It has been four years since we have been able to visit the communities we support through our Grade 11 service efforts. Nonetheless, the teachers on Caohagan island remembered us. They were able to thank us in person for our most recent help after a devastating typhoon destroyed many of the homes and most of their transportation to and from the mainland. They thanked us for the newest school building we funded and started constructing in our 2019 visit as it was this building that served as the primary shelter for those who had lost everything.

Seeing us return, they thanked us for the ongoing commitment to return there every year. They have also been without visitors during their covid and Typhoon recovery. Since I have become the CAS coordinator, we have focused on helping Caohagan Island children, and the Umapad Dumpsite community. Seven years back the Umapad community lived within a dumpsite putting together a living through scavenging. Where they live now is better, but their situation is not much different.

Caohagan is similar in some ways. The community are squatters on the land making a living through tourism and fishing. This island, among so many, is important because of its school. Children cannot afford to go to the mainland, and the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation provides access to education.

This ongoing, reliable relationship is beneficial to both our students, and those we visit. As exhausting as the work and the trip was, it was good to see them again and be able to help directly.

Our students are still dedicated to raising funds for both communities. At Umapad we are creating a basketball court for the children. After a long, tiring day in the sun, we poured half of the concrete slab. Cebu International School is another supporter of the community, and they will continue the effort. We selected this particular task as the Umapad desperately needs recreation like this as, like many impoverished areas, the youth are prone to unhealthy lifestyles, and dangerous activities. Anything that can help keep them together and close is worth the effort and the funds. On this first service day, all of us got together and played with the children in the community and took turns mixing concrete and pouring the slab. This day is always the hardest and the longest but we are all very impressed with how much we got done.

In Caohagan, we took turns again playing with the children, and breaking bread in the form of cooking Japanese curry for 150 of the children. A lot of new skills were developed. Many of our students never never built a fire, or cooked for so many over one with enormous pots.

The children were delighted to receive the food, eat with us, and play games. An entire school day is set aside for our visit.

You can make a long list of the things our students learned on this trip. They explored work they did not believe they were capable of, handled new and uncomfortable situations, saw a world completely alien to their own in both culture and socioeconomic status, and, of course, developed empathy.

But there is one last, most important reason why we take our students there. We discussed on the trip why communities like this exist. What must  arise to allow people to live in these conditions. The students understand what is involved, as they learn about it in the classroom through MYP and in the DP program. They can give you answers related to history, economics, business, business.etc. But, in the end, I am pleased that they realize how some of these communities could be saved. Some of these lives can be changed for the better with a stroke of a pen. As high school students, we raise money, sell cookies, and muffins, and make a plea to parents and the PTA to raise money that will make a real difference in their lives. But more so, someday our students will go to great universities, become industrial leaders, managers, presidents, vice presidents, and politicians. I want them to think back to what they saw on this trip when they realize that they are now holding that pen.