Day 12

Dear Parents/Friends & Supporters

This morning we woke up at 6:30 and ate a delicious breakfast at 7. As we munched we discussed the impending typhoon that is planning on hitting the Philippines on Saturday or Sunday. Last night Mr Beacham alerted us that we will be teaching a class by ourselves, however he failed to mention the grim reality of the situation…. we were to be not in groups but by ourselves in the classroom.  After devouring our grub we obliviously walked to Cabacungan Elementary School.  

We were soon assigned to our classrooms, of years ranging from kindy to year 6. It was then we realised we were in the deep end, as the class stared blankly at us, with expectant eyes, waiting for us to enlighten them to a bigger world.  With crowded minds and panicked hearts, we mustered up the courage and dove in head first. After overcoming the trepidation of an expectant classroom, we managed to bond and build eternal relationships with the kid, which was identified through the sheer extravagant number of friendship bracelets acquired by most students.  

At the end of our hour of emotional teaching, we had the honourable privilege of feeding our respective classrooms with the local cuisine.  It was after this that we were entreated to a marvellous Goodbye Ceremony. Then when the formalities were finished we said our final goodbyes to the kids, by way of photos and balloons. However, this simple action caused great mayhem and danger as there was a stampede of children forcing us ballooners, to take refuge in a nearby classroom.  Despite this dramatic ending, we as a team felt ecstatic to have an opportunity to influence children’s lives with a simple act of kindness.

We headed back to our humble abode to eat some more scrumptious grub. Then we headed back to the iRC Community, for the last time to engage with the kids and finished our work painting, the now Gwapa (beautiful) orphanage. As we were tying balloons and blowing bubbles the kids were rather upset, showing small signs of happiness when handed a balloon appose to previous days where by the kids showed great joy in receiving a coloured balloon dog. We were unsure whether this was due to our departure, however it was very upsetting. After we had said our painting and said our goodbyes, we were able to bathe in style under a flowing waterfall.  After the rickety ride back to the guest house we were surprised to receive the traditional Australian BBQ, consisting of sausage and bun, however the sausage was not sufficient… it was a frankfurter.

Soon after dinner we headed over to the ikthus church (where last night Balut was consumed and later vomited out in the garden) to receive our final goodbye by the church community. We sang beautiful worship songs, we were serenaded by the incredible violinist and heard a stupendous message from our Chaplin Peter Chase. With a very short goodbye, we begrudgingly trudged but to our inn to partake in our last debrief in Cabacungan and then off to pack for our upcoming journey….. it was safe to say that this day undoubtedly secured its position as one of the most heartbreaking yet encouraging days of our trip.

Lot of love to the folks at home from Dave, Chelsea and Sam N