day 2,3

Day 2,3 (Lapu Lapu City, Canjulao) "Deep into the slums, in the face of stark reality"

The day commenced with grey skies and light drizzle. And the news of the impending Typhoon Seniang (Durian) in Cebu, Philippines made many parents of the trippers worry about their safety. Fortunately, the progress of our construction projects were not hindered. So we arrived at Lapu Lapu Slum and the first task on hand was to carry hollow blocks from the alley all the way to our toilet site. For the many girls in my group, they were rather unaccustomed to the terrain and the heavy load. To make things worse, the rocks were slippery and many of them slipped and fell. Meanwhile, i tried to slow the pace down hoping this will keep spirits up.

In the afternoon, we mingled with the kids and taught them simple english. What hit me deeply were that the kids there can be really easily contented. When we started to give out sweets, all of them and i really mean ALL of them will rush in a horde towards you for the sweets as if it was a forbidden fruit or something. After Pastor Alex led the children in grace, we started the feeding programme of Day1 and we fed around 100 children a simple meal of chicken porridge and banana. Joe said his eyes were teary when he saw the look on the childrens' face, the look of sheer gratefulness and joy. At that moment, I thought to myself "With only SGD $20, we can run a feeding programme to feed 100 children and they are truly thankful" In retrospect, I can't imagine that materialising in Singapore, not in that magnitude or even the way that the children here will receive of it.

We wrapped up day 1 in a debrief at a "seafood restaurant" And during my debrief, I i stepped on the toes of the younger mentees. Sometimes, the way you relate your thoughts and views may not be as what intended. This made me learnt that I'm still really raw in the department of communication and more generally, soft skills. Like what I was sharing with Joe and Edmond, I believe i can lead my team to achieve the objectives but when it comes to managing the team dynamics and getting them to gel together, i still need alot of honing.

Day2 was almost about a mirror of Day1's programme just that we were more involved in the construction of the toilet cubicles. We were led real deep into the slums this time by Pastor Robin. Because of the rainfall the previous day, the slums became like a kampung. I had a short talk with Pastor Robin and he told me that the slums had no proper drainage system because there are no proper channels to dispose of the waste water. Petitions to the government are also ineffective because of red tape. How could the children live in such conditions? Yet, i saw the children having fun trying to hop precariously on the stones and even enjoying themselves when they step into the muddy waters.

After our feeding and food giveaway programme in the afternoon, my group people played basketball with the teens over there. They were aggressive but real good at the game. When we were walking to our van to depart from the slums. The teens came up to us and asked us for our mailing address and mobile phone numbers. Deep down, we had really built a emotional rapport with them. For me, it was with Amid and JanJan! Two days of brief contact with the people in Lapu Lapu Slums made us realise how fortunate yet uncontented we are. Maybe it's time we start redefining how we view genuine happiness.