Thursday 1st September: Thursday, Thursday, Gotta Get Down..

Today was a big day for the childrens team, the culmination of a whole week of planning, showcasing the material that the high school students had been working on in their leadership workshops. The plan was to go to elementary school classrooms, (grades 5 & 6) and present 15 minute 'skit' based lessons.

An early start saw the PP11 team leave the hotel to greet the students of UP Cebu and walk to the nearby Lahug Elementary School. Several 'Rudolph' remarks were mentioned (damn sunburn!!) and the sun was still shining strong.. a bit uncomfortably strongly actually..

This looks nothing like a UK primary school 

Arriving at the school we proceeded to admin and split into our assigned groups, and left to complete the task at hand - educate 5th/6th graders about hypertension! It was rather 'eye-opening' to witness what happens when you try to pack 50-60 students into one classroom.. teachers here must have the patience of a saint.

The UP kids came up with an interesting skit revolving around a father who was fulfilling all the risk factors for hypertension and its possible complications– sedentary lifestyle, alcohol, cigarettes, stress, unhealthy fatty foods, and has a heart attack. Well, 2 actually. After his first, the doctor tells him to change his ways but he doesn’t. He has another heart attack, and dies. Pretty grim for a skit targeted to elementary school kids huh? This was followed by a modified version of Jessie J’s Price Tag, called HBP² – High Blood Pressure, Healthy Body POR-EVER!

Dad looks a bit stressed...

Quite a lot of students

Quite a lot more students

After a quick lunch and a journey to Sci-high, round 2 of the elementary school education campaign began, at Labangon Elementary School. This followed much the same format as the morning session, although obviously with different lesson material. Sci-high’s skit was about Mara & Clara – 2 girls that were good friends. Mara lives healthily whereas Clara is the opposite, binging on unhealthy foods, and is at risk of hypertension. She is visited by the grim reaper who tells her if she doesn’t change her ways she will die! The song used to convey the message was called “Just Like Vegetables” - stylized to the tune of “Just the Way You Are - Bruno Mars”

Mara & Clara Skit

Spot the kid thats not paying attention

POW! Right in the kisser!

After the fun but exhausting elementary school visits, it was time for more subcommittee work - Leadership subcommittee had a lot to finalize for their final workshop session the next day!
Just in case you're wondering, here's what I managed to get down for the lyrics - probably not written down perfectly but good enough for a sing-a-long!

HBP² - High Blood Pressure, Healthy Body POR-EVER (Price Tag - Jessie J)

Tell me what is high blood pressure
Learn it from our lecture
Kung maminaw ka, makat-un ka
A li na manganta kita!

Si inday nanigarilyo
Si dodong nikaog dili sakto
Wala sila y exercise, nangasakit sila
Wan-a hypertension na na!

Everybody look to the left
Everybody look to the right
Can you feel that yeah!
Hypertension is all around

Ayaw panigarilyo-rilyo^2x
Exercise og todo^3x
Say no to hypertension
Follow this prevention

Hypertension, yeah, say no say no
Hypertension, yeah, goodbye goodbye
The world will be happy
If everyone’s healthy!

Just Like Vegetables (Just the Way You Are - Bruno Mars)

Saging (2x)
Daghan kaaya ug sustansya
Utan (2x)
Bata dapat mukaon ana
Kay super healthy man
Ug makagwapa pa
Jogging (2x)
Dapat ta mag-exercise permi
Softdrinks (2x)
Ayaw jud mong inom palabi
Because health is wealth
You should remember everyday
Oh, you know, you know, you know
Junkfood is bad for your health
If healthy’s what you’re looking for
Then exercise today
Oh, likayan ang mga pakaon na...
Punud asin, Yeah!

When I see those fruits
I always think that they;re so good
Cause fruits are amazing
Just like vegetables

Good job guys!

Time to Say Goodbye

After our busy day with the kids on Friday, we had one day to debrief and bring closure to our experiences as a group in the Philippines.  We spent a good chunk of our morning going over our SIO (i.e. Significance, Impact, Outcome) goals for our three weeks, thoroughly evaluating each aspect of what we had planned to accomplish.  In the afternoon, we took a long lunch/shopping break at the mall, after which we finished our SIO evaluation.  In the evening, we headed to Red Box--a nice karaoke bar--for a night of singing and billiards, and we were joined by several of the CIM students halfway through the night.  All in all, it was a lovely way to end our three weeks!

Debating about SIO goals.  This is actually an earlier picture from when we were creating rather than discussing the results of the actual SIO outcomes, but I forgot to take a picture on the final day.  However, I promise you that the setup looked pretty much identical.

Love from the Leadership Team!  Although each team presented its respective team leader with some sort of small gift, the Leadership Team's personalized desserts from none other than our beloved CUPCAKE SOCIETY scored a special picture.  Although they are too small to see at the moment, the cupcakes spell out: "We Love You, Janet!"  Awww!  ^^

Livvie, Jessie, and Amy LOVE the Philippines!!  At our final dinner in none other than our oft-visited AYALA.

Final group photo!  In red box, before things start to get really crazy with the CIM students, free drinks, and flying cue balls...

Our Last Leadership Workshop - Saying Goodbye :(

Yesterday (September 2) was our last leadership workshop with our mentees from UP Cebu High School and Cebu City National Science High School. We knew it was definitely going to be an emotional day, as we'd have to say goodbye later on that night, but (after a short workshop with UP at the university) we got to CCNSHS Gym, the site for our joint leadership workshop, fully energized:

The Leadership Team put together an AMAZING last leadership workshop. It was exciting seeing our mentees from both high schools meet and talk with each other, especially since it was the first time meeting each other for many of them. Everyone was split up into four groups comprised of mentors and their mentees from both high schools - the green team, pink team, purple team, and blue team. Four activity stations - professionalism, networking/sustainability, interviewing, and communication stations - were set up, and with a few games in between, the mentees went through each station.
Learning how to confidently shake hands during the interview station

Experiencing the challenges of communication with Janet's rope exercise


Mock interviews: Ross & Deane

It was such a fun leadership workshop, filled with plenty of bonding time for mentors and mentees...

Ross and his mentees - Shiphrah, Lorraine, and Mara


The GREEN Team!!

After an exciting problem-solving game of Two, Twenty-Six Scratch, the joint leadership workshop was over, but we STILL got to spend a little more time with our mentees over dinner at Chikaan! The CCNSHS students, UP students, and the mentors each put on a song presentation, and many gifts were exchanged between mentors and mentees.

Xun and Ziggy

Ross and Ross's Angels - so fresh and so fly


Amy and Sean's gift exchange

Mutahir and his mentees, Cheyenne and Jasmine

Matching mentor/mentee customized gifts! :)

Natasha and her CCNSHS mentee, Lemuel

Some goodbyes were teary-eyed, and all goodbyes were difficult, but that just goes to show how strong of bonds we formed over the past two weeks. And goodbyes are never permanent - facebook, email, telephone calls...we may be half a world away, but we'll definitely keep in touch with our AMAZING mentees.

30th August 2011 - Week 3 Tuesday

Rise and shine!!

Woke up at eight in the morning for breakfast with my (Jan) leadership team [sorry guys I was late…>_<]. We all met at the lobby at 10am for a debrief from the children team before heading out to Budlaan for the Health Education Children’s Fiesta on Jeepneys [we had to change one at Ayala mall]. Jeepney riding is just a great way for bonding and saves plenty of $$$! I just love riding the jeepney with my entire team. =) The jeepney drops us off at Sunny Hills, and then to get to Budlaan we had to ride a motorbike. 3 people on 1 bike! I rode up with Michael, he burned a lil of his leg on the muffler, whereas Amy burned more than just a lil.

The moment we arrived, the kids just rushed out of the communal hall to greet us. We were actually really early, as the event was supposed to begin at 1pm, whence we arrived at 11am. We had plenty of time to play with the kids, as well as some time preparing the skit and other materials. I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to keep the children’s attention without actually doing activities, but I guess they just really enjoy playing with us, even with the language barrier. I had loads of fun playing with the kids and at times it just frustrates me that I don’t understand what they’re trying to tell me. Luckily there were other GK volunteers around who I could call upon to translate. I gained a new perspective on how I am with kids [age range was about from 4 to 16? I just stopped asking for their ages at one point; I had a hard time itself remembering their names]. At first I ruled out dealing with kids for my future cause I kind of found it difficult handling them, now I guess I’ll open this door and leave it open and see.

Sorry for the digression... Before the event started we had PB&J (and their expansions) sandwiches for lunch, not forgetting our fruits, we had bananas and apples going around too. It was my first time eating PB&J and it was good! =D

At 1pm we had the kids sit in front of the mini stage then we started with the skit, which was essentially the entire event, Included in the skits were games and lessons, the children’s team (Jenssy, Ross, Natasha and Amy!!) just put a storyline behind everything for a better understanding from the children at Budlaan. Cheers to them for awesome planning!! And their lil elf helpers Anton, Livvie and Jessie!! The skit generally told the kids bout a girl who loves eating unhealthy food and whose kuya (aka brother) drinks and smokes. In addition there were fruits, vege and exercise trying to convince her to make healthy choices when she’s young, for a lesser chance of getting hypertension. Included in the skit were games such as Simon Says, Orange Toss, Comparison Game and Bomb Game, besides that there were the Watermelon Song and the Happy Hearts Dance (to the tune of Macarena).

Watermelon Song(to the tune of “are you sleeping?”)

Watermelon, watermelon

Papaya, papaya

Pineapple banana, pineapple banana

Fruit salad, fruit salad

I think the children at Budlaan really enjoyed the fiesta we had for them, and hopefully they really did take away the messages we were trying to convey about healthy lifestyles. I’ll miss the kids, truly, am saying this for the entire team too. Although we all had sunburnt skin and sometimes it would hurt while playing with the kids, but it was entirely worth it, just seeing how happy, cute and loveable they were.

After the tiring day we had an early dinner at Ayala. Livvie, Jessie and I went to the food court area to eat whereas the others had McD’s for dinner. They both had kebabs (I think) while I had a tiny tuna wrap (I wasn’t feeling too hungry then actually, just extremely dehydrated). And we had money in our budget for frozen yoghurt after, which was an excellent finish (and healthier too =P) Consequently after dinner some of them stayed to shop in the mall, while me and 5 others (Amy, Mutahir, Livvie, Jenssy and Andrew) went back to the hotel jeepney-style for a nice shower and some movie downtime. We watched The King’s Speech, chatted a lil then joined the others for some bonding over games. We pushed work til tomorrow cause it turned out to be a free day for us.

I really like this project and am immensely grateful that I managed to be a part of it. I was really lucky cause I was at first rejected then only accepted after other people pulled out. Thank God for that. =) I’ve learned oh so much, not only of concepts but also of myself personally.

Running on Pure Adrenaline: Aug. 25, 2011

As the clock struck midnight, all members of our PP11 team were still busily working in each of their subcommittees. The desire for sleep was overwhelming, but the necessity to finish planning the morning's activities drove them to power through. This night proved especially difficult for the leadership team because activities addressing time management and budgeting were hard to find. Also, the leadership workshops began at 8 am instead of in the afternoon, so any morning preparation was eliminated. However, they embraced this challenge and finalized the agenda by 3 am.

The Leadership Team hard at work at 1 am

A short four hours later, the entire PP11 team met in the lobby for a quick breakfast before a timely departure to Cebu City National Science High School. Natasha energized the groggy group with a variation of head, shoulders, knees, and toes called "alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic!" This energizer gave us all the extra boost we needed to jump start the day!

We had a rough start once we arrived at CCNSHS. The library, the room where we usually have our activities, was locked and there were no teachers or staff to be found. Luckily, some of the students found us and brought us to an empty dance room. A lot of the mentees (including mine) were not present even after waiting for over half an hour, so we started our workshop without them. The Children's Team started off with the media development. Ross and Natasha worked together on the development of the informational pamphlet. Ross had one group that designed the nutritional information page, while Natasha's group made the exercise activity page. Amy and Jenssy guided the remaining students in developing a skit to present in the elementary schools. After an hour of tirelessly working, the entire group reconvened in the library to share the media that their specific groups had developed.

Once in the library, the group transitioned from media development to our leadership workshop. Today, we covered the topics of the different types of leaders, goal setting, time management, budgeting, and fundraising. To begin these activities, four posters were placed around the room. Each of these posters were titled with one of the cardinal directions which was representative of one of the four main types of leaders. The North was The "Get It Done Person," the South was The Nurturer, the East was The Visionary, and the West was The Analyst. Along with these titles were listed traits and characteristics describing each of these types of leaders. The students were then given the task of determining which leader described themselves the best.

EAST: The Visionary

After determining which leader they were, the students had to work with the other students that identified in the same manner and plan a trip to Mars. The students were then challenged to determined what strengths they possessed while planning the trip and also identify what weaknesses hindered their plans. This activity illustrated the distinct qualities of each type of leader and highlighted the fact that other leaders can help compensate for other's weaknesses in order to achieve ultimate success.

"The North Face" shares their strengths and weaknesses

Once the mentees recognized the types of leaders they were, we moved onto the goal setting and time management portion of the workshop. With goal setting, the SMART method was introduced. This acronym, standing for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reachable, and Time Bound, gave students the guidance tools to remember when establishing goals. Next, the students were challenged to plan a cultural show on Filipino dance and music as a means of testing their time management skills. This activity proved the most difficult for the students because they repeatedly ran out of time in both the preparation and presentation portions of this activity. However, this allowed for extremely beneficial and constructive mentor/mentee bonding time. The mentees were able to identify what went wrong during the activity and pose their own solutions and advice. To finish off the mentor/mentee time, the "Dream Tree" was presented. The roots of the tree represented personal values, the trunk was personal abilities, and the leaves on top corresponded to dreams and aspirations. Mentees drew their own dream trees and identified specific aspects for the roots, trunk, and leaves.

Amanda proudly presents the "Dream Tree"

To finish off the leadership workshop, budgeting and fundraising were emphasized. Similar to the time management exercise, the mentees had to create a budget for a Filipino cultural event. They had to identify all of the expenses and determine exactly the magnitude of their event. After creating a budget, the mentees had to pitch to potential company sponsors represented by pairs of mentors. Each of the companies specialized in something specific, from food to sports to health to swag, and the students had to cater each pitch to their business interests. The students that took initiative and presented a pitch were quite eloquent and persuasive. However, not every student presented a pitch, so we will return to this activity again next Friday to ensure that everyone gains from this important leadership lesson.

Happy Hearts Co. & Volcano Foods Enterprises

M&M Ltd : Ignite Your Passion For Sport

MMM.. Lechon! The BEST in Cebu!

Providing every party with the proper SWAG!

The pitches concluded the leadership workshops for the day. After saying our goodbyes and watching an impressive performance of the dougie by the Cobarde twins, the mentors feasted on some Malaysian dishes for lunch at Ayala shopping center. At the end of this delicious meal, the mentors participated in light-hearted games of thumb wars and arm wrestling before heading back to Fuente Oro for a much needed and deserved afternoon of resting and naps.

Do it for China (and England too)!

Jessie sweeps team Korea and Malaysia in one sitting

After resting for a few hours, the group reconvened for a Persian dinner. The rest and meal revitalized the team and fostered a lively and engaged debrief of the day's activities. The team then quickly finished our SIO by establishing concrete objectives. From there, the group split into their subcommittees to finalize plans for the UP High students and finish preparations for the upcoming health fair and children's fiesta day!

Meeting Our Mentees, Impromptu Speeches, and Unlocking the "Key to Success" - UP Cebu High School Leadership Workshop #1

Today (August 24) we PP11 mentors had our very first leadership workshop with the students of UP Cebu High School - it was a VERY exciting day :)

We spent the whole morning preparing for our day with our new mentees, and it was well worth it, as our day with the students went by very smoothly. After playing a short icebreaker game, the Leadership Team (Janet, Alyx, Xun, and Jan) matched each mentor up with his or her mentee, and each mentor-mentee group got to spend some time talking amongst themselves about what each person wants to take away from their SEALNet experience, along with other "deep conversation" topics. Mentor-mentee bonds were definitely formed:

Our professional mentor Andrew Plan and his mentee, Kier

Amy and her two lovely mentees

Natasha and her mentee, Brian

We then transitioned into the public speaking portion of our day with a skit put on by the mentors, in which the mentees saw both good and bad examples of public speakers and learned that when it comes to public speaking, L.E.S.S. is more! The acronym L.E.S.S. stands for Loudly, Eye Contact, Slowly, and Smoothly (without the use of "um" or "uh" words) - all mannerisms that one should remember when giving a speech.

Mentors then shared with their mentees about their public speaking experiences, fears, and strengths, and the mentees shared the same. We then split up into two groups and did the same "impromptu speech activity" as we did with the CCNSHS students the day before. Each mentee was given a prompt, such as "If you were an animal, what would you choose to be and why?" Everyone was given one minute to plan his or her speech then one minute to present the speech. After one round, mentors met with their mentees to share points of strength and points that could be improved upon, and we repeated the exercise once again with a second round of impromptu speeches. Everyone already noticed great improvements in all of the mentees during the second round!

Bryan giving his second impromptu speech on the topic: "Learning Doesn't Happen Only Inside a Classroom" while his schoolmates listened intently

The Leadership Team's portion of the day ended with the leadership building game called "The Key to Success." Just as the day before, the mentees were blindfolded then led into a "maze" consisting of a large rectangle with rope as its boundaries. Xun, the leader for today's game, repeatedly announced to the mentees that "there is only one way out of the maze," and that they were able to "raise their hands if they need help." The point of this exercise was to realize that, as service leaders, we cannot accomplish everything by ourselves - we need to rely on others to help us. The mentees who raised their hands and asked for help were un-blindfolded by a mentor and taken out of the "maze." The mentees learned the important lesson that an important key to success is humility.

We then transitioned into the one hour media development portion of our day, headed by the Children's Team (Jenssy, Ross, Amy, and Natasha). The mentees split up into four groups to brainstorm the definition of, causes of, symptoms of, and ways to prevent high blood pressure. This information will be used later on, as the mentees will be going to Lahug Elementary School next week to give short presentations about high blood pressure, as well as work together and in conjunction with UP High to create an information pamphlet that will be used during their presentations and at the Budlaan Children's Fair.

Michael explaining to the group that hypertension is known as "the silent killer"

We all regrouped and shared our ideas with the whole group and reviewed the content that we want to include in the mini presentations and the information pamphlet. The mentees did an amazing job combining the two main lessons of the day - public speaking and high blood pressure - as each group presented their ideas.

The presentation concluded the activities for the day, but before leaving, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Lance on his special day! It was clear that every single mentor and mentee left UP feeling happy about their newfound relationships and excited to spend more time with each other :)

Happy Birthday, Lance!!

Bryan, Natasha, Alyx, and Chelsea - two mentor-me ntee pairs - doing a "wacky" pose

The mentors met at our hotel to debrief, take a short break, and begin working on preparations for tomorrow's workshop with CCNSHS. We did have time for a Mexican dinner though - tostaditas, quesadillas, nachos, and burritos - who doesn't get excited about that??

Project Leaders Anton and Janet, along with Natasha and Jan, CLEARLY stoked to pick up our Mexican dinner from Mooon Cafe!

Meet the Wonderful Students of Cebu Institute of Medicine.

The morning of Friday August 12^th kicked off bright and early at 8 am. We rode the colorful Jeepney to the Cebu Institute of Medicine (CIM) where we were warmly received by the 3^rd year medical students. PP11 split up into 2 groups and each was guided on a tour of their school and facilities. We visited their lab and viewed some interesting specimens under the microscope and saw some preserved body parts.

We also saw their mock examination rooms, mock operation room, computer lab, library (pic of sleeping students) (sleeping in the library is universa!) where they took their tests and anatomy lab. Some of us even dissected some of the cadavers.

computer lab

mock operation room

The CIM students are very hard working and 100% of them passed their board exams! Congratulations! We learned they rarely used the lecture room, but most of their learning was problem based. Students are given a topic and have to find their own books to read and learn as much as they can, participate in group discussions, and have weekly quizzes! Despite all the work they have from studies and working late shifts at the hospital they were high spirited, funny, and took their time showing us around and giving us a lesson on how to take blood pressure. The lesson on taking blood pressures was very well taught and interactive. I particularly enjoyed getting to know the 3^rd year students and we thank them for their amazing hospitality.

PP11 with CIM students and Dr. Montoya

We then returned to the hotel for lunch courtesy of Kenny Rogers. Given their poor service we received 3 free chickens! We spent most of the afternoon and night on Subcommittee work, team bonding, learning new games: twenty + one and drive, and more discussion of how we are going to define our Impact and Outcome of the project. We also had dinner delivered by McDonalds Filipino style. They serve rice with chicken nuggets and spaghetti is on the menu!

Then the adults subcommittee worked very hard that night gearing up for our early morning at the Budlaan village!