Philippines
Below is an email i received a few months back. Read and saved in my inbox. Something i read and re-read. This is something positive about our country and coming from a foreigner. Unfortunately, i don't know who to credit this article to. So to the author, whoever he/she is, THANK YOU! :)
Subject: FW: Interesting impression coming from a foreign journalist
I NEVER thought I would like Manila, a city I never even imagined I would visit in my lifetime. But now, as the date of my departure approaches, I find that I do not want to leave.
I came to the Philippines on a Ken and Yasuko Myer Fellowship. The program sends graduating Australian journalism students to work in newspapers in Southeast Asia in order to promote better understanding and relations between the media of Australia and its regional neighbors.
Without pausing to draw breath, I found myself at the departure lounge of Sydney Airport just four weeks after winning the fellowship.
As I sat on the plane I browsed through my hastily compiled research on the Philippines. My guidebook recommended that tourists escape Manila at the first opportunity. The internet stories I had gathered described the corruption, the kidnapping and the crime wave. My government's travel advisory encouraged caution and warned of robbery and terrorism. And, an international media watchdog body tallied seven murdered Filipino journalists in 2003.
I really did not think I would like Manila.
I have been in the Philippines for six weeks now. I have not been robbed, kidnapped, blown up, bribed or killed. I have, however, been charmed.
The dangers and controversies of the Philippines are well-publicized, but I will take away from Manila memories of the kindness, not the criminality, of the Filipino people.
Stories of the legendary Filipino hospitality had reached me in Sydney before I left, but I had not bargained on its strength. People who barely knew me took me into their homes. People who struggled to buy each day's groceries fed me. I have been truly humbled by the generosity and the indefatigable good nature of the Filipino people.
I had imagined my life in the Philippines to consist of watching cable in my apartment every night. However, the tireless efforts of the young Filipinos who adopted me ensured that I soon came to know and love Filipino food and the timeless art of "gimmicking."
While humbled by the people, I have been awed by the press. I had not expected a country that has yet to complete its second consecutive decade of a restored democracy to have such a stable and well-developed media.
Coming from Australia with a small population able to support only a handful of broadsheet and tabloid daily newspapers, the Philippine media looked to be an exotic banquet to me. The depth and diversity of the Filipino press are something of which the country is rightfully proud.
During my time working in the Philippine press, I have found its boast about being the freest in the region to be true, and then some. The Philippines is an amazingly dynamic, vibrant, complicated country. While it has its problems, I feel these are often dwelt on to the neglect of its many attributes.
I will watch the lights of Manila fade from my airplane window next week with reluctance. I will miss Manila for, among so many other things, there is no taho (bean curd in syrup) in Sydney.
©2004 http://www.inq7.net/ all rights reserved
Subject: FW: Interesting impression coming from a foreign journalist
I NEVER thought I would like Manila, a city I never even imagined I would visit in my lifetime. But now, as the date of my departure approaches, I find that I do not want to leave.
I came to the Philippines on a Ken and Yasuko Myer Fellowship. The program sends graduating Australian journalism students to work in newspapers in Southeast Asia in order to promote better understanding and relations between the media of Australia and its regional neighbors.
Without pausing to draw breath, I found myself at the departure lounge of Sydney Airport just four weeks after winning the fellowship.
As I sat on the plane I browsed through my hastily compiled research on the Philippines. My guidebook recommended that tourists escape Manila at the first opportunity. The internet stories I had gathered described the corruption, the kidnapping and the crime wave. My government's travel advisory encouraged caution and warned of robbery and terrorism. And, an international media watchdog body tallied seven murdered Filipino journalists in 2003.
I really did not think I would like Manila.
I have been in the Philippines for six weeks now. I have not been robbed, kidnapped, blown up, bribed or killed. I have, however, been charmed.
The dangers and controversies of the Philippines are well-publicized, but I will take away from Manila memories of the kindness, not the criminality, of the Filipino people.
Stories of the legendary Filipino hospitality had reached me in Sydney before I left, but I had not bargained on its strength. People who barely knew me took me into their homes. People who struggled to buy each day's groceries fed me. I have been truly humbled by the generosity and the indefatigable good nature of the Filipino people.
I had imagined my life in the Philippines to consist of watching cable in my apartment every night. However, the tireless efforts of the young Filipinos who adopted me ensured that I soon came to know and love Filipino food and the timeless art of "gimmicking."
While humbled by the people, I have been awed by the press. I had not expected a country that has yet to complete its second consecutive decade of a restored democracy to have such a stable and well-developed media.
Coming from Australia with a small population able to support only a handful of broadsheet and tabloid daily newspapers, the Philippine media looked to be an exotic banquet to me. The depth and diversity of the Filipino press are something of which the country is rightfully proud.
During my time working in the Philippine press, I have found its boast about being the freest in the region to be true, and then some. The Philippines is an amazingly dynamic, vibrant, complicated country. While it has its problems, I feel these are often dwelt on to the neglect of its many attributes.
I will watch the lights of Manila fade from my airplane window next week with reluctance. I will miss Manila for, among so many other things, there is no taho (bean curd in syrup) in Sydney.
©2004 http://www.inq7.net/ all rights reserved
posted by shy @ 6:05 PM
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