Location: England
Climate: English...i.e. grey clouds – cardigan weather.
Once upon a time a group of fourteen young, eager travellers stepped off Cebu’s extremely air conditioned plane and onto Cagayan De Oro soil/tarmac. The next 12 days were incredible; they had the trip of their lives. Now they’ve been returned to where they came from, but the memories will last a lifetime. Here’s how it all ended....
So, let’s return to Friday the 16th of July:
We’d all enjoyed such an incredible day of rafting/swimming/”relaxing” down the amazing white water rapids, and were pooped! We got home, showered, changed and had a couple hours of chill time before snacks and then off to youth group.
Youth group’s officially meant to start at 6pm. We arrived at half 6 and by 7pm it was still just us, our trusty translators and two terrified looking Filipino teens. At half 7 Chester pulled up in the jeepnie, FULL of a little less terrified looking youthies, who filed into and filled up the car port style church building.
Our “40 minute” slot turned into an incredibly epic 3 hour meeting, complete with intense and amazingly loud worship, skits, a Bruggeman talk, washing feet and an incredible ministry time. After we’d successfully made almost every human in a 2 mile radius cry, the meeting was brought to a close with a gigantic group photo, and sad goodbyes. It’s amazing how the obstacle of language is no problem, when the Holy Spirit gets a moving!
We walked the 200 metres home to the hotel and all fell straight into bed. Such an incredible day.
Saturday the 17th of July:
Another early rise, and early breckie. Another group hop into the jeepnie, but this time a 2+ hour road trip to our next Team Fun Day!
The drive was long, bumpy and beautiful as we followed a coastal road north towards Duka Bay. We were grateful to eventually arrive and wake our bums up, then we turned around and saw what can only be described as paradise; white sand and turquoise ocean full of crystal clear water.
We hired out a thatch roofed gazebo for the day, got changed and hit the sea. It was amazing.
Our incredible translators got busy on the bbq, while half of the group gathered for something very cool – meeting Edwardo, aka, our scuba diving instructor!!!
After an hour’s basic training and playing in the shallows with the scuba dudes, we paired up and went out 2 at a time to check out the Filipino reef. Between eating the out of this world bbq-ed pork in amazing Ramil marinade (Hannah had her special person packed lunch) and playing in the waters, pairs came back from the reef just buzzing from what they’d seen.
I was privileged enough to dive with Lisa and Nathan J, and my word that sea bed’s just astounding! We saw hundreds upon hundreds of stunning fish, we fed angel fish, said hello to Nemos, tickled the weeds and even held blue starfish. The best experience ever...and to think; there’s all that beauty and more under the rest of that bay, the rest of the Philippine sea and all the oceans of the world. God’s imagination and expertise is rather impressive, ey?!
At about 4pm we jumped back into the jeepnie and headed home. After some crazy driving, an empty fuel tank, a lot of giggles and four hours, we were home again.
That evening was a free night where we invaded the local mall once more, and after the party on the roof being rained off, we all hit the sack pretty early.
Next day = Sunday = church.
The group split into half, as we had two different churches to speak at; Alex and his merry men headed back to the Canitoan area where House Of Joshua will be, while Martin and the rest of us partied on down to the rubbish dump again.
Both services went really well, with a lot of not quite in tune yet extremely passionate worship, skits and puppet shows leading up to the sermons.
In Canitoan Alex spoke, using the rest of his team mates as props, they shared an incredibly moving ministry time together and then they all went to one of the church member’s house for a beautifully hospitable lunch.
At our little tin roofed shack, Martin gave a very encouraging word, enjoyed the applause and sat down. The pastoress then got up on the stage, said a lot of things in Fili and then asked us to bow our heads and prepare for the day’s word. Martin had just given the word. Error. ...we all looked at each other with a mixture of awkward laughter and “help” in our eyes. None of us knowing what to do, as we’d just done all that we’d prepared (and taken an hour doing it!), but thankfully our fearless leader stood up. With the whole church’s eyes on Michiel he stood behind the lectern and fumbled through the bible, making some excuse about the bookmark falling out. The poor dude amazingly wacked out a brilliant preach (that sounded suspiciously similar to the one he’d given the week before, at Ramil and Mary’s church!) and saved the day. Hilarious!
Once all fed and before slipping into that Sunday-afternoon feeling, we jumped in the jeepnie once more and headed towards Boys Town. On our schedule, that afternoon was down as “free” e.g. the mall/sleeping/drinking mango shakes, but because our youth are just incredible, they insisted we make the most of things and visit the boys again.
We spent the afternoon playing a multitude of ball games, getting tested by the boys at stupidly difficult Maths problems (go Hannah showing her skills), and just being able to enjoy a bit more fun with the gorgeous community of lads. We then gave out cookies and juice, and said our goodbyes...
The goodbyes had started; sad times.
That evening was the farewell party (and not an engagement party anymore. Poor Doylie!), and it was THE most perfect end to a perfect trip:
Unfortunately the pig population in the Phili is now pretty low, as we wacked out another spit roasted squealer, and dug in to an amazing feast. Finished with the most unbelievably lush dessert in the world (mango float is immense!) and washed down with litres of fizzy pop, it was quite the meal.
We then gathered together for a bit of a de-brief chat from Mary (which we are now so thankful for, as discovering the importance of the reserve culture shock warnings!) and a prayer time led by Chester and Ramil. Such a precious time, and very few dry eyes left by the end of it!
The night was ended with last street basketball and street games, with a curb-side ice cream break in the middle. Precious precious times (proof of this: tears are falling right now, as I reminisce about it!).
Another good, yet very short night’s sleep led to packing. Booooo!
Once Ramil and Mary’s front patio was full of suitcases and sad faces, we headed to the jeepnie once again...but the party wasn’t over yet – we still had the morning to kill, and we were doing that in the best way possible: back to the beach, but this time with another roast pig and the street boys tooooo! Yeeyyyyyyy!
We enjoyed a hilarious few hours splashing, chasing, chucking, burying, eating and playing with the incredible kids. After we’d beaten them at footy, and then been thrashed by the Fili’s at their own games (the sight of Michiel tackling a dude on crutches was pretty special) we’d run out of time, and had to head home. It was the most amazing last morning.
We pulled up outside Ramil and Mary’s house to find buckets and hoses, ready for a giant street shower (in our swimming togs, mind!) to de-sand. It was very very very funny!
Once dry and smelling slightly better, we grabbed our luggage and headed into that beautiful jeepnie for the very last time. As the rain poured, we kept spirits high with the normal comedy that flooded from our amazing team.
At the airport, our wonderfully remarkable translators did their final act of beautiful service by helping unload the bundles of bags, and after a final goodbye and lots and lots of cuddles (and tears, again!) we walked back into the Cagayan airport.
Once again we got through check ins and inspections without any hitches, and before we knew it, were back in Manila.
Emotions were on over drive as we eventually got through to the international departures. A mixture of hunger, tiredness, smelliness, mourning and boredom was not the best recipe for the mission of finding the least salmonella filled snacks in the deserted airport, but by the grace of God we got through it without any punch ups!
We then boarded our plane to Dubai, and left the spectacular country that is The Philippines.
I’m not really sure what happened on that flight, as I slept 7 hours of it (lush!), but I hear there was turbulence and a few exciting moments. Rumour had it that Milan slept the whole thing. What a lad! What a relief for the amazing Mrs B!
Back in Dubai we had three hours to kill, and so spread throughout the airport, finding food, sun burn relief spray and anything else that we were needing.
Most of the team were shattered, already missing the Phili, getting smellier and just wanting to be home now, and yet it was still such a laugh.
We boarded the finale plane and set sail for the last leg of the journey. Now, this journey d-r-a-g-g-e-d, but we made the most of it by watching silly amounts of films, playing plane trivia (which of course, Kirkup won by miles!), interrupting each other’s films by calling their in-flight telephones, and discussing the mushrooms that the dude next to me had bought and got very high on in Bali. Funny!
After 7 hours stuck on that plane we finally came to a holt on English run-way. We were home!
Once we’d rounded up the many bags and ventured up and down the lifts numerous times until we found the exit, a lovely familiar face of Mr Harding stepped out of the mini-bus and rescued us from airport hell.
The drive back to Fareham was quiet and weird – the lack of jeepnie, and jeepnie driving rules was very evident.
We pulled up into the FCC car park to find a handful of smiley parents ready to squeeze their kids to death.
With a final team time prayer huddle, we all schnuggled each other til we were blue in the face, slapped Doyle’s sunburnt back a few times and then split for the first time in what felt like a very long time of being together.
It was good to be home, but so sad to have left, and very strange to have the team split.
We’ve nearly been home a week now (ridiculous!), and as people get back into the normality of life, things are a bit strange....more on that in the next update.
Thanks for ready again. Will pop up everyone’s fav five minutes, and a few final remarks before this blog’s completely finished – stay tuned! xx
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
A moment with Parrott:
Hannah, how u doing?
"Ummm, I'm, I'm good."
How are you feeling now it's nearly over?
(She chew pineapple) "Mmmmm, pretty sad, coz I don't wana leave the people I've been living with."
What's been your highlight?
"Ummm, I don't know...like, I think like the garbage dump, and meeting that Patricia lady (the lady in jail with epilepsy), but then in our free time, going rafting and stuff."
Is it what you expected?
"No."
Care to elaborate?
"It’s like been much more eye opening, and it’s changed my views on things quite a lot."
Anything in particular?
"Ummmm, it's like given me respect for religion and how it brings people closer together and gives people hope. And ummm, it seems like crazy now looking at poverty things on TV and thinking that's bad, and then coming here and realising it's so much worse than I thought."
Has anything been challenging?
"Pretty much everything (especially getting stuck in my bed!)."
What's been your fav Filipino food?
"What's that thing we ate yesters?...the sticky fruit."
Who's fav person you've met?
"That kid with glasses who sung at youth group...should've got his facebook. Maybe even his number! Just loved the kid with glasses!"
Do you recon you’ll do mission again?
“Yea definitely.”
Do you wanna come back to the Philippines?
“Yes. I like the hotel, and the food is nice. Oh yea, and the rest of the experience was awwwwwesome!”
Any final comments?
“I never thought I'd be happy for rain. Yey. Rain.”
"Ummm, I'm, I'm good."
How are you feeling now it's nearly over?
(She chew pineapple) "Mmmmm, pretty sad, coz I don't wana leave the people I've been living with."
What's been your highlight?
"Ummm, I don't know...like, I think like the garbage dump, and meeting that Patricia lady (the lady in jail with epilepsy), but then in our free time, going rafting and stuff."
Is it what you expected?
"No."
Care to elaborate?
"It’s like been much more eye opening, and it’s changed my views on things quite a lot."
Anything in particular?
"Ummmm, it's like given me respect for religion and how it brings people closer together and gives people hope. And ummm, it seems like crazy now looking at poverty things on TV and thinking that's bad, and then coming here and realising it's so much worse than I thought."
Has anything been challenging?
"Pretty much everything (especially getting stuck in my bed!)."
What's been your fav Filipino food?
"What's that thing we ate yesters?...the sticky fruit."
Who's fav person you've met?
"That kid with glasses who sung at youth group...should've got his facebook. Maybe even his number! Just loved the kid with glasses!"
Do you recon you’ll do mission again?
“Yea definitely.”
Do you wanna come back to the Philippines?
“Yes. I like the hotel, and the food is nice. Oh yea, and the rest of the experience was awwwwwesome!”
Any final comments?
“I never thought I'd be happy for rain. Yey. Rain.”
I just wanna go to the beach.......sunburn!
WRITTEN SATURDAY THE SEVENTEENTH OF JULY.
Location: sat in the jeepnie having run out of gas - somewhere in between the beach and home, Mindanao, The Philippines
Climate: humid, sticky and dark.
Matt's rapping about the situation, the twins are finishing off our food
supplies, Lisa is glowing from the UV light, the other boys are peeing by the curb side and our translators are currently pegging it to the nearest gas station....wherever that may be!
We've had such an incredible day in the paradisific white sand and turquoise waters of Duka Bay, but on the 2 hour ride home we suddenly rolled to a holt; Bedoy and Michael (a couple of the translators) turned round confirmed the petrol gage doesn't work and we’d run out of juice. Hilarious!
So, I thought I'd make the most of the situ and fill you in on our last couple of idyllic days:
So, Thursday afternoon we had a nice chill after lunch and then headed into the steamy centre of town to get to know the street kiddies a bit better. We rocked up and waited a while for them to arrive, and as soon as they did we put Evans “the rubix-cube extraordinaire” to work entertaining the masses. The boys loved challenging him, and challenging themselves to count to 50, giving him the time limit to solve the problem in.
In their grubby, yet very cool clothes and flippy floppies they showed us their incredible somersault skills and enjoyed some buns and donuts until it was time for us to go. We high fived the dozen or so boys and girls, and jumped back into the jeepnie.
That night, after dinner we all sat down on Mary and Ramil's patio and listened to the amazing couple's testimonies.
Ramil told us all about his previous gang and drug dealing lifestyle; his career in pro basketball which lead onto the drug dealing at only 23 years old, and then how he turned it all around when God touched him and spoke to him out of the blue.
Then Mary shared her story; no guns, tattoos or crime, but an extremely honest and real tale about how she struggled with God and her purpose in life, for years. She told of the struggles in her professional dancing career and then explained with huge joy how God made it all clear for her, and how she discovered that "when you start to take God seriously, He takes you really seriously".
How Mary and Ramil got together, engaged after 5 weeks of knowing each other and how they truly adore each other is an incredibly romantic and faith-filled story.
It was wkd to hear how they became such amazing people, both individually and as a unit. Very inspiring.
Yesterday we had another very early rise, and as we sat sleepily eating breakfast a jeepnie pulled up, complete with half a dozen excited Filipinos and 3 inflatable rafts sitting on the top. This was Team Fun Day no 1.
We all squeeezed in and on the jeepnie (one of the instructors ended up sitting on the bonnet!) and took the half hour journey to the rafting start point, on the Cagayan river.
Once kitted out with the very attractive helmets and extremely wedgie-giving life jackets, we grabbed our oars and were ready for orientation.
The orientation was simple and all we needed to know....pretty much, if you fall out, just lean back, lie in the water and relax!
Split into 3 teams, with 2 raft experts to each team we jumped into the rafts and entered number 1 of the 19 white water rapids. Two boats came out upright and full of people, but unfortunately the red boat (the Nathans, Sam, Lisa, Deither (Ramil's 13 yr old son), Chester (the youth pastor) and the two experts) had it's first flip.
Once they’d climbed back on the raft, and the rest of us had finished laughing at them, we went onto rapid number 2 and this time only one boat came out the right way up - yellow boat no1 (Hannah, Doyle, Matt, Jonny, Alex, Jay (translator) and the two experts) flipped this time, and the red boat again went under water. We therefore named the red boat Team Relax - the amount they fell in, they had to "relax" in the water A LOT!!!
We sailed through the incredible rapids, and after 21 kms of awesome scenery (can't even start to attempt to put that beauty into words...so I won't), sailing under a mini fresh water waterfall, seeing a little water snake, swimming in the stills in-between rapids and after a couple of hours we reached the end.
Team relax fell in a grand total of 8 times (with Chester nearly flopping in double that) and yellow boat no1 fell in twice, but the winners - yellow boat no2 (the Bruggeman brothers, Batman (Michael the translator) and Robin (Bedoy the side kick/translator) the two experts and myself) only fell in once. Scorrrre!
There were some points that people got quite scared, but the experts were soooo expert and oooober hot on making sure we were all totally safe at all times. We all came out the other end without any broken bones (just a lot of bruised ones!) and having absolutely loved the experience. Hannah totally won the MVP award of the day for being so up for it and always having a giant smile on her face, even after being sucked under for a bit!
Once out of the water a few of the hardcore members of the team bundled into another jeepnie and drove round the corner to a bridge.
The Filipinos, Matt, Alex, Doyle, Niels, Nathan J, Hannah, Lisa and I then took turns being crazy lunatics jumping off the 30 foot bridge into the river. Ridiculously terrifying yet an immense rush!!!!
We then re-grouped and sat down for a banquet of a lunch in a little hut at the side of the river.
What a day!!!
So, the boys have returned with out water container full of gas, filled up the beast and we’re on our way again.
The next update will be of our day at the beach today (which included scuba diving – flipping wow!) and our remaining day, plus the tales of the travel home....will speak soooooooooooon!
Location: sat in the jeepnie having run out of gas - somewhere in between the beach and home, Mindanao, The Philippines
Climate: humid, sticky and dark.
Matt's rapping about the situation, the twins are finishing off our food
supplies, Lisa is glowing from the UV light, the other boys are peeing by the curb side and our translators are currently pegging it to the nearest gas station....wherever that may be!
We've had such an incredible day in the paradisific white sand and turquoise waters of Duka Bay, but on the 2 hour ride home we suddenly rolled to a holt; Bedoy and Michael (a couple of the translators) turned round confirmed the petrol gage doesn't work and we’d run out of juice. Hilarious!
So, I thought I'd make the most of the situ and fill you in on our last couple of idyllic days:
So, Thursday afternoon we had a nice chill after lunch and then headed into the steamy centre of town to get to know the street kiddies a bit better. We rocked up and waited a while for them to arrive, and as soon as they did we put Evans “the rubix-cube extraordinaire” to work entertaining the masses. The boys loved challenging him, and challenging themselves to count to 50, giving him the time limit to solve the problem in.
In their grubby, yet very cool clothes and flippy floppies they showed us their incredible somersault skills and enjoyed some buns and donuts until it was time for us to go. We high fived the dozen or so boys and girls, and jumped back into the jeepnie.
That night, after dinner we all sat down on Mary and Ramil's patio and listened to the amazing couple's testimonies.
Ramil told us all about his previous gang and drug dealing lifestyle; his career in pro basketball which lead onto the drug dealing at only 23 years old, and then how he turned it all around when God touched him and spoke to him out of the blue.
Then Mary shared her story; no guns, tattoos or crime, but an extremely honest and real tale about how she struggled with God and her purpose in life, for years. She told of the struggles in her professional dancing career and then explained with huge joy how God made it all clear for her, and how she discovered that "when you start to take God seriously, He takes you really seriously".
How Mary and Ramil got together, engaged after 5 weeks of knowing each other and how they truly adore each other is an incredibly romantic and faith-filled story.
It was wkd to hear how they became such amazing people, both individually and as a unit. Very inspiring.
Yesterday we had another very early rise, and as we sat sleepily eating breakfast a jeepnie pulled up, complete with half a dozen excited Filipinos and 3 inflatable rafts sitting on the top. This was Team Fun Day no 1.
We all squeeezed in and on the jeepnie (one of the instructors ended up sitting on the bonnet!) and took the half hour journey to the rafting start point, on the Cagayan river.
Once kitted out with the very attractive helmets and extremely wedgie-giving life jackets, we grabbed our oars and were ready for orientation.
The orientation was simple and all we needed to know....pretty much, if you fall out, just lean back, lie in the water and relax!
Split into 3 teams, with 2 raft experts to each team we jumped into the rafts and entered number 1 of the 19 white water rapids. Two boats came out upright and full of people, but unfortunately the red boat (the Nathans, Sam, Lisa, Deither (Ramil's 13 yr old son), Chester (the youth pastor) and the two experts) had it's first flip.
Once they’d climbed back on the raft, and the rest of us had finished laughing at them, we went onto rapid number 2 and this time only one boat came out the right way up - yellow boat no1 (Hannah, Doyle, Matt, Jonny, Alex, Jay (translator) and the two experts) flipped this time, and the red boat again went under water. We therefore named the red boat Team Relax - the amount they fell in, they had to "relax" in the water A LOT!!!
We sailed through the incredible rapids, and after 21 kms of awesome scenery (can't even start to attempt to put that beauty into words...so I won't), sailing under a mini fresh water waterfall, seeing a little water snake, swimming in the stills in-between rapids and after a couple of hours we reached the end.
Team relax fell in a grand total of 8 times (with Chester nearly flopping in double that) and yellow boat no1 fell in twice, but the winners - yellow boat no2 (the Bruggeman brothers, Batman (Michael the translator) and Robin (Bedoy the side kick/translator) the two experts and myself) only fell in once. Scorrrre!
There were some points that people got quite scared, but the experts were soooo expert and oooober hot on making sure we were all totally safe at all times. We all came out the other end without any broken bones (just a lot of bruised ones!) and having absolutely loved the experience. Hannah totally won the MVP award of the day for being so up for it and always having a giant smile on her face, even after being sucked under for a bit!
Once out of the water a few of the hardcore members of the team bundled into another jeepnie and drove round the corner to a bridge.
The Filipinos, Matt, Alex, Doyle, Niels, Nathan J, Hannah, Lisa and I then took turns being crazy lunatics jumping off the 30 foot bridge into the river. Ridiculously terrifying yet an immense rush!!!!
We then re-grouped and sat down for a banquet of a lunch in a little hut at the side of the river.
What a day!!!
So, the boys have returned with out water container full of gas, filled up the beast and we’re on our way again.
The next update will be of our day at the beach today (which included scuba diving – flipping wow!) and our remaining day, plus the tales of the travel home....will speak soooooooooooon!
Friday, 16 July 2010
Matt's halfway thoughts:
How have u found it now we're half way through?
"Pretty good. Pretty awesome."
What's been your highlight so far?
"Boys Town."
Why?
"I don't know, just when we were playing sports n that they seemed to be really enjoying it and stuff."
Have you found anything hard or challenging?
"The rubbish dump. The way people was living. Also, the mentally ill women in the cage in Tahanan - like, err....like who has the right to decide she lives in a cage?!"
What are you looking forward to?
"Ummm, probably the scuba diving and also going back to boys town. Those kids are cool."
Any wise words to sum up?
"What's the difference between them and us? Why do we live like we do and they have to live like they do?"
"Pretty good. Pretty awesome."
What's been your highlight so far?
"Boys Town."
Why?
"I don't know, just when we were playing sports n that they seemed to be really enjoying it and stuff."
Have you found anything hard or challenging?
"The rubbish dump. The way people was living. Also, the mentally ill women in the cage in Tahanan - like, err....like who has the right to decide she lives in a cage?!"
What are you looking forward to?
"Ummm, probably the scuba diving and also going back to boys town. Those kids are cool."
Any wise words to sum up?
"What's the difference between them and us? Why do we live like we do and they have to live like they do?"
Jail Bird Rock!
Location: lying on the sofa on Mary and Ramil's porch.
Climate: slight breeze, a few fluffy clouds, big sunshine.
Heyaaaa!
It's Thursday: another few days gone, another few amazing experiences experienced.
Thank you for all your support, prayers and kindness via bookface, emails and this blog - I just love bragging about all our adventures. It's sooooo much fun!
So, back to Monday afternoon where we returned to Tahanan; the boys' jail...
We spent the afternoon trying to remind the 35 boys that they're just that; boys - the basketball never stopped bouncing, the volleyball never stopped being punched, the badminton games were pretty skilled, along with some hardcore chess games, and also some pretty incredible bracelets and necklaces getting crafted.
It was soooo lush spending the afternoon having soooooo much fun, getting super sweaty whilst getting to know the boys a bit better. We soon discovered the beautiful cheekyness in their characters.
The youngest, Li Lung was pretty special; he's 10 years old and in for breaking curfew on the streets. His mother taught him English from a very early age, so the language barrier caused no problems. He chatted very maturely with me about the past 4 months that he's been in Tahanan - his case still hasn't gone to court, so it may be a while before he's out. His mother lives just one bus ride away, and visitors are welcome everyday, and yet she's never visited. Not once. He's learnt Tai-Chi, and was sooooo excited to show me his very impressive moves. He explained he had to learn the art to help him fight off the older boys at night time. When I asked him what he thinks they are lacking and need most in the prison, he answered "a mum". Heart breaking.
They're such amazing lads. It was extremely easy to forget they were prisoners. For that afternoon those boys acted like they were free kids, and we had the huge pleasure of joining them in it. It was magical.
That evening we had a wkd treat - we went to a beautiful Seafood Restaurant built over the sea.
The place was pretty swarve (with the most comedy toilets with very low cubical walls) with the most incredible selection of the freshest fish to eat alongside a pretty talented guitar player. We had a lot of fun getting to know our interpreters a bit better, and trying some very fat crab (while Hannah the veggie enjoyed veggies!).
Once home the oldies helped pack bags of rice, noodles, coffee, tea...etc to give away the next day, while the youngies hung out in the hotel lobby. Cool kids!
(FYI - new location: hotel room, sat under the AC....because it's just impossible to write while Ramil and Mary's adorable 6 year old twins are hanging off your arms!)
Tuesday started with a very early rise (setting the alarm for 5.30am is gay) as we had a long journey to find the tribes!
After team time and breakie we leaped into the jeepnie and set sail. As soon as we were out of the city Ramil sent a few of us onto the roof of the vehicle - truly THE best way to travel! We trecked up a mountain, along a cliff edge road, and after about an hour and a half we'd reached the stunning palm tree village where we'd be spending the morning.
The whole town gathered and we met in the beautiful church building made out of wood and bamboo for a mini meeting. We introduced ourselves, again, sang a couple worship songs, again, Johnny and Matt did their skit, Jonny and I shared our testimonies and then we finished with the puppets. We gave out the food parcels to each family, and finished by handshaking every Filipino in sight. The congregation were sooooo welcoming and friendly. It was very cool.
We then set off through the stunning riverside village. It was inspiring to see the people living so simply and in such peace.
We ended up at the local school where we blagged a very spontaneous puppet show, song and story, and then gave out new flip flops to all the gorgeous students.
We headed back up the village to play at the side of the river before eating fried chicken and rice - eating with our hands and off banana leaves. Very cultural!
The entertainment over lunch was one of the local boys climbing up the 60 foot coconut tree, in the rain to fetch us pudding. And we discovered it to be a very interesting pudding of coconut (in Doyle's words: "it was disgusting") and a new variety of banana (in Doyle's words: "a disgusting variety") which tasted more like undercooked and gone off potato!
We then climbed back into and onto the jeepnie and headed down the mountain a bit, towards our next very spontaneous blagg.
It was more than a little bit beautiful driving through the stunning scenery, admiring a bit more of that skillful creation. We turned into a little cliff edge lay by, hopped off the jeep and slipped up a small stream towards another school.
We split into 3 groups and oober quickly lesson planned, went for it and found out how hilarious adlibbing can be!
Then the rains started....
It was a pretty immense downfall, and as soon as Matt, Jonny, Alex and Harding finished cann-canning in the shower, we sprinted to the jeepnie and took off. It was a pretty hectic journey back down the mountain, with one
near-getting-stuck experience, but our very skillful driver kept us extremely safe and we got home in no time.
We had dinner and then a free evey, which consisted of hanging at the mall, getting massages and early nights. Very nice.
Yesterday we had our last day at the jail. And what a day!
We rocked up in the morning and hung out again - playing games (we discovered Uno, prison rules style) and having silly amounts of fun. At about half 10 the prison's pet pig met his fate - a spit roasted beast of a pig got carried in and butchered in the sunshine by one of our translators, J. Once J had turned the piggy into pork pieces the boys grabbed their food trays and excitedly lined up for the feast! They all absolutely loved it. Well, most
of them - the poor Muslims missed out a bit...shame!!!
We headed home for lunch, assuring the worried faces that we'd be back to lose at basketball again later that afternoon.
We hoovered up another delicious meal, had an hour's chill time (very needed in this heat) and then headed back to the beautiful jeenpie.
As soon as we were back in the prison gates the boys filed out of their cells and sat the chairs down in rows, eager to see what would happen.
Hannah Montana started with the chair drama, which Lisa and Martin co-starred in. The boys loved it - they found it hilarious. Even some of the stone faced hard nuts on the back row were laughing! Then Alex shared a word on the Psalm about how God had a plan for us before the world was made...etc. The chappies listened really well and hopefully were reminded of their value and worth. Then we did the competition...
We brought a load more Oreos and juice pouches with us, and so challenged the boys to a talent-off to win the goodies - if the boys won they could gobble them, if us Brits (which included the Belgians, South Africans and Filipino interpreters) won we'd get them! The challenge was on.
Round one: dance-off. With Matt and Jonny showing off some v.questionable moves against an incredibly impressive jail boy duo, followed by Lisa, Hannah and Sam against 3 jail boys plus a 86 year old man, the Tahanan boys won hands down.
Round two: rap-off. The Belgian brothers against the skilled boys. Six very non-English raps later, the Bruggemans had just won it.
Round three (final round): amazing-Filipino-street-game-off. After running up and down, up and down the prison grounds playing the complicated yet incredible game, the boys finally won (of course!) and therefore were awarded with the treats.
While enjoying the yums, one of our translators, Michael shared his moving testimony, and that marked the end of controlled time; then onto crazy manic time!
We rolled out a 10 metre long sheet of paper and finger paints and told the boys to go mental. Those kids got art skills. All the ball games started back up, along with a very hectic chase with Niels and Jonny running after the boys. They just adored it....even the older ones, even the I'm-way-too-cool-for-games ones!
Then donned the end of the afternoon and our goodbyes. Once the last photos and cuddles/high-fives were over the boys lined up to return to the cells, and we slowly plodded to the jeep.
It was such a privilege to meet those amazing boys. Without sounding weird, I hope I never get to meet them again; I hope and pray that if I return here that those boys have turned their lives around and are free. I really really hope.
With the not quite dry sheet of finger paint covered paper hanging out the side of the jeepnie, we travelled home. We then had a bit of free time before heading out again for dinner.
Once our bellys were full of yummy chicken, noodles, pizza, beef, pork fat and osterich (?!) we then headed over to Candy's (Matt sang Candy Shop the whole way....Michiel soon realised the meaning of the song!!!) for the most incredible desserts. It was a really wicked team time evening, giving Ramil and Mary and extremely well earned break from us crazy cats!
After another lush night's sleep we woke pretty early this morning. Breakfast, then team time quickly led to hopping into the jeepnie and setting off to the rubbish dump.
We pulled up just outside the muddy neighbourhood and went straight inside the local church. Greeted by the beautiful pastoress, we got explained to us how here husband, the pastor, died recently and now she's raising 7 children whilst keeping the church and school running. Incredible lady.
In the small corrugated iron church hall sat a dozen very smiley and very beautiful kiddies, and perched at the front, in a baby stroller was the mini-est baby I've ever seen. The pastoress explained that the little boy had been dumped on the rubbish heap about 6 months ago. He was 2 months old at the time. While holding that precious 8 month old life, with a frame of a new born, it struck a chord - another "why?" moment. He was truly scrumptious!
We then split into 5 groups and headed into the community. We went from house to house meeting the people who live on the dump - hearing their stories, seeing their homes, giving out more food parcels and praying for the needs.
It was extremely eye-opening and a challenge for most of the team. It was also probably the hottest I think I've ever been in my life....Evans had shoulder sweat marks to prove the sweltering conditions! Funny!
We got home, showered off the sweat and discovered a feast of burgers, pasta and sodas waiting for us at Mary and Ramil's pad - lussssh!
It's now the afternoon and we're about to leave to spend some time with the city's street kids.
This trip is beyond words imcredible - we're soooooo blessed to even be here, and all the stuff we've been doing, and still got yet to do (rafting tomorrow, then scuba diving the day after - woooooooop) is just all once in a lift time!
We were kinda dreading the farewell party, as at the moment it feels so hard to think of leaving, but we've decided to turn the party into an Engagement Celebration for Martin and Juanita, so even our last night's guna be incredibly cool. Exciting times!!!!
Congratulations for completing yet another essay! Till next time readers, God
bless x
Climate: slight breeze, a few fluffy clouds, big sunshine.
Heyaaaa!
It's Thursday: another few days gone, another few amazing experiences experienced.
Thank you for all your support, prayers and kindness via bookface, emails and this blog - I just love bragging about all our adventures. It's sooooo much fun!
So, back to Monday afternoon where we returned to Tahanan; the boys' jail...
We spent the afternoon trying to remind the 35 boys that they're just that; boys - the basketball never stopped bouncing, the volleyball never stopped being punched, the badminton games were pretty skilled, along with some hardcore chess games, and also some pretty incredible bracelets and necklaces getting crafted.
It was soooo lush spending the afternoon having soooooo much fun, getting super sweaty whilst getting to know the boys a bit better. We soon discovered the beautiful cheekyness in their characters.
The youngest, Li Lung was pretty special; he's 10 years old and in for breaking curfew on the streets. His mother taught him English from a very early age, so the language barrier caused no problems. He chatted very maturely with me about the past 4 months that he's been in Tahanan - his case still hasn't gone to court, so it may be a while before he's out. His mother lives just one bus ride away, and visitors are welcome everyday, and yet she's never visited. Not once. He's learnt Tai-Chi, and was sooooo excited to show me his very impressive moves. He explained he had to learn the art to help him fight off the older boys at night time. When I asked him what he thinks they are lacking and need most in the prison, he answered "a mum". Heart breaking.
They're such amazing lads. It was extremely easy to forget they were prisoners. For that afternoon those boys acted like they were free kids, and we had the huge pleasure of joining them in it. It was magical.
That evening we had a wkd treat - we went to a beautiful Seafood Restaurant built over the sea.
The place was pretty swarve (with the most comedy toilets with very low cubical walls) with the most incredible selection of the freshest fish to eat alongside a pretty talented guitar player. We had a lot of fun getting to know our interpreters a bit better, and trying some very fat crab (while Hannah the veggie enjoyed veggies!).
Once home the oldies helped pack bags of rice, noodles, coffee, tea...etc to give away the next day, while the youngies hung out in the hotel lobby. Cool kids!
(FYI - new location: hotel room, sat under the AC....because it's just impossible to write while Ramil and Mary's adorable 6 year old twins are hanging off your arms!)
Tuesday started with a very early rise (setting the alarm for 5.30am is gay) as we had a long journey to find the tribes!
After team time and breakie we leaped into the jeepnie and set sail. As soon as we were out of the city Ramil sent a few of us onto the roof of the vehicle - truly THE best way to travel! We trecked up a mountain, along a cliff edge road, and after about an hour and a half we'd reached the stunning palm tree village where we'd be spending the morning.
The whole town gathered and we met in the beautiful church building made out of wood and bamboo for a mini meeting. We introduced ourselves, again, sang a couple worship songs, again, Johnny and Matt did their skit, Jonny and I shared our testimonies and then we finished with the puppets. We gave out the food parcels to each family, and finished by handshaking every Filipino in sight. The congregation were sooooo welcoming and friendly. It was very cool.
We then set off through the stunning riverside village. It was inspiring to see the people living so simply and in such peace.
We ended up at the local school where we blagged a very spontaneous puppet show, song and story, and then gave out new flip flops to all the gorgeous students.
We headed back up the village to play at the side of the river before eating fried chicken and rice - eating with our hands and off banana leaves. Very cultural!
The entertainment over lunch was one of the local boys climbing up the 60 foot coconut tree, in the rain to fetch us pudding. And we discovered it to be a very interesting pudding of coconut (in Doyle's words: "it was disgusting") and a new variety of banana (in Doyle's words: "a disgusting variety") which tasted more like undercooked and gone off potato!We then climbed back into and onto the jeepnie and headed down the mountain a bit, towards our next very spontaneous blagg.
It was more than a little bit beautiful driving through the stunning scenery, admiring a bit more of that skillful creation. We turned into a little cliff edge lay by, hopped off the jeep and slipped up a small stream towards another school.
We split into 3 groups and oober quickly lesson planned, went for it and found out how hilarious adlibbing can be!
Then the rains started....
It was a pretty immense downfall, and as soon as Matt, Jonny, Alex and Harding finished cann-canning in the shower, we sprinted to the jeepnie and took off. It was a pretty hectic journey back down the mountain, with one
near-getting-stuck experience, but our very skillful driver kept us extremely safe and we got home in no time.
We had dinner and then a free evey, which consisted of hanging at the mall, getting massages and early nights. Very nice.
Yesterday we had our last day at the jail. And what a day!
We rocked up in the morning and hung out again - playing games (we discovered Uno, prison rules style) and having silly amounts of fun. At about half 10 the prison's pet pig met his fate - a spit roasted beast of a pig got carried in and butchered in the sunshine by one of our translators, J. Once J had turned the piggy into pork pieces the boys grabbed their food trays and excitedly lined up for the feast! They all absolutely loved it. Well, most
of them - the poor Muslims missed out a bit...shame!!!
We headed home for lunch, assuring the worried faces that we'd be back to lose at basketball again later that afternoon.
We hoovered up another delicious meal, had an hour's chill time (very needed in this heat) and then headed back to the beautiful jeenpie.
As soon as we were back in the prison gates the boys filed out of their cells and sat the chairs down in rows, eager to see what would happen.
Hannah Montana started with the chair drama, which Lisa and Martin co-starred in. The boys loved it - they found it hilarious. Even some of the stone faced hard nuts on the back row were laughing! Then Alex shared a word on the Psalm about how God had a plan for us before the world was made...etc. The chappies listened really well and hopefully were reminded of their value and worth. Then we did the competition...
We brought a load more Oreos and juice pouches with us, and so challenged the boys to a talent-off to win the goodies - if the boys won they could gobble them, if us Brits (which included the Belgians, South Africans and Filipino interpreters) won we'd get them! The challenge was on.
Round one: dance-off. With Matt and Jonny showing off some v.questionable moves against an incredibly impressive jail boy duo, followed by Lisa, Hannah and Sam against 3 jail boys plus a 86 year old man, the Tahanan boys won hands down.
Round two: rap-off. The Belgian brothers against the skilled boys. Six very non-English raps later, the Bruggemans had just won it.
Round three (final round): amazing-Filipino-street-game-off. After running up and down, up and down the prison grounds playing the complicated yet incredible game, the boys finally won (of course!) and therefore were awarded with the treats.
While enjoying the yums, one of our translators, Michael shared his moving testimony, and that marked the end of controlled time; then onto crazy manic time!
We rolled out a 10 metre long sheet of paper and finger paints and told the boys to go mental. Those kids got art skills. All the ball games started back up, along with a very hectic chase with Niels and Jonny running after the boys. They just adored it....even the older ones, even the I'm-way-too-cool-for-games ones!
Then donned the end of the afternoon and our goodbyes. Once the last photos and cuddles/high-fives were over the boys lined up to return to the cells, and we slowly plodded to the jeep.
It was such a privilege to meet those amazing boys. Without sounding weird, I hope I never get to meet them again; I hope and pray that if I return here that those boys have turned their lives around and are free. I really really hope.
With the not quite dry sheet of finger paint covered paper hanging out the side of the jeepnie, we travelled home. We then had a bit of free time before heading out again for dinner.
Once our bellys were full of yummy chicken, noodles, pizza, beef, pork fat and osterich (?!) we then headed over to Candy's (Matt sang Candy Shop the whole way....Michiel soon realised the meaning of the song!!!) for the most incredible desserts. It was a really wicked team time evening, giving Ramil and Mary and extremely well earned break from us crazy cats!
After another lush night's sleep we woke pretty early this morning. Breakfast, then team time quickly led to hopping into the jeepnie and setting off to the rubbish dump.
We pulled up just outside the muddy neighbourhood and went straight inside the local church. Greeted by the beautiful pastoress, we got explained to us how here husband, the pastor, died recently and now she's raising 7 children whilst keeping the church and school running. Incredible lady.
In the small corrugated iron church hall sat a dozen very smiley and very beautiful kiddies, and perched at the front, in a baby stroller was the mini-est baby I've ever seen. The pastoress explained that the little boy had been dumped on the rubbish heap about 6 months ago. He was 2 months old at the time. While holding that precious 8 month old life, with a frame of a new born, it struck a chord - another "why?" moment. He was truly scrumptious!
We then split into 5 groups and headed into the community. We went from house to house meeting the people who live on the dump - hearing their stories, seeing their homes, giving out more food parcels and praying for the needs.
It was extremely eye-opening and a challenge for most of the team. It was also probably the hottest I think I've ever been in my life....Evans had shoulder sweat marks to prove the sweltering conditions! Funny!
We got home, showered off the sweat and discovered a feast of burgers, pasta and sodas waiting for us at Mary and Ramil's pad - lussssh!
It's now the afternoon and we're about to leave to spend some time with the city's street kids.
This trip is beyond words imcredible - we're soooooo blessed to even be here, and all the stuff we've been doing, and still got yet to do (rafting tomorrow, then scuba diving the day after - woooooooop) is just all once in a lift time!
We were kinda dreading the farewell party, as at the moment it feels so hard to think of leaving, but we've decided to turn the party into an Engagement Celebration for Martin and Juanita, so even our last night's guna be incredibly cool. Exciting times!!!!
Congratulations for completing yet another essay! Till next time readers, God
bless x
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Eyes opened.
Location: Mary and Ramil's patio, Cagayan De Oro, The Philippines
Climate: pretty toastie
It's Sunday afternoon. Our tummies are full of pork, and the heat's doing a lovely job of sweltering us even though we're sat in the shade. A few of us oldies are chilling at Mary and Ramil's; strumming a guitar and writing journels. The rest are having a jam session in the cool of the hotel. We're all dressed in our togs and eagerly awaiting our beach trip which we'll set off for in one hour. Wooop!
So, until then I'm guna rabbit on about our last couple o days...
Friday afternoon we started what we're here for, and it was pretty lush:
We all hopped in our 20 seater jeepnie (we've hired one for the whole trip) and headed towards Puntod - an area in the heart of the city. It was a long drive with a brilliant taster of the area. We suddenly turned off the road and squeezed down a little track and parked on a basketball court in the middle of a square of houses.
Our Filipino helpers set up PA and a large speaker while the community all came out to find out what was happening. Pretty soon.....
Sorry - that entry was totally interrupted with a water fight. Some things are just more important than writing blogs! Let's try again:
Location: lying in front of the air con, Girls' Room, Cagayan De Oro, The Philippines
Climate: “I’m melting” hot.
It's now Monday lunchtime and we've had quite a morning at the prison. Will tell you about that in a tick; for now, back to the basketball court........
So, the PA's set up, everyone in the area's gathered to see what's guna happen, a few boys are shooting hoops and we're standing in the midday sun, trying to take in the situation. Matt and Alex bravely saunter over to the basket ball boys and communicate with simple English and interesting sign language, asking if they wanted a game. The basket ball boys catch on straight away and start to play. The church's youth pastor, Chester grabs the mic and commentates with amazing enthusiasm. The atmosphere quickly mounts and everyone's loving it.
It was a little awkward to build rapport with the girls, due to shyness (totally on both parts!) and the language barrier, but Lisa did us proud - was a hard nut and tried her hardest. Even when she did scare off a group of little kids!
Once our boys had been beaten by the group of 10 year olds (!) we were ready to start the show.
We introduced ourselves, got the puppets to sing a song, Sam and Nathan brilliantly acted their window washer skit, Lisa beautifully shared her testimony and then we did the puppet's song again but this time with the cheesey actions. They seemed to love it, but it still felt pretty awkward. That was until we got out the lollies! Most of the team gave out the sweeties and, hey presto - ice broken!
There was a group who were standing in a huddle in the corner of the square,
which we all started to notice. A group of men. Men who had been staring at us from the moment we had appeared. Men with huge guns; built like pro athletes. Men wearing basketball vests and shorts.
Once all the sweets had gone (and Hannah had escaped being drowned by kiddies), another basket ball game started, but this time it wasn't with boys, it was with the men. Eeeeeeek!
While our boys were getting completely thrashed by what looked like the Philippines national team, us girls (and the subs) got busy making the most of the broken ice by chatting with the 40+ stunningly gorgeous kiddies, tickling and joking with them. They loved seeing their photos, and so all the camera's came out and we all got snapping.
After about half and hour a group of bright red, soaking wet, half alive boys appeared and confirmed what we'd all predicted - our lads had tried their hardest but the lost. Big time!
We jumped/climbed/were carried into the jeepnie, and all came alive again as the kids followed and chased the vehicle, sad to say goodbye.
On the drive home a few of the team started playing around with the bongos, when our very cool jeepnie driver wacked on Black Eyed Peas - Good Night. The bongos got louder, we all started singing and the bass got turned up. Simply an incredible moment! Then the rain's started - such a lush relief from the heat. Pretty perfect times!
Once home we had a bit of a chill/hang out in the mall, and then headed to Ramil and Mary's for cultural night.
We had dinner, then played genius Filipino street games, learnt the national anthem dance and discovered a bit of the country's food: The exotic fruits, cakes and coca cola was oh so scrummy, however.... It seems the Filipinos have strange taste in poultry, namely incubated chicken and duck eggs. Which look like half grown baby birds. Which they cook and then eat. Whole. With the embriotic juice as like a side dressing. Grossssssssse!
Over half the team ate the 11 day old eggs, beaks and all, and our little soldier Doyle even braved the 18 day old baby (at 24 days they hatch!).
It was beyond hilarious!!!! Such a good night.
The next morning we again woke early for breakfast and team time, then headed out to an area called Canitoan.
We drove through the bamboo and royal palms until we found the village we were looking for. Along a mud track we discovered the foundations for the House Of Joshua - the orphanage that Ramil and Mary and team are setting up.
It was great to hear the details and see the dream. We then had the pleasure of praying for the area before heading further into the village to spend some time with the locals.
Under a wooden gazeebo we sang worship songs, heard Alex's testimony and then Doyle shared a short word. We then finished with a prayer over the community and spent a little bit of time chatting with the beautiful people. It was lovely to see a bit of the rural, and get the pleasure of meeting the very peaceful people.
Back home for lunch, and then we headed to Boys Town for the afternoon.
Boy Town is a government run "get the boys off the streets" centre where 35ish boys live. We pulled up and were straight away confronted with gigantic smiles. The place was pretty shabby with extremely limited supplies, but the boys were amazing.
We started the session with puppets, then Matt and Jonny did their skit with style, Harding told his amazingly honest testimony and then finished our bit with finished with a couple worship songs.
The boys then put on a show for us....and made our session look pitiful! They danced, flipped and twisted with incredible skills. Those boys have got skills!
Once all the incredible performances were fini we set up a face painting and a craft area.
Lisa, Alex and Doyle were incredible - they grabbed the face paints and got stuck in to coating almost all of the boys' faces with stunning artwork.
Sam, Hannah, Nathan H and Jonny helped the boys decorate pens with pipe cleaners and feathers. Jacobs got stuck into a very competitive chess game. Matt strummed geeetars with a couple very talented boys and Niels got Filipino lessons from one very lingual dude.
The time there ended with a volleyball match and empty face paint trays. The boys all had heart wrenching stories, but were just so happy. They loved the fact we simply went to hang out and play. It was an incredible afternoon.
We went home, ate some more scrummy food (Mary's one heck of a cook!) and then grabbed our togs and headed to a local hotel. Round the back of the hotel, overlooking the city was a beautiful outdoor pool. A pretty epic end to a wonderful day.
The next day was Sunday (when this blog began!) and so another early rise, breakfast, team time and then church.
We went to Mary and Ramil's church, just down the road from home. It's a church plant from a very famous mega church in South Korea, so the South Korean pastor welcomed us with biiiiiiig handshakes and started the service.
Brilliantly LOUD worship followed by prayers then led to the Brit's bit; we introduced ourselves, sang a little song, Nathan, Alex, Niels and I did our skit and then Miciel preached. We finished with praying for those who wanted refreshing from God, and then shook everyone’s hands for the tenth time before heading back to the jeepnie. The service was brilliant – such passion and love oooooozing from the congregation.
We then went home for lunch (more rice – shocking!) and a chill time (when this blog got started and then interrupted). And thennnn – the beach!!!!
Just a short drive out of the city we discovered the white sands and bath-temperature waters and had a lot of fun splashing and sand fighting for a few hours.
We then went home for another yummy dinner and a bit of chill time. Once all chilling and cleaning up was over we snuggled into one of the boys’ room and had a bit of worship and bonding – we all went round the room and told each person what we loved about them. Pretty much all the “men” cried it got that emotional. Such a beautiful night, which seemed to glue the team even more…if that was even possible.
Then comes this morning (Monday). Again, another early rise followed by a very lovely team time and onto what most of us have been most looking forward to – Tahanan – the boys jail.
In the jeepnie there was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm as we went into the town centre and entered the government estate where the prison is. We all filed out looking for the gate…thin wooden frame and chicken wire made the entrance for the joint. Hilarious!
We entered the sunny courtyard with the office and cells in small buildings around the edge, and a large dusty basketball court in the middle.
We made a big circle of chairs and waited for the boys to join. They quickly finished their morning wash up and eagerly sat down. Once we’d all been introduced we split into groups of 3 FCC kids, one translator and 4ish boys. We sat for about 40 minutes chatting through the translators, telling the boys about ourselves, and learning about the boys’ stories and experiences. It was really hard to hear the words of “murder” and “rape”, explanations that fathers are in prison as well, and pleas for freedom.
We then gave out packs of Oreos and juice drinks to each boy and also the half dozen elderly citizens and one girl, Patricia who has epilepsy. These people are in there simply due to family abandonment. They live behind bars in tiny cells, treated like criminals completely unfairly. This hit a few of us hard. Lisa put it perfectly – it’s the definition of injustice.
We spent a few more minutes chatting to the boys and learning their cheeky natures before we had to leave to return home for dinner. It was very exciting to know we’ll be back this afternoon, and also for the whole day on Wednesday. The boys are beautiful. Just too young to be caught up in crime. Too young to be behind bars.
It was really tough to have our eyes opened, and the conversation and tears on the jeepnie home were evidence of this. But I guess we’ve just got to trust and make the most of our opportunity to show them some genuine Jesus love!
So, we’ll be back there this afternoon so I’ve got to go, but will tell you all about it asap.
This place is beyond amazing. This trip, life changing. We all agree we’re sooooooooo blessed to be here.
Climate: pretty toastie
It's Sunday afternoon. Our tummies are full of pork, and the heat's doing a lovely job of sweltering us even though we're sat in the shade. A few of us oldies are chilling at Mary and Ramil's; strumming a guitar and writing journels. The rest are having a jam session in the cool of the hotel. We're all dressed in our togs and eagerly awaiting our beach trip which we'll set off for in one hour. Wooop!
So, until then I'm guna rabbit on about our last couple o days...
Friday afternoon we started what we're here for, and it was pretty lush:
We all hopped in our 20 seater jeepnie (we've hired one for the whole trip) and headed towards Puntod - an area in the heart of the city. It was a long drive with a brilliant taster of the area. We suddenly turned off the road and squeezed down a little track and parked on a basketball court in the middle of a square of houses.
Our Filipino helpers set up PA and a large speaker while the community all came out to find out what was happening. Pretty soon.....
Sorry - that entry was totally interrupted with a water fight. Some things are just more important than writing blogs! Let's try again:
Location: lying in front of the air con, Girls' Room, Cagayan De Oro, The Philippines
Climate: “I’m melting” hot.
It's now Monday lunchtime and we've had quite a morning at the prison. Will tell you about that in a tick; for now, back to the basketball court........
So, the PA's set up, everyone in the area's gathered to see what's guna happen, a few boys are shooting hoops and we're standing in the midday sun, trying to take in the situation. Matt and Alex bravely saunter over to the basket ball boys and communicate with simple English and interesting sign language, asking if they wanted a game. The basket ball boys catch on straight away and start to play. The church's youth pastor, Chester grabs the mic and commentates with amazing enthusiasm. The atmosphere quickly mounts and everyone's loving it.
It was a little awkward to build rapport with the girls, due to shyness (totally on both parts!) and the language barrier, but Lisa did us proud - was a hard nut and tried her hardest. Even when she did scare off a group of little kids!
Once our boys had been beaten by the group of 10 year olds (!) we were ready to start the show.
We introduced ourselves, got the puppets to sing a song, Sam and Nathan brilliantly acted their window washer skit, Lisa beautifully shared her testimony and then we did the puppet's song again but this time with the cheesey actions. They seemed to love it, but it still felt pretty awkward. That was until we got out the lollies! Most of the team gave out the sweeties and, hey presto - ice broken!
There was a group who were standing in a huddle in the corner of the square,
which we all started to notice. A group of men. Men who had been staring at us from the moment we had appeared. Men with huge guns; built like pro athletes. Men wearing basketball vests and shorts.
Once all the sweets had gone (and Hannah had escaped being drowned by kiddies), another basket ball game started, but this time it wasn't with boys, it was with the men. Eeeeeeek!
While our boys were getting completely thrashed by what looked like the Philippines national team, us girls (and the subs) got busy making the most of the broken ice by chatting with the 40+ stunningly gorgeous kiddies, tickling and joking with them. They loved seeing their photos, and so all the camera's came out and we all got snapping.
After about half and hour a group of bright red, soaking wet, half alive boys appeared and confirmed what we'd all predicted - our lads had tried their hardest but the lost. Big time!
We jumped/climbed/were carried into the jeepnie, and all came alive again as the kids followed and chased the vehicle, sad to say goodbye.
On the drive home a few of the team started playing around with the bongos, when our very cool jeepnie driver wacked on Black Eyed Peas - Good Night. The bongos got louder, we all started singing and the bass got turned up. Simply an incredible moment! Then the rain's started - such a lush relief from the heat. Pretty perfect times!
Once home we had a bit of a chill/hang out in the mall, and then headed to Ramil and Mary's for cultural night.
We had dinner, then played genius Filipino street games, learnt the national anthem dance and discovered a bit of the country's food: The exotic fruits, cakes and coca cola was oh so scrummy, however.... It seems the Filipinos have strange taste in poultry, namely incubated chicken and duck eggs. Which look like half grown baby birds. Which they cook and then eat. Whole. With the embriotic juice as like a side dressing. Grossssssssse!
Over half the team ate the 11 day old eggs, beaks and all, and our little soldier Doyle even braved the 18 day old baby (at 24 days they hatch!).
It was beyond hilarious!!!! Such a good night.
The next morning we again woke early for breakfast and team time, then headed out to an area called Canitoan.
We drove through the bamboo and royal palms until we found the village we were looking for. Along a mud track we discovered the foundations for the House Of Joshua - the orphanage that Ramil and Mary and team are setting up.
It was great to hear the details and see the dream. We then had the pleasure of praying for the area before heading further into the village to spend some time with the locals.
Under a wooden gazeebo we sang worship songs, heard Alex's testimony and then Doyle shared a short word. We then finished with a prayer over the community and spent a little bit of time chatting with the beautiful people. It was lovely to see a bit of the rural, and get the pleasure of meeting the very peaceful people.
Back home for lunch, and then we headed to Boys Town for the afternoon.
Boy Town is a government run "get the boys off the streets" centre where 35ish boys live. We pulled up and were straight away confronted with gigantic smiles. The place was pretty shabby with extremely limited supplies, but the boys were amazing.
We started the session with puppets, then Matt and Jonny did their skit with style, Harding told his amazingly honest testimony and then finished our bit with finished with a couple worship songs.
The boys then put on a show for us....and made our session look pitiful! They danced, flipped and twisted with incredible skills. Those boys have got skills!
Once all the incredible performances were fini we set up a face painting and a craft area.
Lisa, Alex and Doyle were incredible - they grabbed the face paints and got stuck in to coating almost all of the boys' faces with stunning artwork.
Sam, Hannah, Nathan H and Jonny helped the boys decorate pens with pipe cleaners and feathers. Jacobs got stuck into a very competitive chess game. Matt strummed geeetars with a couple very talented boys and Niels got Filipino lessons from one very lingual dude.
The time there ended with a volleyball match and empty face paint trays. The boys all had heart wrenching stories, but were just so happy. They loved the fact we simply went to hang out and play. It was an incredible afternoon.
We went home, ate some more scrummy food (Mary's one heck of a cook!) and then grabbed our togs and headed to a local hotel. Round the back of the hotel, overlooking the city was a beautiful outdoor pool. A pretty epic end to a wonderful day.
The next day was Sunday (when this blog began!) and so another early rise, breakfast, team time and then church.
We went to Mary and Ramil's church, just down the road from home. It's a church plant from a very famous mega church in South Korea, so the South Korean pastor welcomed us with biiiiiiig handshakes and started the service.
Brilliantly LOUD worship followed by prayers then led to the Brit's bit; we introduced ourselves, sang a little song, Nathan, Alex, Niels and I did our skit and then Miciel preached. We finished with praying for those who wanted refreshing from God, and then shook everyone’s hands for the tenth time before heading back to the jeepnie. The service was brilliant – such passion and love oooooozing from the congregation.
We then went home for lunch (more rice – shocking!) and a chill time (when this blog got started and then interrupted). And thennnn – the beach!!!!
Just a short drive out of the city we discovered the white sands and bath-temperature waters and had a lot of fun splashing and sand fighting for a few hours.
We then went home for another yummy dinner and a bit of chill time. Once all chilling and cleaning up was over we snuggled into one of the boys’ room and had a bit of worship and bonding – we all went round the room and told each person what we loved about them. Pretty much all the “men” cried it got that emotional. Such a beautiful night, which seemed to glue the team even more…if that was even possible.
Then comes this morning (Monday). Again, another early rise followed by a very lovely team time and onto what most of us have been most looking forward to – Tahanan – the boys jail.
In the jeepnie there was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm as we went into the town centre and entered the government estate where the prison is. We all filed out looking for the gate…thin wooden frame and chicken wire made the entrance for the joint. Hilarious!
We entered the sunny courtyard with the office and cells in small buildings around the edge, and a large dusty basketball court in the middle.
We made a big circle of chairs and waited for the boys to join. They quickly finished their morning wash up and eagerly sat down. Once we’d all been introduced we split into groups of 3 FCC kids, one translator and 4ish boys. We sat for about 40 minutes chatting through the translators, telling the boys about ourselves, and learning about the boys’ stories and experiences. It was really hard to hear the words of “murder” and “rape”, explanations that fathers are in prison as well, and pleas for freedom.
We then gave out packs of Oreos and juice drinks to each boy and also the half dozen elderly citizens and one girl, Patricia who has epilepsy. These people are in there simply due to family abandonment. They live behind bars in tiny cells, treated like criminals completely unfairly. This hit a few of us hard. Lisa put it perfectly – it’s the definition of injustice.
We spent a few more minutes chatting to the boys and learning their cheeky natures before we had to leave to return home for dinner. It was very exciting to know we’ll be back this afternoon, and also for the whole day on Wednesday. The boys are beautiful. Just too young to be caught up in crime. Too young to be behind bars.
It was really tough to have our eyes opened, and the conversation and tears on the jeepnie home were evidence of this. But I guess we’ve just got to trust and make the most of our opportunity to show them some genuine Jesus love!
So, we’ll be back there this afternoon so I’ve got to go, but will tell you all about it asap.
This place is beyond amazing. This trip, life changing. We all agree we’re sooooooooo blessed to be here.
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