Vacation Bible School Filipino Style

In April our church held VBS in another barangay.  Barangay Mercedes in Silago is north of us (about 15 minutes from Talisay. VBS is about the same here as in the states, you have kids, teachers, support, lessons, games and snacks. What is different is locations. All the VBS we attended in the states was held in a church. Here, this VBS was held in the jungle were some houses had been built.

The opening and closing assembly was held in front of a huge, shady caimito tree where VBS posters and flags are hung.  The kids sat on plastic chairs that our church brought then they carry it with them to their areas so they have a chair to sit on during their lessons.

Game time was similar to what we did back in the States. Most of the games involved some sort of race and most of the kids were very competitive.

Flor taught the class JJ was in with the help of a couple of teenagers. They had a work book that was in Tagalog (the national language). I thought the work book would have been in Visayan/Cebuano (the local language). I (Flor) have to translate the lesson into the Visayan language as I go along.  I found out that there is no Cebuano edition available when it comes to VBS materials.  In the Philippine public and private schools, Filipino kids are taught the local language, the national language and English so that was okay but since I taught the younger ones, I need to translate the lessons in Visayan for them to understand it.  JJ does not want to admit it but he is picking up the local language.

Then there was the kids favorite time, snack time. Usually consisting of juice and bread.

Since we have a car I was tasked with hauling the chairs from our church at the beginning and end of VBS. All the chairs were placed on top of the car and tied down. Got quite a few looks with the American driving down the road with a bunch of chairs tied to the top. We also picked up kids as we went to Mercedes and then dropped them off at their place afterwards.  They have designated each pick-up/drop off points as terminals 1, 2, 3....kind of like a passenger jeepney except that the driver is an Americano :).

We closed our VBS week on Saturday, April 16, with a joint lunch for the children's families after our closing ceremony right under the giant caimito tree where opening/closing assembly was held.  It was a blessing to meet most of the families in the area.

I know it was quite an experience for Michael and Judson, an eye opener of some sort--Michael specially.  I watched his expression while we were doing the whole thing.  I'm glad he had a first hand experience of this kind.  As for me...it was my deja vu moment.  I've done this kind of thing for years before I moved to the States.  And nothing has changed, except now they have the materials, back then we have to plan our own----and of course I was a young, energetic teenager then.

We thank you for following and may you all have a blessed summer ahead.