Final Blog

Hi everyone,

Our final blog. Who would have believed it?! Our two months in Manila is over already! I still can't believe it! It has gone so fast.

Sorry it has taken so long to write this final blog. Leaving Manila last Monday kind of 'took it out of us', so it has taken a while to get round to doing the practical things, and finishing off loose ends.

Speaking of loose ends, that is sort of how we spent our last week in Manila -finishing them off I mean. We had lots of different painting 'projects' that we needed to do, starting with painting a wall in the soon-to-be counseling room in ODC. We painted a rainbow and the verse on the back of the Kanlungan T-shirts; Mark 10:14 (I think). We really did enjoy doing that and the kids very much wanted to get involved and give their ideas:) it was a very nice, relaxing activity.

After finishing the wall, a group of Japanese students arrived at ODC, and we found ourselves accompanying them and the children to the community where the children live. It was one of the best experiences of the whole time. Although we knew of this community, it was the first time that we had seen it. The kids were so excited to show us their homes and where they play. It really felt like a 'community'. It was really strange walking round and having children calling our names, both children that we know very well but also others that we didn't! It was quite surreal. This went on till quite late in the evening.

Our next little project was with the kids at Benitez. We did some finger painting on the wall! Now, I do realize that in theory, children + hands in paint (usually) = disaster! But actually it was really good, we laughed a lot with the children and had a lot of fun with Teacher Joan and Ate Michelle too.

The other thing that Ate Sol had asked us to do was to make a plaque for the farm building. It was something that we had been thinking about for quite a while. We had a photograph, taken outside the Mall of Asia, of a sunset over the sea. It was beautiful, so we went and had it printed on canvas (which is easier said than done I might say) and then painted over it in order to edit it; and Sol had a quote to put on it. We were very proud of it, we make a great team!

On saturday, we had to say goodbye to the children at ODC in only half an hour, as we were leaving to go to tunasan for their 9th year anniversary. At the time we weren't happy that the goodbye had to be so quick as it was not how we planned it, but it actually turned out to be a blessing. From the moment we walked in we were holding back the tears and when we actually said goodbye to the kids, they all burst into tears and there was no way we could hold them back any longer. We just about managed to sing 'let the children come' with them, which was the song we taught them a few weeks ago. Eventually we had to leave a whole room of kids crying their eyes out, we really had to make ourselves keep walking and tried not to look back as it was too hard.

The tunasan celebration was fantastic. They don't do celebrations by half! It was at the local church and all the kids from the dumpsite, that tunasan do so much work with, were there. They had performances from kids that go to tunasan, from the girls at pacita and testimonies from a few of the older boys that have grown up in Kanlungan. There was also praise and worship and a sermon. It was really inspiring and heart warming. We are really glad to have been able to be a part of it.

Our goodbyes on Monday were also really hard. The children at Benitez had prepared a presentation for us and then presented us with a card and some gifts. They also gave us individual messages too. We sobbed through the entire thing. We love all the kids so much that it was heartbreaking to leave.

We managed to say our final fair-wells to everyone at the coffee shop and the staff at Benitez and ODC before making our way to the airport. :'-(
We are so sad to have left, but the children and staff will always be in our hearts. We hope so much that one day we will be able to return!!!!

Thank you so much to both Kanlungan and Streetlight for allowing us to have this wonderful experience! It is something that we will never forget, and it has taught us both so much. We can't wait to come home and share more of our experiences with you all, and photos of course!

Thank you so much for all your support and prayers. It has meant the world to know that you have been behind us 100%.

Lots of love
Sarah and Heidi
Xxxxxxxx