THE MOST AWAITED BALIKBAYAN BOXES

We dropped the three Balikbayan boxes at the drop-off place before we flew back to the Philippines last May. I estimated it will arrive around September, if not October. I kept telling the children that there is a special surprise for everyone in those boxes. I couldn't believe when the boxes arrived earlier than expected (at least a month ahead – WOW – thank you, Lord!)

When I finally had the time to open them I found out I need to repack some of the hygiene stuff. Since there wasn't enough towels and blankets to pass around, I opted to repack them so that each recipients would have either just a blanket or a towel in their package. Each repacked package now contained wash clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, bath soap and either towel or blanket. I found out it worked out just fine.

We have a neighborhood clean up day every last Saturday of the month. Each household is required to have one member of their household show up to help with the clean up. Michael took the packages on a two-wheeler to the shed where everyone meets for the clean up and we distributed them. I noticed some, when they opened them, wanting to trade for a package that had a blanket in it and vice versa.

There were donated items like travel size lotions, shampoos, etc., that I handed out to the teen-age girls in the neighborhood. They appreciated it a lot.

EXCITING ART CLASSES

With the news that the boxes have arrived, there was excitement in the air among the little folks in our neighborhood. I secured permission to use the neighborhood shed for the feeding and the art class for the children on Saturday afternoons. Yes, Virginia, we upgraded from this;

to this:

There is a cooking station in the shed where, unlike our makeshift "stove" before, it is on a platform so that we don't have to squat while cooking.  Do you see the two pots in the background of the above picture?  What a blessing to have a place like this to cook our champorado.

The younger ones now eat around the table in the middle of the purok shed.

The bigger ones sit on the built-in benches of the purok shed:

We do the art class while the food is being prepared. During art class, I normally spread all the materials (crayons, glue, scissors, etc..) on the table for the kids to use freely but within limits. Eventually, they realized they didn't have to fight over any of these things because, they found out, now there are plenty to go around. I do take the materials back home with me every time and bring them back on our next session. The kids get to take their finished work with them to show to their moms and dads although some moms come with their children and help out with their projects. This is a big help for me as I have a lot of pre-K attendees who need one-on-one attention. And on top of that there are teenage girls who come too, so I have extra help from them as well.

In the Philippines, in smaller towns like Hinunangan, Local Government Unit (LGU) had been created. A town is divided into Barangays which is then divided into Puroks or Districts. The purok or district is then sectioned into Purok 1 through 4 (depending on how big a barangay is). Our area is in Purok 4, by the way. Each purok or district has elected officials who reports to the barangay captain, who in turn reports to the mayor. And each purok or district has their own purok shed where purok meetings are held every month. This is where we do our feeding and art class on Saturday afternoons now for the past three weeks. We are thankful for the Purok 4 families who enthusiastically allowed us to use the facility for the children. We basically serve the kids of the 47 households in Purok 4.

Additionally, each barangay in every town has a Day Care where children pre-K to K attends for free. There is one paid teacher in each Day Care. In our barangay Talisay, there are 17 students. I learned from my visit that Canipaan, the next barangay north of us, has 25 students. I assembled art supplies to hand out to these two Day Care centers and showed up unannounced one day. The teachers were elated to get brand new art supplies for the children.

SUNDAY SCHOOL/ART CLASS AT NASA, BANGCAS B

Our church conducts Saturday classes for the children at a seaside neighborhood known by the locals as Nasa in Bangcas B, Hinunangan. I took over the program and we now meet on Sunday afternoons. It is dry season here so we meet on the beach for our class. We make do whatever we find for our seats when it's Bible story time. We do the normal Sunday School class, we have Bible story time, singing, Bible verses, games and art class. Since we don't have seats, much more a table to use for our projects, the children are very resourceful when it comes to finding places to do the crafts. I also introduced the game “Duck, Duck, Goose” and that's the most requested game as of now. I found out it's very hard to run on a dry, sandy soil, still my arthritic feet feels good after a game...kind of therapeutic, hahaha.

 
This is a makeshift bench between two coconut trees that the kids can use as a table for their project.  Last week someone tied their horse on one of the trees so we couldn't use it.

  Other kids found a place to do their project - on someone's banca/boat.  They use the front and the aft of the boat.  There are several parked banca boats in the place and the kids sure found a use for them.

  We made butterflies out of coffee filters one day which the kids proudly staked in the ground to dry while we played games and ate our snacks.

I debated whether I should give each child a set of their own art supplies to take home. In the end, I figured it would be best that I collect the supplies at the end of our session and distribute them the next time we meet. It works just fine although I have to do a lot of explaining at first.

I want to thank everyone who gave to fill the three Balikbayan boxes with art supplies, towels, blankets, wash clothes, toiletries, etc.., so many lives are blessed because of your generosity. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We love you all and thank you for following.