“Friday morning started out normal. Woke up at 6:30, had brekkie, left at 8. It was all well and good until the boat we were on that morning turned out to have a broken rudder, and we spent about half an hour just trying to turn it around out of the port. We got there in the end though, and it was another morning of pretending to know how to tutor kids. After lunch we had an afternoon of craft activities for mostly older kids. Bernie and I were put onto the job of decorating masks. It was fun, even if we did get glitter everywhere, and I ended up drawing flowers for all the kids. Jess’ table were making bracelets, and she made one for me. After school ended, a small group of us went to do one of the feeding programs, and I think this one was my favourite because I knew half of the kids as they went to the school. This took place on the edge of a rice field, and we had to cross a tiny bamboo bridge to get there. I went to my usual job of making the balloon animals, except they started calling swords ‘spiders’ which confused me a lot until Mrs Spurgeon explained it to me. The feeding programs are really fun unless you’re on medical duty which I refuse to do after being overwhelmed on the first night (I won’t go into details!) Another fun thing about them is that when you finish, the song ‘Father Abraham’ gets stuck in your head for the next two days, and someone always spontaneously bursts into song. After that we went back to the vista, showered, then went out for dinner. I think my dad would really like the restaurant we went to. It was called Army Navy, and all of its food was based off old military foods, and they had funny names, like ‘Freedom Fries’ and ‘Fearless Fried Chicken’. After that we walked back to the vista, and Jess and I played Uno with the teachers. I don’t quite know what was going on, but they all were giggling lots and acting like children, especially Mrs Spurgeon.” – Faith
“Friday, we headed over to Masa Ati for another day of construction, teaching and feeding. Our students have worked tirelessly the last few days and know they get a mini break of sorts with the Sports Day on Saturday. Our aim was to get the walls fabricated and have the surface prepped for pouring concrete on Saturday afternoon. We had a good groove with students on the saws, welders and shovels in hand to make a huge dent in the construction. With another big Saturday of work and our final day Monday, we should be able to deliver on our bold promise of having a classroom ready before we leave, tree and all!“– Mr Newland
Click here for more photos of the Philippines Impact Trip – Day 7