U.N. Day and feeding site

Yesterday was the United Nations celebration.  I haven't seen any parades here, but apparently they're popular, and that's exactly how we started off the morning!  The kids met at the school at 7:30am and we left at 8:00am to walk down the streets of Boracay.  This kids were so cute!  I was thankful that most of the parents walked in the parade with their kids.

An interesting fact about the Philippine culture: no matter how poor you are, you get decked out for school programs.  It's really kind of ridiculous.  Every kid comes wear fancy costumes and the girls will often have on a ton of makeup.  It kind of makes me embarrassed to post photos on facebook because people probably wonder what kind of mission trip I'm on because my kids look rich, but that's really not the case (although some are more well-off than others).  It really is just a big thing in the Philippines to get all fancied up on special occasions.  It’s kind of the same concept with the birthdays I posted about a while back.  There are certain ages here that traditionally call for big celebrations, and you can bet the parents will give a big party.

The kids did a great job!  I have to give Jhing the credit.  I would have loved to help out but she pretty much always worked on song/choreography with the kids in the afternoon after I was gone.  I wonder if she may have done that because I “kindly disagree” with her on several things that she does in the class, so she was probably worried that I would do the same for the dance.  Oh well!

Another interesting thing: Filipinos get so caught up in the production, the learning aspect gets pushed to the side.  I’m not sure if any of the kids learned a single thing about the United Nations.  They just know that it’s an annual school program.  Some classes did get costumes that went along well with their assigned country.  Some classes also did really neat dances that tied in with their country.  And some classes, like mine, just wore fancy clothes and danced to a song that does talk in some way about unity in the world, but didn’t have much to do with New Zealand (our country).  I guess I could have tried to give more of an opinion for my class, but I just let them do their thing.  They were cute, after all!

Lance.  He can be pretty rambunctious, but just look at that face!!!!

Aina Rose, Mark John, and BJ

Aivic

Lynnie

Von Sandrix, Jamal, and Justine

Eden and Teressa

Kianne and Mathew.  I love all my kids.  I don't have favorites.  Really!  But Mathew sure can be extra cute sometimes!!!

Blurry picture of Chloe and Eden

Eden

Von

Justine and Kianne

Aivic

Teressa

Today was feeding site day.  After I helped lead the songs, story, and provided coloring sheets, I offered to serve the food which I’ve done a couple of times before.  These kids were hungry today!  There’s usually at least a little bit of a lull after we give the first serving.  The kids will come back for more just here and there, and the food dwindles down until it’s gone.  Today, though, the line never ended because kids were coming back for seconds before I ever finished serving firsts.  My back was aching so much by the time I was done!  The food was gone in a flash.

Anderson has been coming to this site as well and doing the first aid.  There’s been one boy, probably a preteen, who Anderson has been doing his best treating what we thought were bad burns on his legs.  They were looking better each week but today they looked worse again.  According to Ramelyn, a Filipina who helps at the site, they’re not burns but are diabetic ulcers.  That’s so sad, and it really stinks to know that no matter how much they’re treated, they’re likely to just come back.  It makes it even worse when they live in filthy conditions and therefore the sores stay uncleaned.  I learned that the boy’s mother is the cook for the feeding site (Teresa takes to food to her every week), which is a connection I hadn’t made.  Ramelyn also said that he’s the oldest of seven and is “special,” which I assume means he’s mentally handicapped.  They can’t afford diabetes medicine/insulin for him.

Even though I live here, I hate to admit that I sometimes forget about the conditions that the majority of the island lives in.  Every time I get out of my own little bubble on the island, I’m reminded of how blessed I am.