Written by Andrea Tee
Photograph by Andrea Tee
This year’s "In Search Of" study trip was graciously hosted by the University of the Philippines Visayas campus. 14 girls and 4 guys (including our intrepid lecturer pathfinder) and our student guides were housed in the on-campus accommodation.
While the male travelers and guides were put up in Balay Illongo, the university’s unisex dorm, the ladies of the trip were housed in UPV’s Gender and Development Programme (GDP) building--a gloriously pink two-storey building at the far end of the campus.
Constructed through the Countrywide Development Fund of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago--a 1965 alumni of UPV, the GDP building was formally opened on March 7th, 2008, marking the celebration of International Women’s Month. Built as the epicentre of gender-related events on the campus, the building houses the Gender and Development Program Office, the Balay-Balay (a child-minding centre), the Usgad Regional Resource Centre, the National Women Fisheries Network of the Philippines, the Anti-Sexual Harassment Office, a Gender-based library, a Teen centre, a Women’s Gallery and Museum, a Nook for Retired Personnel, and a mini-dormitory.
The suitably pink GDP Building.
