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.