From the 8 to 18 Aug 2006 several events organized by W-CARP took place in Manila, Philippines. Among those events was the International Youth Day (IYD) including a service project, the International Educator Conference (IEC), and the Strategic Alignment Meeting (SAM). W-CARP leaders and members from all around the world participated, including 7 from Europe.

After a golden blanketed and well-fed 20-hour flight from Frankfurt, via Dubai, we arrived in Manila to a heavy, hot and fluorescent Philippino night. We waited for Korea with our newly made Kenyan friends on the air-conditioned coach. Eventually Connie, who found Korea at immigration, led us in some 80's ballads karaoke on our journey to the Manila Hotel. The hotel wasn't far away but we still didn't get our room till after 2am, so, jet-lagged and clutching our new bead necklaces which were a welcome gift from Joshua (on behalf of Philippine IYD (International Youth Day) and CARP staff who were organizing the weeks events), and trying to remember the names of the dozen people we had already met in the few hours of being in the country, we collapsed into our 2 nd floor room.

The first day of the week started with an opening ceremony, which probably welcomed everyone and introduced the reason for mobilizing so many youth to Asia for this IYD rally on the 12th august, but we wouldn't know because we missed it. We woke up a little late and missed the bus to the university where they were having the ceremony, so instead we took our fist ride in a Philippino jeep-bus, along with some important Philippine youth delegates who later received awards for their voluntary work, and got a glimpse of the exciting and slightly terrifying driving experience of Manila's roads.

We joined the group of international IYD delegates for a beautiful courtyard buffet lunch, and through the rain and pig's tongue delicacies, tried to learn more names from Mongolia and other distant lands. The concentration of such varied representatives from around the world, and the real scale of the event we were about to take part in hadn't really sunk in, but it was exciting and new from the faces to the places, and somehow I knew it would all make sense eventually, so I just tried to enjoy the time, even though the batteries in the borrowed public camera had decided to die after just a dozen pictures.

The other days were spent traveling to the different locations where the different events were held, including the Philippine International Conference Center, where we had the various education and service conferences with international representatives. These were insightful, especially to hear about the developments in countries with a very young and growing movement. It reminded me of the reports of Europe from back in the 70's when our movement was rapidly growing through the hard work of a select number of inspired full-time members. The rate of development in places like the Philippines, Nepal, Thailand and Peru is quite impressive, and so different from the way things are in Europe at the moment. It also made it very clear how important the VIPs and Peace Ambassadors are for the work that is being done in these nations, as they can be the difference between doing work that is good, and doing work that is recognized, therefore having more impact on that country, and for our own vision for a global peace.

Hyun Jin Nim was in the Philippines for probably only 3 days, but in that time we had Hoon Dok Hae with him twice, and attended a leaders meeting as well as the huge speech-rally and Gawad Kalinga service project at Baseco. I had just been in Japan at the STF assembly where I had the opportunity to take pictures of HJN during the speech to a few thousand Japanese members and STF and Jr. STF members, muscling for picture-taking space with around 6 other highly technical, professional cameramen. So this time felt like I could be there to actually listen to HJN and appreciate being there. Especially the leaders meeting was a unique experience as he was very honest with all the national representatives and very clear about expanding CARP's vision and outreach by targeting certain areas, including STF and other significant programs.

At the end of the week we had a chance to sightsee: a cloudy mountain, an island volcano, some ragged horses and the second largest shopping mall in Asia, an interesting selection of the very opposite ends of the Philippine social scene, from expensive hotels and shopping areas to the most simple and poor human dwellings. And this is exactly what the Millennium Development Goals want to tackle. The 7 MDGs set out by the UN as target areas they want to improve by 2015, include evening out the imbalance in many of today's societies, and making the world a place where everyone has opportunities and a safe environment in terms of health and equality. Our project could help a few people in Baseco, and our participation as international youth representatives might have inspired more people to support organizations doing something for developing countries, but the real challenge comes in trying to see how we can involve ourselves in the work that can make a difference in the world. I think we could see through this experience in the Philippines that it is possible.

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