New Beginnings

I've contemplated starting a blog for ages but have just never gotten around to actually doing it. Now seems like the right time -- lots of change is coming to my life in the very near future, and I think a blog will be a great way to have a record of everything, and will also be an easy way to share developments with friends and family.

Some of you may wonder about the name of this blog: Team Swangelista. This is a term for me and Marcus that my friend Ranjit coined around the time Marcus and I got married. I hadn't yet decided to take Marcus' name, and Ranjit joked that we should just create a new last name from our two names, and suggested Swangelista. It stuck, and for Valentine's Day a couple years ago I got us shirts that say "Team Swangelista". Since this blog will chronicle the goings-on in our lives, I thought it would be an appropriate name. :)

So... the changes coming up.

The biggest news is that Marcus and I will be leaving New York City this summer and will be moving to Puerto Princesa, Palawan. The biggest reason behind the move is wanting to be closer to family. We'll be back in the Philippines, where all of my immediate family lives, and will be around a 5-10 minute drive from where my parents live. My siblings will be a bit further away, in Manila, but will be an easy 45 minute flight away rather than the current 20+ hour journey from NYC. Palawan is probably about as far away from Cape Town as New York is, but flights to South Africa from the Philippines cost half of what they cost from the US, so we are hoping to make it to Cape Town regularly to visit Marcus' family and friends.

The second biggest reason for the move is the amazing professional opportunity awaiting me. In September of 2008, my mom and I together started our own nonprofit organization called Roots of Health (Ugat ng Kalusugan in Tagalog). Roots of Health (ROH) is a community health organization focused on providing reproductive health care and education to disadvantaged women and girls in Puerto Princesa. My mom has always wanted to have her own organization, and my technical background (I recently completed a dual Masters degree program in international affairs and public health) is the perfect match to help my mom run this organization.

We've already identified the first community we'll be working in, and plan to really start our work this summer. We'll be providing women and girls information about their bodies and their health, with a goal of preventing unwanted pregnancies, which is a problem in the area. We will also provide prenatal care for pregnant participants in our programs in order to help women have healthy pregnancies and ultimately healthy babies. Because these women are poor, most of them don't have adequate prenatal care and have a lot of low birth weight babies. Low birth weight is known to increase the risk for major disabilities such as cerebral palsy and mental retardation and may also contribute to difficulties in motor skills and in cognitive abilities (thinking, learning and memory). So it is really important that women have good care while they're pregnant! We're also going to implement a feeding program for malnourished or underweight infants and toddlers within the community. My background is also in human rights and our outreach work will be human rights-based. A lot of women in the area are in abusive relationships so we have to figure out a way to provide them, and their spouses/partners information about basic human rights. We are going to have a lot of work to do, and I am so excited to get started!

Marcus hasn't decided yet if he wants to continue teaching in Palawan. He will definitely be working with us on ROH, and may also try to get involved in environmental conservation, which is huge in Palawan. There's a Masters program in environmental sciences at Palawan State University and Marcus may apply to that program. My mom has told a lot of her friends at the University about him and they want him to teach there as well! My mom really thinks that we're going to have way more possibilities for work and things to do than we can possibly handle. So exciting! :)

Of course it's going to be really hard to leave our friends and family in NYC and the US, but we're hoping that everyone will come and visit us. Also, this upcoming week is my last week at work, so I will have some time to pack us up and enjoy the city without the stress of working. Of course there is already a lot to do for ROH, but I'm hoping it will be pretty manageable. I'm really looking forward to the free time.

Another exciting upcoming event is a visit from my ate Sara and my oldest nephew, Matthew. They're coming to NYC this Thursday and I can't wait to see them.

I have tons to get done today and tomorrow so I think I'll end my first ever blog post here. Enjoy the weekend, everyone!