rural Philippines

This is in Tagalog, but it shows the mayor helping people replace their old homes. I believe this was with the help of the Rotary club.

But the mayor has been good at making sure that the development money for the poor actually goes to help the poor (a major problem here in the Philippines).


Since I moved here, the village houses like this have slowly been replaced with termite proof concrete block houses, and often they have electricity.

If you watch through to the end, you see them unpacking washing machine and a rice cooker, both of which are major work saving appliances for women: traditionally the wash is done by hand in a tub, which you have to fill by hand from the nearby pump, and then dump and refill the water to rinse the clothing. The wash machine is just to wash clothing: lets you wash and then the water runs off by itself... you still have to wring and dry it, but you can also buy a "spin dryer" that will spin most of the moisture out of the clothing.

Land reform meant that farmers have more income but the real improvement can be hinted at from a small sign in a nearby rural town that I saw 15 years ago: cellphone calls to Saudi available here. that was before that village had electricity. Now it is a developing town.

in this village, it shows the family making sandals: That is a major business here.

But it shows how poverty is still a big problem here but that it is slowly improving.