Itinerary

Our itinerary is as follows:

Day & Date: Team Activity (Overnight)
Sat 29 March: Arrival in Manila/Negros (Eroreco, Negros)
Sun 30 March: Rest, Relax, Church (Eroreco, Negros)
Mon 31 March: Joyland (Eroreco, Negros)
Tues 1 April: Joyland (Eroreco, Negros)
Wed 2 April: Joyland/Dacutan (Eroreco, Negros)
Thurs 3 April: Dacutan (Eroreco, Negros)
Fri 4 April: Travel to Sipalay, Rest and Relax (Sipalay, Negros)
Sat 5 April: Sipalay – Rest and Relax (Sipalay, Negros)
Sun 6 April: Sipalay, then travel back to Bacolod (Eroreco, Negros)
Mon 7 April: Negros (Eroreco, Negros)
Tues 8 April: Travel to Manila, Mall of Asia (Bulacan nr Manila)
Wed 9 April: Payatas Build (Bulacan nr Manila)
Thurs 10 April: Payatas Build (Bulacan nr Manila)
Fri 11 April: Payatas/Tatalon Visit/build/Visit GK Sites (Bulacan nr Manila)
Sat 12 April: Visit Tagaytay (early departure) (Tagaytay nr Manila)
Sun 13 April: Departure from Manila, 4.45 pm (N/a)

The following background information will help to inform you about what we are doing:

Joyland is a Children's Home and School, near the hills of Silay, run by the pastor of Emma’s church and his wife, Rick and Suzet Sutcliffe. Joyland opened its doors to children in December 2007 and is already home to 20 children. Work on the premises is still ongoing and our contribution will be to pay for and build verandahs at the side and back of the school room. This gives the children a covered out-door play area in rain/bad weather. Approximate cost will be £350. The Joyland website (still under development) is at: http://www.www-joyland.org/

Dacutan is a Gawad Kalinga (GK) village by the shore line in Silay, Negros. About 20 of the houses were built by a Heart of the Father (HOF) team in 2004, which began our involvement in that place. Emma is helping to organise and run youth activities in the village, which has a high incidence of school drop outs. All families are dependent on fishing for a living and average family income is just £20 per month. This is below subsistence levels. It is important that we encourage education for all ages in the village, but the floor of one classroom has cracked due to subsidence of the sandy base. By repairing the floor we can accommodate another classroom for skills training. We are hoping that we can organise the older youth to come and help us build - there is no efficient means of transporting materials into the village, so manpower will be essential. Our plan is that half the team can choose to take the smaller children out of the village entirely on each morning. Then we can relax with the older youth in a swimming pool later on. The younger children (SIBOL) have never been taken on an outing before, so a trip to McDonalds is a first for them! The cost of these activities is around £40 per outing and we are still trying to source funds for the building materials from GK. You can see some of my pictures of the party we ran in Dacutan last October at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jocrowe/sets/72157602892572054/ and other pictures of Dacutan at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jocrowe/sets/72157602249111173/

Payatas is the area surrounding the main dumpsite in north Manila. We will be working alongside the young people there to continue working on the Youth Centre funded through HOF by the Spring Harvest Youth Offering in 2005. At present we anticipate that the main project will be landscaping the grounds, but there will be plenty of opportunities for relational activities with the young people there. We will try to build in some flexibility at this point for the team to decide what they would like to do - i.e., take some youth to Yellow Cab Pizza/Swimming/activities in Bulacan. Cost will depend on our final project budget (as yet to be decided - most other activities can be financed from money already paid in for team costs and previously pledged, but obviously the more money raised the more we can afford to do). You can see some of my pictures of Payatas at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jocrowe/sets/72157602245908812/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/jocrowe/sets/72157604020324471/ and the Youth Centre at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jocrowe/sets/72157600401816229/

Hope that helps to give a flavour of what the trip will entail.

Jo