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Original: 6/1/2009 3:48 AM
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Weekend Frenzy
Who says a 2 day weekend is not enough to have so much fun?!
May 30, 2009/Saturday
“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us everyday.”
First outreach program of Thomson Reuters Manila Corporate Services CSR.
We had a school supplies drive for the students of Sitio Wawa in Rizal. I mean all rush meeting and planning had a very SUCCESSFUL ending after all. At first I thought this project would be a dead end for the council before we even got started but last saturday proved me wrong. A few days leading to the event itself, I felt the dedication of my co-council members and leaders. Everyone was willing to help out. Last thursday we finished packing all the school supplies that we donated. I never thought packing would be so much fun (haha). I've never had the chance to gift wrap or anything so at first I was totally clueless on how to do the whole "packing" thing. It's funny cos it took me almost 30 minutes to get one done! haha.. My ration with Angela was 1:10...haha.. She's a hassler! ^_^ But I eventually got the hang of it and ended up getting a lot done. The whole packing was a little tiring though but it's all worth it.
The same shift around 3:30am, our boss gave a heads up about a priority account that was needed to be finished asap. Upon hearing this, we crammed. We thought the account would be large but turns out, it was maneagable. Was able to get my part done before we leave for Rizal.
7am. We're still in Makati. I accompanied Leigh to Cathy's place (heavy rains and all!) to pick up our food. It took us another 30mins before we got back to the office and finally leave.
Rented 2 taxi's. We arrived at our destination around 9:30am. JUST IN TIME!
When we got there, it seemed like they (people from human caravan) were just getting started. There were as expected around 100 kids or a little more than that cos the parents tagged their other kids along.
The program went smoothly. Everyone cooperated. Started with the drawing activity then the games and so on. It was really fun. Seeing the smile on the kids faces was just amazingly stress releiving. They were all excited to receive their bags and school supplies. Before this whole experience I somewhat lost hope with the youth of this nation, seeing most of the students as young as 10 or even younger spending so much time in front of the pc playing computer games. But the look in the faces of the kids in Sitio Wawa showed me a glimmer of hope. They were all passionately excited about studying. They really wanted to learn and enjoy the fact that they are going to school that is despite the fact that most of them have to walk a couple miles of rough terrain and cross the river to attend their classes and their families are living below standard living in the city. If only kids in Metro Manila or everywhere for that matter would be like this then I wouldn't have to worry about how the future of this nation and our society will be for my own child.
I was also inspired by the dedication of the people from Human Caravan. They teach these kids with a little help and sometimes provide funds from their own pockets. The bags (brand new) they gave away was out of their own personal bidgets. I totally understand their passion for doing this. Being part of such community and surrounded by such kids is enough to be inspired everyday.
The whole outreach was done around 12nn. Had our group lunch at the covered basketball court where the whole activity was held. Then left for a little R&R...the other purpose for our visit! ^_^
Heavy rains didn't stop us. We still went for it (Grace and Ron decided to just stay behind cos they weren't prepared for the whole thing, they both stayed at the kubo where the Human Caravan volunteers live)! Some of us bought some clothes at a mini-store just before the start of the trek. WET and MUDDY!!! That's how I'll describe the whole trek. We were all soaking wet. No choice. Umbrellas would be of no use. The rain was pouring so hard but as soon as we start the trek the sceneries of Wawa Dam started to unfold. It was very nice! To top it all of a lot of history happened in the place, katipunero's once stayed in a cave we passed through, it is where they tore out their community tax certificates (cedulas) that sparked the revolutionary movement against the spaniards. The river was the place where Gen. Lawton was shot dead by a sniper.
We walked for a good 30 to 45 minutes or so. All wet and tired (NO SLEEP for some of us too..we went their straight from our shift!). We reached our point of destination. The volunteers from human caravan brought us to the house of one of their students. We needed to ride a "balsa" - raft made out of bamboo - to cross the river. I was a little scared at first cos the current was a little hard but I saw some locals passing through - they were just walking - which means that the river was just shallow. What's amazing was the fact that A KID was manning the balsa. And he did it well. Never felt uncertainty even for a second. He knew what he was doing. It turned out that the kid was the student the volunteers were talking about.
We spent a little time in his home with his family. Swam a bit, the water was a little murky - just because it was raining - but it felt clean. After a few more minutes we were all shivering! I thought I'd get sick but thankfully I didn't. Thanks to the Ascorbic Acid given to us before we started the trek. haha. The volunteers shared some inspiring stories which made me think about how much help have I done for others? Those people were just about the same as my age and yet they've helped out so much already. Money is no big deal for them it's really abouth reaching out to others and touching their lives. My hats are off to those people!
Time to go...we arrived back at the "kubo" around 530 or 6pm. Showered then we headed home. Leigh, Grace, Ron, Ross, Cathy and I stopped by at Tropical Hut for dinner before going separate ways. An amusing story: Just when we were getting ready to go, Leigh realized that her digital camera was not in her bag. We got all worried. We thought she left it in the van we rode on our way to Cubao. We had a lot of speculations, tried calling the people in Wawa but there was NO signal there..Smart only..but it was still difficult to get through the lines. All of us including Leigh decided to just sleep everything over cos we were all exhausted to think. The next day I found out that she left the camera in the kubo where we stayed at. WHEW...I can hear Leigh's sigh of releif! ^_^
Will be posting the album soon. ^_^
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May 31, 2009/Sunday
Kat is here from Japan cos here "lola" passed away. We couldn't go to the wake cos of our schedules and it was in Bulacan. Tried to schedule a meet up but everything was really shaky until today!
Before lunch Kat texted me. Said she can no longer go to Cavite for us to meet up but said it's ok if we meet her up in SM North. I thought that was a little too far for most of since since we are all from the South. I still texted our friends. To my surprise Milx replied then Louk did and then Kent gave the go signal too! Whoa!!! That's how much we love our friend - with all this crappy weather and all, I was again soaking wet - haha. But another reason for doing this reunion of some sort was because the odds of her being able to comeback next year was really low. We ended up deciding to meet up in Trinoma.
Left at around 3pm. Pissed at the ATM at Walter Mart cos it doesn't dispence 100 bills, so I withdrew a little too much for my budget. Went straight to Festival Mall to pay for my Internet (the outstanding balance I have in my SOA was finally explained to me..okay okay!) then off I went to Trinoma.
Arrived there 5:30pm. Kat was already there. Then we strolled a bit talked a lot!!! Catched up on each other then Kent and Jaq arrived, followed by Milx. We decided to stay at Gilligans. Ordered cos we were all hungry, started drinking too. ;p Laurice told us beforehand that she'll arived around 6pm. But she's still the same as she was in college. haha.. LATE. she arrived around 8pm. REASON: Flood. We bought it, cos it was raining really hard.
From then on bottles of beer after another, munch here and there, we had tons of fun, caught up with everyones lives, teased each other, we even messed up with the band - we requested for "Careless Whisper" and dedicated it to "Kat-rina" the fake bday girl (haha) - they mentioned the whole dedication but didn't sing it though (BOO!), reminisced, planned for next year, etc. DAMN I MISSED THOSE GUYS!
Left at around 12mn, got home 2am. I even lost my damn umbrella - left it in the taxi. Had a little to drink but yeah admittedly got a little tipsy too.haha. which means I have to buy a new one.
I'll post pics as soon as I get my hands on them. ^_^
OKAY..I'm going to have my ears checked tomorrow. Its 4am and I have to sleep! haha Posted 6/1/2009 3:48 AM - 6 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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