In July 2024, on the day of my 70th birthday, I had the privilege of travelling with a team of six people to the Philippines. My role was to take photos and video of the trip and share them on Facebook for supporters of the Peace & Hope Trust, a UK charity with a Christian ethos that works with communities facing hardship in Nicaragua, Romania, and the Philippines.

I had been to the island of Luzon, Philippines once before, in 1996, on a similar mission trip with a Worcester church. That trip had a lasting impact on me and opened my eyes to the realities of life in another part of the world, I never imagined I would return 28 years later. This time, the trip was to Mindanao, a 'red' area the UK Government advises against travelling to. Banner Insurance, which specialises in travel cover for higher-risk destinations, was able to arrange a policy for me specifically for Mindanao. I flew out on 10 July 2024 and arrived in Sindangan about 30 hours later. I had a delayed birthday celebration soon after we arrived, they don't do birthday cakes in the Philippines....but that's another story!

I posted daily updates and photos on Facebook, and the page gained several hundred new followers. I produced several videos for YouTube, to be used when we visited groups and churches back in the UK. I knew there was a possible return trip in 2025, and I was asked if I would consider going again. I decided not to. By then, I felt too unfit and the cost too high to make it realistic.

At the end of May 2026, I helped one of the team present a 2024 video to a ladies’ breakfast group at a local church, she asked if I would join the July 2026 trip, I declined. Later that evening, with no knowledge of what I had been doing that morning, another team member from the 2024 trip called to ask whether I would consider joining the 2026 visit.

You can view the short 2024 video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09r6S-bwcA4

I asked for the weekend to think it over and to find out how much the insurance would cost this time. After careful thought, I agreed it might be possible, depending on the insurance cover available.

Then a serious issue occured, and it was not the earthquake on 8 June 2026, 450 kilometres from where we planned to travel to. My Facebook account was hacked, my name and anything I had posted over a 15 year period was deleted and I lost all access to it, along with my admin access to the Peace & Hope Facebook page. Five other pages for different faith based organisations, my personal page, and 15 years of my life on Facebook, were totally wiped out with no hope of recovery.

It was impossible to contact Facebook to explain what had happened, everything is handled by AI bots with no human intervention, and I thought I would have to pull out of the trip. However, I managed to create a new Facebook account and regain admin access to the Peace & Hope page. So, on 9th July 2026, I am flying out to the Philippines once again.

A small team is intending to help build a kindergarten attached to a church, deliver aid from a container sent out from the UK and to visit churches in the area around Sindangan, under the guidence of SECAF (Sindangan Evangelical Christian Alliance Fellowship).

This page and website, is intended to convey my own personal thoughts and photos and to act as a backup, if anything should prevent me from posting on the Peace & Hope Building Brighter Futures Facebook page.

See the next page for the 2026 trip.....