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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