Day 11

Since we last left ya'll we started our exciting day at the usual Beacham time of 5:00am. We weren't struggling as much today as we were excited for the adventures ahead of us. Although many of us are still battling slight sicknesses, we still rocked the small island of Corregidor's socks off. 

We travelled for roughly an hour by bus to a small jetty to board our 'plane seat' styled cruise boat; most of our crew slept. We then arrived at this tropical island paradise, surprisingly not shocked by the rubbish floating in the water or  the mountainous views. However we were shocked by the small amount of rubbish on land. We then jumped onto our cruise bus which had no windows, so the sights we saw were inescapable to our eyes. We toured through the lands held fast by our American and Filipino soldiers. The beauty of the green rainforest against the deep blue of the ocean was a delight to our cameras. 

Our tour guide was fantastic with his humour whilst still being serious about the amazing commitments that the Filipino soldiers made to protect their freedom (and our own), from the Japanese. We shared laughs and amusement throughout, stopping at the various ruins and cannons remaining at Corregidor. 

We had a fulfilling lunch at a local hotel, with strange coconut juice and a different creamy jelly desert, which most people avoided. Personally Emily and I enjoyed both of these local delights, whilst my fellow blogger Keegs did not. We then hit the road again to visit some more historical stunners like cannons embedded under 8ft of solid concrete, or cannons still with their shells in them, as if waiting for the next Japanese paratrooper to come along. 

We also stopped by the museum to see the relics including uniforms, canteens, medals, guns, swords, knuckle dusters, headbands, soldiers' dog tags, cutlery, money, bullets (of course), plus much, much more. The lighthouse was a lovely sight because you could see the whole of Corregidor from the top, the volcanic sands and the other four islands. 

As we have been constructing lately we understand how the cement walls have been built, using the long metal reo bar supporting the cement, whilst half the cement had collapsed from the various bomb blasts over the many years most of it was still standing. All I could do was feel sorry for the men who had too build these structures and the poor souls who had to defend and live in the building below and above the ground. The more recently built memorial was a beautiful feat of engineering. It was a white dome with a big round table in the middle of the vast surroundings which was designed so midday on 6 May the sunshine would perfectly illuminate the table. 

We also went on a small tour through a display tunnel. (Don't worry relatives it was safe.) featuring many black and white films and slide shows, light shows including still manicans and set ups, set like a play with a man speaking, many of us becoming jumpy as a "bomb dropped," causing rooms to shake and lights to blow. 

We ventured back by bus to our cruise ship and and were finally home to dinner, consisting of sheppards pie, garlic bread, salad and choc slice. We are soon to do our usual trip to the childrens home to sing, pray and put them to rest before school starts for them tomorrow, this is my favourite part of the day, as most of us are becoming really close with the children now. 

So far during our trip to Manila we have seen the juxtaposition of rich versus poor, conquered feeding programs with begging children with the look of desperation sparking in their eye, raised three and a half thousand Australian $'s to whip up simple care packages in one of the worst parts of the country; Smokey Mountain. We fed many mouths, helped smiles spread in random faces and for those few moments it felt amazing. Keegs and I worry about what they have coming for them and if they even have the chance of life, health, education and safety. Some days are hard, some are easy, but we all support one another. 

Today all I could think about was the change back in Perth as it's coming soon, the locals who always greet me as Tita Em, I may not ever see them again. But all we can do is smile at them and ask them how their day was. We can't ask them what they want to do when their older, or how old are their parents or even if they know their true birthday. It's amazing how happy they are, how thrilling it is to see how happy they are to just see us and give us a high five or a big juicy cuddle. 

The children here are our inspiration and motivation. We are here to help and here to make a change, time is almost over and their is still so much to do in this country. But their are only so many mouths we can feed with so many hands, with only one amazing guy like Beacham. Beacham keeps us going, he is firm but friendly. He is our leader, but also our guardian, we are so thankful to have him leading Reho and ourselves. Thankyou Manila and thankyou Mr Beacham for this heartbreaking and breathless experience in this mesmerising culture in this country. 

The people here are amazing, they always smile, wave and laugh at our lack of Filippino words besides Salamat. For instance, Chris one of our drivers and son of Artae Flow was in Jollibee with us and by just talking (in Tagalog) had the female cashier and her fellow coworkers fanning themselves from what we can guess were compliments. No matter the circumstances these people pull through happy. In Shakespeare's Hamlet he said, "To be or not to be, that is the question." The Filippino people are happy and love and embrace life with open arms despite their poverty stricken world. It just makes you think….

Peace Out

Emily A. and Keegan O.