Highlights

Now that we have been home a few days, and I am slowly getting back to normal. I want to just finish this adventure with some photo highlights.

Witnessing how people drive without traffic signs Understanding that geckos are my friends gecko=no bugs!

Seeing the need for why Geoff does what he does.

Seeing this. . .go to

this. . .and finally tothis.

Watching Kevin do his job!

Being a part of children receiving a gift of ice-cream, some for the first time.

Making new friends!

Feeling blessed for what I have and realizing people can be happy no matter their circumstance.

Being in the OR and taking this picture! Observing Geoff removing stitches and not even passing out!

Seeing first hand the love and concern Geoff has for the children he does surgery for.

Enjoying the beauty of Mag-aso Falls.

Kesh, Julie, Dr. Majong, Kevin,

Geoff, Sandra, Kring-Kring, Flor & Mitch 

Spending a life changing two weeks with these amazing people!

THE NURSES

I am almost finished with my Philippine Adventure, but I couldn’t  finish without a tribute to the nurses.

Kring-Kring, Mitch, & Julie--Taking a “Break”

A little background on Filipino nurses. There are quite a few nursing programs in the Philippines and they graduate a lot of nurses.

Nursing Students

The problem is that they don’t have a lot of jobs for them. So, they are basically required to volunteer for at least 1 year before they can get a job, and even then it isn’t guaranteed.

The one thing that caught my eye from the moment I met the nurses is that they are always smiling.

They never once complained about the long hours they spent working. Even when it was 2:00 am and they had to be back at the hospital at 8:00 am.

Julie & Mitch

They are an inspiration to me and a great example of  generosity, kindness and happiness.

Thanks for letting me spend 2 wonderful weeks with you. I know my attitude about a lot of things have changed because of “The Nurses”! 

Mitch, Kring-Kring, Julie, Flor

Day Care Visit

The first time Kevin came to Kabankalan, Ray took him out to a day care center. At the time it was located close to a river, and was prone to flooding. Ray had told Kevin they were hoping to build a new school that wouldn't flood. They were able to do that!

Today I visited the new school that they have been in almost a year. We were able to take them a double gas burner so they could prepare food for the children instead of cooking over coals. While we were there Ray had mentioned that they would really like to tile the floor. Well, one of the mother's said something to Paul about a tile floor and he donated a $100us right there! They were very excited. That should be a big help towards them getting their new floor!

Ice Cream--again!

As promised, ice cream was again delivered to the school on Tuesday!

It was so fun watching over 400 children enjoy a small cup/cone of ice cream and a cookie---before lunch!

We had enough for the 1st-4th grades.

When Paul found out that there wouldn't be enough for the 5th & 6th grade, he ordered more for the next day for them!

I think that little ice cream man made more money in 2 days than he usually makes in a 6 months!

Sinulog-Festival

On the 3rd Sunday of January, in Kabankalan, Philippines they have Sinulog-Festival.

Leading up to Sunday, they have beauty pagents, drum competitions and vendors covering the town plaza.

Sunday is the BIG day. They start the day with a parade of all of the tribes or barangays.
They have drums, dancers and beauty queens.
In the photos above notice my nice clean face.

After we watched the parade and went to church, we met at Fleurs for lunch. Now just so you know why the faces are black. It is tradition during the festival on Sunday to paint your faces black, now you can either do it yourself or the locals will gladly do it for you.

It looks like Kesh and Geoff had a little painting done!

After a yummy lunch we headed to the town plaza for the tribal competition. Lots of tribes, 15 in all. Loud drums and great costumes and dancing.

The handsome man in the corner of this photo is Efriam. He was our trusted driver at all hours of the morning and night and he got us VIP seats for the competition!

Kevin and I escaped many attempts at face painting. We actually made it to church without any incidents. But as we walked to the plaza for the competition, we had a few who wanted to paint the tall white americans, so we let them. That was the top picture. We left the competition before it was quite over and got mobbed! We ended up looking like the bottom picture. yuck!

This was one of those experiences where once in a lifetime is enough!

Elma's House

One thing I really wanted to do on this trip was to go visit Elma at her house.

Elma is little girl who was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. She met Geoff 3 years ago when he came to the Philippines on a medical mission. At that time she had her cleft lip repaired. They never do the lip and palate at the same time, so Elma and her mom were told that they could have her palate repaired the following year. Well, the following year was 2 years ago, and Kevin's first medical mission with ICSF. He met Elma and was instantly hooked.

Elma holds a special place in Geoff's heart also. She is sort of his "poster child" for his missions this year.

Anyway, after hearing so much about sweet Elma and looking at her picture for 2 years, I wanted to meet her for myself.

Luckily, Geoff wanted to go visit her! So instead of going to the beach or the waterfall, we went to visit Elma.

The following are pictures of our trip.

Following the sugar cane truck. These are everywhere. Sugar cane is their major crop.

Looking out over a sugar cane field, up in the mountains.

We were not able to drive all the way to Elma's for a couple of reasons. One was that you had to drive on a dirt road, and since it had rained we had to walk up the dirt road.

This is the other reason we couldn't drive. We had to walk on a cow trail through the field, up the hill to get to her house.

Still walking.

Our first glimpse of Elma's houses. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Elma and her little brother weren't quite sure what to think of all of the strangers at their house.

But she was happy to see Geoff!

Elma's beautiful mom and little brother.

Elma's dad. I think he liked having us come and visit.

We took Elma a teddy bear and a coloring book and crayons.

She loved the bear.

She colored with Geoff, after she got her bear comfortable!

There was a water buffalo (caribou) in the field above their house.

There was a goat under the house.

Getting ready to leave before it gets dark.

This is a little family that lived along the dirt road, the mother went with us to Elma's.

It was very humbling to see the circumstances that they live in, one room shack no water & no electricity. But they seem happy. They really don't know any other way of life.

Elma was a sweetheart, as I had expected.

It was worth the trip.

This is why I am here

OUR SCHOOL VISIT

This post is a little long, but I didn't know what not to say :)

School Principal, Grace, Paul, Fleur, Me, Ray
With the donations (Including Ice Cream, courtesy of Paul)

One of the things I was looking forward to doing when I came was visiting a school the Rotary Club sponsers for a lunch program. The Rotary Club and the JC's are very active in Kabankalan. They do a lot of community service and they are the ones who help out ICSF when they are in town. They are the one's who provide food (lunch & dinner) while the team is at the hospital. They are the transportation to and from the hotel to the hospital (sometimes very late at night). They are just great organizations that do a lot of good.

So, back to the school. The Rotarians chose this specific school to help because they have quite a few children who do not get the nutrition they need. Some days if the children didn't have anything for lunch at lunch time, they would go home and usually not go back. Therefore, not getting their education. The Rotarians asked the school to choose 50 0f the most undernourished 1st grade children, so they could provide them a nutritious lunch. They are providing lunch for 40 days for these children. I asked if they were going to continue to this project and Grace said that they were only doing it for this one time. I am going to talk to her more to see what we can do to help out. I realize there is a lot of need out there and we can't do everything, but maybe there is a little something.

The Rotary Club was also able to donate a TV and DVD player and a clean water tank and pump. Those items also arrived the day we visited. We were lucky enough to watch the pricipal open the boxes, then she invited us to have our picture taken with her and the donations.

Before we actually went to visit the children while they were eating lunch, the told us they had some snacks for us. So off we went to the Principal's office!

Here is "that" Grace eating her snack of boiled bananas and sweet potatoes.

Now it was time to go visit the children. We arrived just at the teachers were serving the lunch. There was a big pot of rice and another pot that had some sort of vegetable soup. It is the responsibility of the parents to take turns preparing the food for the lunch. The children also provide their own plate and cup and spoon.

They wait in line for their turn to receive their food.

Now it's time to eat!

I commented to Grace that they didn't seem undernourished and she said that they have been doing the program since November and all of the children have gained weight! They were pretty healthy and very happy!

And you know, not one of them said "I don't like this!"

They loved it!

In the first picutre you may be wondering who Paul is. Paul is a guy who had a friend that recenty passed away and left Paul in charge of a large amount of money with instructions to do something good for the children of the Philippines. Pauls friend liked to go to schools and buy ice cream for the children. Paul recently heard about ICSF and wanted to help the foundation in some way, so he is. He has donated money and he is making sure the team is well cared for while here. For example, the first 2 days we ordered our breakfast individually and it took quite a while for it to come and our driver would have to wait. Paul took care of it. We now have a buffet style breakfast every morning. Paul found out the team didn't have cold drinks during the day. He goes out every morning gets 2 coolers full of ice and drinks. Paul is a good guy to have around. So not only is Paul providing little extras for the team, he wanted to provide extra for the children at the school when we went to visit. In keeping with his friend's tradition, he brought ice cream!

Sandra, Paul & "Amazing" Grace

After scooping out ice cream for not only the 50 lunch program children, we scooped out for the whole first grade!

While we were scooping, Fleur asked the children how many had never had ice cream before. There were about 85% of the kids who raised their hands.

(You have it good, Matt!)

When we were done scooping for the 1st grade we had some left. There were kids peeking in the door watching, so we scooped up what we had left and gave it to them.

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough for all the onlookers.

But not to worry. We'll be back on Tuesday with more ice cream!!!