Leaders side trip

Day 2 Malaybalay - Mindanao

Today has been very enjoyable because we were able to help out heaps with the community, our first rotation was construction, this was really fun but hard as we were still wiped out from the day before. We managed to move so much sand and gravel to help these guys out with concreting a new kitchen. We then had an amazing lunch served by Ate Oparina, this consisted of rice (of course) pineapple, curry, spring rolls and sweet chilli sauce.

After this we were asked to help out and present in the AWANA program which was basically hundreds of kids, on this basketball court playing games and worshipping God. It was really encouraging to see how much Mt Moriah impacts the surrounding community. Mr Puzey did his classic Didgeridoo presentation and we helped out as well.

We had some chill time after than from about 4.30 to 7pm (I pretty much slept the whole time) but others helped out at the children’s home and played basketball with the awesome kids. Then we all went out again for dinner it was insane (as usual) soup, pork, chicken rice and ice cold sprite. And this crazy stuff in a coconut called Halo Halo, most people loved it. Then we headed out to this really cool Christmas festival with thousands of people in one place, all the lights were so beautiful.

We got back to Mt Moriah and held debrief, prepared the blog and wrote our journals. We were also given the opportunity to purchase some handicrafts made by the locals, the plant from which they are made was unique to the area so it was very special.

It’s been a good day, looking forward to bed and another day in the Philippines tomorrow.

From mostly Sam with the assistance of Irene, on behalf of all the leaders.  

Day 3 Malaybalay - Mindanao

We enjoyed a later start to the day than usual with pick up for church at 9.30am. We are staying at an accommodation on the grounds of Mt Moriah, a camping facility for the local children. What this means s that we are on the doorstep of the Children’s Home and close to the construction project but about 8 minutes out of town. We are often having to wait for pick up as everything seems to run late around here. (Not at all Beacham time!)

We attended church at CCF in town with a real mixture of locals and International guests. The service was in English.

Lunch close by then on to “Builders” another local church where every Sunday the local youth are invited to play competition basketball and volleyball. The locals are so good at basketball and we joined in as best we could. We were again asked to present to the crowd and because we had been playing sports with them our reception was like that given to superstars.

We came back to Mt Moriah and cleaned up and again out for tea. This time it was put on for us by the local church group who we worked with the previous day and was presented in the basketball court where we were working on construction. Pork spare ribs, chicken and vegetable curry, rice and pineapple.....Choice.

In Malaybalay there is nothing happening after dark. So another early night.... no complaints here.

Day 4 Malaybalay - Mindanao

Immediately after breakfast we were to head out to the mountains to tour a huge Banana plantation. We were all ready and..... 40 minutes later Donald picked us up...... Malaybalay time I guess.

It was a pretty long ride, rising up another 500m or so into the foothills of the huge mountains around the area. All the way we went past small holdings with mixed crops and productive trees. There is not a spare spot or any wasted land here, every bit has to pay its way. The soil is very dark and looks like it would just about grow anything. The plantation is very well structured and produces bananas for sale to Japan. The market is very strict and only the very best will do. The Bananas are huge and very sweet and they are called Highland Bananas. We walked across a suspension bridge and toured the processing plant much to the entertainment of the local ladies.

We headed back to town arriving typically around 2 hours late. We enjoyed another lunch, feels like all we have done is eat and completed a session of construction. We finished this and went into town to walk the shopping area in the main street. Mr Puzey gave us 250 pesos and most of us could not spend it all. We discovered chubbies, a local sweet and enjoyed a selection of shakes.  Another meal....really full by now and back to Mt Moriah. 

Day 5 Malaybalay - Mindanao

We woke to a pretty typical day with light cloud cover and a light breeze. We have been watching the progress of a storm to the east and it is predicted to come closer today. The locals say that the storms usually don’t get too bad in the area where we are staying because we are so far inland, so high up and surrounded by the mountains which tend to break the weather up.

After starting the day in typical rotation at the home and on construction we soon had a change of plan. The wind picked up a bit and the rain came in. Mr Puzey pulled the team off the construction site and the group working at the children’s home did not go back after morning break. While all the children were there (school was closed) they were just sitting watching a movie.

The wind and storm peaked around 12.30 with a little bit of damage to the outbuildings around. We spent the rest of the day in the main bunk house which is a three story concrete and steel building. The locals kept calling it a typhoon but it really was not as bad as any of the typical winter storms we get in Perth.

The only hassle is that the area usually gets no storms at all, so with this wind heaps of trees simply fell over. Power went down and then the mobile towers became patchy and eventually stopping as well. The other hassle was we were supposed to leave to fly back to Manila and the road to the city was closed. Later the flights were also cancelled. We were pretty bored and the greatest danger we were ever in was from the gas.... boys! Flights were rebooked and the plans changed.

Early night which was peaceful as the wind was gone by 5pm. The chainsaws came out and the locals turned disaster into opportunity stocking up firewood. By 7pm the roads were clear and while power was still down the town returned to normal. 

Day 6 Malaybalay - Mindanao

We are booked to fly out today and first thing this morning a visitor arrived from Manila. This confirmed all flights were now operating and that the road to Cagayan where we fly from was open. Our drivers were not sure how long the drive would take so we left at 9am despite the flight departing at 5.30pm.

Well most of the community was still closed with no one at work or at school. As a result the road was nearly abandoned and clear right through to the city. A dream run really so rather than it taking longer than usual it was much quicker.

We hoped to change a flight to an earlier time but this was not possible so we hung out at the local mall for four hours. Don’t tell Mr Beacham.... we want him to think we continued to work hard. To be honest after having to sit out the storm the day before this was not what we wanted to do. We also missed out on rejoining the main group so we also missed out on market shopping n Manila. Unfortunate, but that is how it was...

We finally arrived back at the ministry centre around 10.30pm after some of the worst traffic we have ever experienced. Our reception was huge with everyone out the front cheering our arrival. After sharing stories we crashed into bed....bang.... we needed it!