a trike and, with his wife, operate a small neighborhood store. Life is a struggle but Daniel is most concerned that he won't have the resources to send his children to college which costs about $500 per semester. Like many local families, this responsibility is often passed to the oldest children who give up education and find work to pay for school for the younger children. Daniel is considering international work again as at his age (37) he is too old to be considered for most employment in the Philippines. When we speak of his taking a year long assignment in another country I see the heart break in his eyes knowing he'll be away from his family for such a long period. Daniel is bright, articulate, honest, and caring but has no advanced education and thus, few options. His children are adorable and exceptionally bright - the 6 year old does multiplication and speaks English.

I saw Daniel almost everyday I was in the Philippines and he introduced me to the neighborhood, Filipino culture and language, and the local area. He also is tremendously funny as well as honest and would reprimand me for the lack of basic Tagalog language with an offer of help for me to become better. We also shared a few adventures - one of which could best be described as a boat trip "Gilligan's Island meets Survivor" where we found ourselves on a remote cove and after some altered judgement, decided to spend the night (with no cell signal, no boat, and nobody knew where we were).

Through this time together and memorable adventures we became good friends. I too began to worry about Daniel's dilemma of needing money to support his family and the children's education while still being able to be a daily part of their life. It was then I decided to offer to pay for the tuition of any of his children that wanted to go to college. It was clear that this was unexpected and overwhelming to Daniel that someone not family would offer this support and he wouldn't accept my proposal but rather suggested that if the oldest two were to go to college they in turn could help the younger children. It's such a tragedy that children such as Daniel's are prevented from obtaining an education and lose the opportunity to reach their potential.

I hope to see my Filipino family soon.