And onward to Manila

I should have mentioned that whilst most of the team were resting over the middle weekend, at the beach resort in Sipalay, Josh was not with us. He had intrepidly decided to go with a whole crowd of young people from Payatas in Manila, to attend the International Leaders Conference (ILC) in Tagaytay, south of Manila. He is really the best person to describe that, so come on Josh, get typing!!!!!

So he was already in Manila, and we joined him early on Tuesday morning, having spent our final day at Joyland, finishing off the verandahs (well, all but, as we ran out of corrugated iron for the third one). We caught a very early flight (such dedication) so were in Manila early. Still it is which never sleeps, so it was plenty lively enough. We went for breakfast (we even managed to find a Subway outlet, to tmake a few of us feel really at home), and then on to the Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in this area of the world. Plenty of shopping opportunities there, though I had the dubious privilege of watching Anna, Ellie and Chris "performing" on the ice skating rink, much to the amusement of many watching filipinos. The rink bills itself as the place where Olympic dreams are born..... Well, all I can say is that I was not watching three budding champions!!!

We had pizza and drinks for about 18 in Shakys, and after more shopping, most of the team were driven top the overnight accommodation for the next four nights in Bulacan, north west of Manila. For most people it was their first full taste of an extended journey through Manila traffic. An experience... Emma, myself and Ellie stayed back for meetings with Father Paul and Mhel, the youth worker, both regarding the build which would be taking place over the next few days and about Heart of the Father issues. That meant we had a very interesting and long journey back to Bulacan by public transport. It is worth describing, another time, perhaps...

Beach Life

It was not all work. Although there were real times of refreshment, even in the midst of the hard work, simply because the people we spent time with were so refreshing and open, we did build in some rela relaxation time as well. Over the Friday to Sunday of the first week, Emma had scheduled in a trip to Sipalay, a beach resort on the western coast of Negros. Lovely beach, warm water, great scenery, good food, a total slow down of pace of life, good diving facilities, which were enjoyed by Deb, Ian, Emma and two of her daughters. A few of the others snorkelled. I had the joy of Ami sharing a starfish with me.... (thanks Ami!!!)

The few pictures below may help to give a flavour.....

Joyland Update

At the risk of making the team jealous, I will give a little update on Joyland.

I have been out to Joyland each day this week, to deliver Emma's Deborah to Tagalog lessons. It has been a joy, to share a bit of normal life with a lot of the kids, just for a few minutes each day, and to see how smoothly it runs, and how happy and content the children are, even without Pastor Rick and Suzet there, as they are taking a well earned break back home in Oz.

You will be happy to know, team, that despite some very high winds this week, and a lot of rain, the structures are looking good and solid.....

Even in Rick and Suzet's absence, the problems continue for Joyland, as this week, they had news that people from the barangay (local community) had been complaining that the children were being used as child labour. All because they do some gardening, and are having the joy of growing their own vegetables. I was there yesterday morning when they were proudly digging up some veggies they had planted themselves!!! Grant and Vanessa communicated with Rick and Suzet by e-mail, and Suzet answered in typically feisty fashion. "Let them come and see what we are doing here. We have nothing to fear. If anyone let these kids down, it was the local council, the local community."

The issue of the child labour has been resolved. The barangay captain came, visited, took photos, and is happy that they are treating the children very well.

When you hear some of the stories of these kids, you realise just what they have been saved from. But also look at their lives now, and see what they are being saved to.... Security, good nutrition, a roof over their heads, education, a future. Life in its fullness. And, of course, love.

On the way there this morning, I passed a funeral cortege. I have no idea how old the dead person was, or how they died. Buit it is quite conceivable that it was a child as young as those at Joyland, either dead through malnutrition or a preventable disease, or an accident on an unlit road at night. I mentioned it to Grant when I got there. And he said that the crazy thing about the criticism they have been receiving is that it is quite likely that some of the kids there now would not have lived to the end of this year, if it had not been for the intervention of Joyland in their lives. Their futures.

Avenue team, you have been a part of that.... And from the sound of things at our discussion on the last evening, we want to be an ongoing part of it. Any support will be welcomed...

Well what can I say !!!

We are all safely back home except for Jo who stayed behind with Emma and the girls. The 2 weeks were quite an experience and the 2 farewell parties at Dacutan & Payatas, plus the farewell at Joyland was quite a tear renching experience for most of us.

Jo has kept you all up to date with the first week, but thought you would like to see a couple of photo's. As most of you know, I am a man of little words so will let some of my photo's do most of the talking.

1st Photo: Gordon and myself after constructing the timber frames worked on the large veranda roof, leaving the others to complete the side roofs. This is the point the Joe and Glen realise that they have run out of corugated tin roof and that the job cannot be completed before we leave.

2nd Photo: is of Rick & Suzet with a look of gratitude for all the work we had done.

3rd Photo: A farewell shot of the team and children at Joyland

It was at this point that the children finally realised that we were not coming back for a long time and did not want to let us go.


The next couple of photo's is of the magnificent view of where we would stay for our weekend break and views of the resort, which is totally different to what we had been acustomed to.





and then the party and meal at Dacutan.

The following were some of the most heart rendering views of the poverty at Payatas, a total difference to the time we had spent on the beach.



Father Pauls Home which he is sharing with another family, need less to say we left in deep thought and prayer that they can overcome these terible conditions and what if anything we could do to help.



I have many more photo's of our trip, too many to show on here, so ask me to see them the next time you see me at church of may be we could organise an evening for all the team to show the photo's they took.

Despadida!!!!

"Despadida" means party. Have you ever felt that you have never really understood the meaning of a word, until you have had a certain experience? After the first Thursday of the team's visit, I do. I have been to parties before, but up until that Thursday night, I don't think I had ever really partied. I think we all experienced an amazing sense of the party spirit on the Thursday evening, when we went to Dacutan, for a celebration of the time we had spent with the children and young people from the village.

Many people come to the Philippines, and get involved in builds or youth work, and we can contribute a fair bit, give of our time, our hearts, our warmth. But in the process, we end up gaining far more than we have given.

The evening celebration at Dacutan will stay with us all. We gathered in front of the SIBOL school, in front of the schoolroom, the floor of which we were meant to have been helping to restore, but that project fell through, as another group will be doing that in due course. We only worked with the children and young people, and yet, we were honoured so much, just because we were there, sharing with them. It is hard to understand perhaps, because none of us would think we did anything special. But for the people in the village, not just the kids but also their parents and families, and others, the simple fact that people from a totally different culture had come there, sharing their lives with them, for even just a couple of days, was so important. It is incredibly humbling...

Our friends Lourdes, Lhen, Rafael and Jeneth from Payatas in Manila are currently working with Emma as mission volunteers, mainly in Dacutan. They had done loads of work with the kids and young people to prepare for the Despadida, as had the techers from the SIBOL school, and the local Handmaids of the Lord. The youngest children greeted us with a song ("Welcome to the family, we're glad that you have come to share our lives with us, as we grow together"), and they moved up the age groups with items, including several dances, and the anthem of Gawad Kalinga (which means to give care). Josh sang one of his own songs, and each of the team were invited to speak. All did so, very movingly, I thought. All shared, in one way or another, what the time with the children and young people had meant to them.

As you know, we had raised funds at a few events, and Dacutan was to be the recipient of some of those funds, in particular the money raised at the gig at the Ship Pub on Easter Saturday. I had the privilege of handing over 25,000 PHP (just over £300) to the Kapitbahayan (community association), which will help to fund five new motors for fishing boats - this is more practical than our original thought of one new fishing boat, as it will keep five boats going. This news was greeted with much joy and appreciation.

After the formal bit, the party really started. There on the sand, in front of the school, the music was cranked up, the dancing started, the food was shared, and the place that Dacutan held in the team's heart grew even larger. It was an amazing evening. All the team got up and danced. It was impossible not to. Some very interesting dance moves were unveiled, some more by luck than by judgment. There were impromptu story telling sessions, loads of "Pictyooor" requests, and a level of happiness and joy was evident which quite frankly puts us in our western comfort zones to shame... These families have so little, yet they have something very precious too. Presents were given, shell necklaces as keepsakes to the team. One of the fishermen gave me his wristband, and although it is uncomfortably small for me, it is something I will really treasure.

Eventually, we had to leave. We had an escort back to the van, along the beach and through the village, by cellphone light. No street lamps here. That was one of many difficult goodbyes which the team experienced. But maybe the difficulty of the goodbyes is a measure of just how memorable the day had been...

Some further updates on the first week

Well, I know that the team is back in the UK now, and I hope they will use the blog to download some of their thoughts on the fortnight in the Philippines. And some people reading this may even have begun to hear some stories, straight from the horses' mouths, so to speak. But I thought that, given a bit of a lull today, I would post some updates on what we actually did, then leave team members to add their thoughts.... (he says, elliptically).

The team did a major amount of work on the varandahs at Joyland over the Monday to Wednesday, so we felt everyone needed a break from that. Gordon and Reg in particular had toiled like Trojans under the sun, so we packed them off on a jaunt to Silay, known locally as the Paris of Negros. No Champs Elysee or towers there, though some of the driving reminds me a lot of driving round Paris. But there were plenty of old buildings to prove of interest, and from what we hear, some of the locals enjoyed getting an eyeful of two white guys, taking photos and enjoying life in a filipino provincial town. Reg's photos are particularly good, so grab a look sometime. You may even get a tale or two of some friends he made!

I went out to Joyland to pick up the older kids, who then joined about 50 kids aged between 9 and 13 at the swimming pool on Emma's subdivision. It was great seeing the joy on their faces, and their enjoyment of swimming in a pool. We had taken a lot of these kids to a pool back in October on the Crowe / Chapman / Randall team, so we were pretty sure they would enjoy the experience. But it may well have been a first for some of the Joyland kids.

That is Joey in the pink rubber ring, posing for the photo. The first day we went to Joyland, Joey sat on his own, crying. By the next day, he was everyone's friend, posing for loads of pictures, and the swimming did him a power of good too. A few weeks ago, he was quite literally living on the streets of Silay .. Vanessa, the social worker at Joyland, showed me his spot the other day. He is still sad sometimes at night, as he is the only one of the 15 kids living there who does not have a sibling living there, but his life is so different now, so much better. I have a real soft spot for Joey... He so much exemplifies what CAN be done for children and young people here, as long as people care enough.

Around lunchtime, there was a change of shift at the pool. The younger Dacutan kids went back to the village, the Joyland kids were delivered back home, Reg and Gordon were collected from their wanderings, and the older young people (aged 14 to around 18) replaced the younger Dacutan kids. Again, much enjoyment, though a lot more posing and performing to impress from this bunch..... Teenagers, the world over, perhaps.... But again, still, great gratitude for the outing...

But I think all of the team would say that what little we gave to them, we received so much back in return, later that evening.....

A few pictures from Joyland

Hi all

Here are a few pictures of work the team did on the verandahs at Joyland (ie we built these!!), and a group picture of the wonderful kids who live there.

Jo