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.
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