When we first arrived in Cebu, we weren't sure what exactly we might get involved with, as we arrived during the children's summer holiday, and the school where we were hoping to help out was closed during the break.
Over a week, it became obvious to us that perhaps we should try to see if we can make the summer holiday for the children a bit more exciting - as their current daily routine seems to only consist of watching endless TV and pirated movies! Unlike a normal home with more finances to spare, CFA does not have the resources to arrange for special activities for the children during the school holidays. Also, as many of these children, delightful as they are, still have many issues to deal with, it is not always a good idea to let them go out on their own.
So we wracked our brains and came up with a month of summer activities before the children go back to school on June 14! For starters we will play games like Pictionary, have competitions in Scrabble, Volleyball, Badminton etc, and running some workshops for those who are interested (Christine: painting, Rob: writing, etc!). We also thought it would be nice to take the children out in smaller groups to hang out - and watch a movie or go bowling or something.
Even though the cost of things in the Philippines is much lower than that in the UK, multiplying anything by 60 (kids) will add up eventually! We've been really blessed though that some friends have given us some money for use towards the children in Cebu. This way we can pay for the outings as well as some materials for the summer activities.
The first outing we went on we took our first group of children to see Iron Man 2. It was heartening to see that even though (I think) the teenagers didn't fully understand the plot, they thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were very grateful for our efforts. For us who grew up with so much, it was a shock that the children had never been to the cinema to see a movie before.
By the time the movie ended most of the eating places were shut except the Filipinos' version of McDonalds, called Jollibee! So we went in for some fried chicken, spaghetti and burgers - there was quite a range of choices I have to say. We gave them a budget to work with when ordering their meals. I was taken aback when even the 16 year olds suddenly became incredibly shy at the thought of ordering their meals over the counter - and then I realised that most, if not all, of them, would not have had any opportunity to eat out, and even if an adult took them out for a
meal, they might not have been asked to order the food themselves. So there we were, coaxing and encouraging them to just pick a meal out of the 10 meals shown on the board, whilst they giggled, hid behind each other and looked perplexed at the many choices. I was so proud when they finally made up their minds and managed to tell the person behind the counter what they would like to eat, even though they tended to copy each other and ended up ordering the same thing!
Over a week, it became obvious to us that perhaps we should try to see if we can make the summer holiday for the children a bit more exciting - as their current daily routine seems to only consist of watching endless TV and pirated movies! Unlike a normal home with more finances to spare, CFA does not have the resources to arrange for special activities for the children during the school holidays. Also, as many of these children, delightful as they are, still have many issues to deal with, it is not always a good idea to let them go out on their own.
So we wracked our brains and came up with a month of summer activities before the children go back to school on June 14! For starters we will play games like Pictionary, have competitions in Scrabble, Volleyball, Badminton etc, and running some workshops for those who are interested (Christine: painting, Rob: writing, etc!). We also thought it would be nice to take the children out in smaller groups to hang out - and watch a movie or go bowling or something.
Even though the cost of things in the Philippines is much lower than that in the UK, multiplying anything by 60 (kids) will add up eventually! We've been really blessed though that some friends have given us some money for use towards the children in Cebu. This way we can pay for the outings as well as some materials for the summer activities.
The first outing we went on we took our first group of children to see Iron Man 2. It was heartening to see that even though (I think) the teenagers didn't fully understand the plot, they thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were very grateful for our efforts. For us who grew up with so much, it was a shock that the children had never been to the cinema to see a movie before.
By the time the movie ended most of the eating places were shut except the Filipinos' version of McDonalds, called Jollibee! So we went in for some fried chicken, spaghetti and burgers - there was quite a range of choices I have to say. We gave them a budget to work with when ordering their meals. I was taken aback when even the 16 year olds suddenly became incredibly shy at the thought of ordering their meals over the counter - and then I realised that most, if not all, of them, would not have had any opportunity to eat out, and even if an adult took them out for a
meal, they might not have been asked to order the food themselves. So there we were, coaxing and encouraging them to just pick a meal out of the 10 meals shown on the board, whilst they giggled, hid behind each other and looked perplexed at the many choices. I was so proud when they finally made up their minds and managed to tell the person behind the counter what they would like to eat, even though they tended to copy each other and ended up ordering the same thing!
1 comment:
Sounds like a real blessing. Thanks for the work you're doing in the Philippines.
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