Filipino vols in Uganda

Last February, we had a Volunteers-Partners Forum in Kampala.  I had the chance to meet again the Filipino volunteers I visited during the Christmas holidays.

VSO volunteers in Uganda

If there is something unique about Filipinos, I'd say it is their capacity to have a good laugh whenever they are together.  Even the way one speaks or the choice of words is meant to elicit laughter.  Punning and bantering have become classical art.

Look at us, Generation Y but 1

Body language and facial expressions heighten the merriment.  But that is not to say that we are not a serious people.  In business meetings or in the company of strangers, we can be formal;  too businesslike even.  We can even cry a bucketful when mourning.

I was the photographer

Our warmth is undeniable.  I was even told here in Gulu, where locals are used to different nationalities, that the way I relate to people is just stunning.   Well, I said, it is not just me.  It's the rest of us.  I don't know whom to thank for this legacy of mirth - is it our Malay forefathers, or the Spaniards, or the Americans?  The Philippines used to be high in the UN Happiness Index, until I saw lately that the Indonesians beat us to it.  I guess, it is the Malay connection.  Am getting homesick. It is fun in the Philippines.

In a Filipino-owned restaurant in Kampala

Next posts, I will write about the life of the Filipino vols in their placements.