Yvanovich.com Family Portal

This past week marks a very tragic time in our service as Peace Corps Volunteers. A fellow volunteer and good friend has passed away. Julia Campbell was assigned in the Bicol region with Anthony and I. She began her service in Donsol, Sorsogon before transferring to Legazpi to teach English at Divine Word College.

Happy New Year! We can hardly believe that 2007 is already upon us. After typhoon Durian slammed it’s way onto Catanduanes, Anthony and I are glad to say goodbye to 2006 and welcome in the fresh New Year.

Here is a satellite image of typhoon Durain as it bears down on Catanduanes. Notice how big the feeder band is to the north. The image was taken at 11/30/06 0 hours UTC. Sustained winds of 125mph, gusts to 165mph.

(click for bigger image)
Anthony and Katie were nearly in the direct path of the typhoon, but their apartment weathered the storm quite well. It took nearly 4 weeks before they had power again. We just got off the phone with them, and all is well with them. Construction on the Library was completed two days before the typhoon hit, and it survived with minimal damage.

Well, it's finally, finally happened. After a jumping through a LOT of red tape, the construction on the new library has finally started! Things may take a long, long time to get started in the Philippines but once the ball starts rollin' there's no stopping it! Construction started on October 25th and it is looking great!

So we have finally got our act together and had a spare moment to post pictures online. Be sure to check them out! I've posted pictures of the second part of Tudlo Minandao, our vacation to Bohol and Siquijor, the baptism of our godson, book club pictures, and GLOW & TOBE! Enjoy!

On August 5th and 6th Catanduanes National High School hosted a GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and the first-ever in the Philippines TOBE (Teaching Our Boys to Excel) camp. Anthony was the first PCV to hold a camp for boys in the Philippines! We had 50 boys and 50 girl participants and 10 PCV facilitators. Anthony and Ate Tess spent the better part of 2 months planning for the camp. Because of all their hard work, the camp went perfectly for everyone!

We must be the luckiest two Peace Corps Volunteers ever! Thanks to all your love and support we have reached our goal of $2,295! San Miguel is going to get a beautiful new library and the anticipation has everyone giddy with excitement. Construction is set to start in two weeks. The library plans are well under way, even without a new building. We have been having weekly meetings with the student book club who have been helping organize all our new books. The students love helping Anthony and I paste labels in the books. The organization is going slow however, because half of the time is spent reading the books! The students are so excited and I've got more help than I've got jobs for them to do! The support from the community is continuing to pour in. The governor of Catanduanes has pledged his support along with the mayor of San Miguel. The PTCA (Parent Teacher Community Association) president, my school principal, and my counterpart have been working hard on gathering the promised pledges from the teachers and parents. The library committee has been meeting to discuss the logistics of running the new school library. Teachers have pledged to give up their free periods so that the library can remain open all day.
I can't say how, or when, or even where it happened but somewhere along the line something finally clicked. I never thought I would ever get to this point and I'm so happy to say that, if I have not yet arrived, I'm well on the way to getting there. I'm so proud of my community and myself for all the hard work we have put into making our dreams come true. I can't believe it's actually going to happen! I want to thank everyone who donated and those who have kept us in your thoughts. Without your support, our library would still be a dream. Updates and pictures will be coming soon, so keep checking yvanovich.com!

During one of the hottest heatwaves in some time in San Jose, CA, we lost power for 60 hours at your home (where the linux box that powers yvanovich.com lives). We spent the last day without power throwing away all of our food. We tried getting our generator running, but over the winter it had developed a fuel leak, and I couldn't fix it in time. Going without email for nearly 3 days is rough. Hopefully, our power will stay on fo a while with the new transformer installed (thank you PG&E, you guys were working hard!) and cooler temperatures in the forecast.

Dear Friends and Family,
Kumusta kayo? How are you all? Anthony and I are doing well and have made it to our 1-year mark! This past year has proved the Peace Corps motto, “the toughest job you’ll ever love”. It has certainly not been an easy year but Anthony and I would not change one minute of it. We feel so blessed by our communities who have taken us in and made Catanduanes our home away from home.
We are writing this letter to you on behalf of my school community, San Miguel Central Elementary School. SMCES is located in the beautiful hills on the island of Catanduanes. San Miguel is a remote village only accessible by a bumpy dirt road. It is a quiet, peaceful town where the pace of life is slow. Bato river winds its way through the town. Caribou graze in the water logged rice patties. Huts made of bamboo line the rivers edge. People here live a simple but happy life.
The teachers of San Miguel and I are working together to build a library for our students. We are a small school with 500 students and 30 teachers. Every morning students come from many miles away to attend school. Some travel over 2 hours a day. San Miguel Central has a severe lack of materials. Two pupils share one desk and there is one textbook for every three students. Many students have never seen a fiction book or magazine. The school is unable to provide materials to meet the student’s needs. Books in the Philippines cost ten times the average daily wage.
Even though they lack books, the student’s of San Miguel have dreams for their lives. They want to become doctors, basketball stars, Olympic athletes, and lawyers. My hope is that by giving them a library, they might be able to achieve their dreams. Inspiring them to read will lead them into the lives they dream of. It is a small wish for a small community but I know it will impact them in a big way.
Our dream for a new library has already started to come true. We have held two “Book and a Buck” drives at Williams Elementary School and at Saint Francis Cabrini. We have just received a donation of over 2,000 books from Williams Elementary School and have collected 3,000 books from Saint Francis Cabrini! Our “Book and a Buck” drive was such a success the local paper, The Almaden Resident, wrote an article on it.
The San Miguel community has been working hard to find ways to fund our project and teachers have given their time, support and money. They are committed to giving the school a new library. Together we wrote a grant proposal so that we will be able to fund our project. This is where your support can help. We are applying for the Peace Corps Partnership Program. This grant is a unique way to connect Peace Corps Volunteers and their communities with willing American donors. It is a way to promote cross-cultural understanding while helping communities in need. The PCPP is a great way for friends and family back home to show their support for their PCVs serving overseas.
The cost of San Miguel Central’s new library is $5,800.00. My community has been able to raise 61% of the total cost but we still need $2,295.00. Your money will help provide a new building, labor, paint, bookshelves, desks, and all the other materials needed to make our library a successful project. If you are interested in helping my community reach their dream of a new library, please visit my project page on Peace Corps website. All donations made are completely tax-deductible and, of course, will be greatly appreciated by my community and myself. We want to thank you on behalf of my community. I know that they will never forget the generosity of the American people. Maraming Salamat! Thank you very much!
Love,
Katie and Anthony Yvanovich
US Peace Corps Volunteers
Philippines ’05-‘07

Three of the Los Gatos Yvanovichs (D.J., Michael and Dave) got a buzz cut today. I took some pictures which you can see here.

The Road Less Traveled By

“I shall be telling this with a sigh
?Somewhere ages and ages hence: ?
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
?I took the one less traveled by, ?
And that has made all the difference”

I’m sure everyone knows the famous poem, The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost. There are many different interpretations but, for this purpose, I would like to take a more literal approach. Anthony and I have just arrived back home after being gone for 3 weeks. It feels like a lifetime ago when we left Zoe with Ate Tess’s family and boarded the ferry to the mainland. Our first stop along the way was a city called Naga. Naga is the heart of the Bicol region and it was our first time there. We were resource volunteers for the new batch of trainees. Ate Tess came with us and together; she and Anthony held a session on “Working With a Counterpart”. It was a great way for us to meet all the new volunteers who will be in our region. One new volunteer, who’s name is also Katie, will be coming to Catanduanes. The two days passed pleasantly. After being resource volunteers, we were going to travel back to Cebu to participate in the second half of the Tudlo Mindanao program. Well, that sounds simple enough. Catch a flight to Manila and the next day catch a flight to Cebu. No problem!