Sholing Philippines Project 2010 – 2016

Monday evening and we have spent our first two days in manila. Sunday was a necessary chill after the journey which went without event until Mr Berry deserted his post on the 2nd flight and accepted an upgrade to first class leaving the rest of us to suffer economy. We will not let him forget this in a hurry. The students have been amazing despite difficult delays at the airport in manila and a very late bedtime on Sunday morning. Those that have been before are as wonderful as ever with added maturity. The first timers have done all we have asked when we have asked, they are as ever a credit to the school and their parents.

Today we went to the school and the dump site for the first time. It was as ever very emotional but our students coped brilliantly and very quickly got involved with the pupils who showered us with their enthusiasm for life. It never ceases to amaze me how these people who have nothing are so happy and genuinely affectionate towards us. It was very touching to get a cuddle from the kids who remembered me from last time. It was so good to see the pupils enjoying the new school which still has a long way to go before it is fully operational but is a million miles ahead of where it was when we left in 2010. I even found myself doing a bit of teaching with a group of year 4 and year 6 maths.

Just before we left we had one of the wonderful moments that you get when our students get together with their pupils. We had spontaneous group dancing in the main school concourse before we and they went home, to our very different living conditions, all excitably reassuring the pupils that we will be back to carry on the adventure tomorrow.

Tuesday evening

What a day!!!We got up on time all punctual all sorted ready to go by 8-20 the coach was on time I thought this can’t carry on and I was right. We were assured that the paint and brushes which was the most important aspect of today would be there waiting. The paint had not been delivered and the brushes were hidden in a safe place unfortunately the person who had hidden them had not arrived yet. Despite this minor set back the students and staff got stuck in with cleaning down walls, cleaning out rooms and shifting junk. Within an hour we had gone out and brought more paint found the brushes and got everything ready for painting.

Mums and dads believe me when I tell you this; each and everyone of your offspring worked like beavers, sweeping, scrubbing, shifting, raking, digging, then painting, more shifting more cleaning more scrubbing. no moaning, no skiving, no shirking. Throughout their lunch break they played with the children on the playground we built last time or basketball or football or just cuddled them.

By mid afternoon we had: – 1 coat of paint on all of the walls of 2 classrooms. 2 coats of paint on the rainbow Room. A significant amount of paint on the students, a little bit on the floor. A library that was no longer a junk room and could be used as a library, An ICT room with ICT lessons with our students and staff leading them. Our students working as classroom assistants in lessons, The playground cleared of junk and made safe so the kids could play. The hairdressing equipment all cleaned and in place.

By the end of the day we had tired and contented students all rather sweaty and a bit smelly and 100s of smiley happy pupils desperate to carry on playing rather than going home.

A fantastic meal at the legendary Mr Poons finished off for me a perfect day

And tomorrow we get up at 7-00 and start to do it all over again.

we arrived at the shalom centre around 1:30 then it was straight to bed after no sleep over the past 24 hours. woke up around 9 the next day, showered and dressed for the day a head, went to the biggest shopping mall i have ever seen! must of been 5 times bigger than west quay, we had to buy food and drink such as water, cereal and milk excetra. we then went on a tour of manila (the nicer parts) we saw some beautiful sights. nothing would prepare you for the next day. today we had a early wake up, we was going to visit the new school. this was absolutley amazing to see the kids so happy that we was there. they was all so cute and love school, i no for a fact i wouldnt like to attened a school made out of 78 shipping containers( you wouldnt think it by the way) but the kids love it so we love it! after lunch we took a 5 minute trip to the dump site, our sences were numbed the smell was outragious. the sight of it all is so hard to take in, but we have to respect that this is there home and there day to day life. seeing everyone all smile because they no no different is just amazing to see, the next few day we start working so looking faward to it all!

sam kirkham

when i first arrived in Manila it was not what i was expecting. from the pictures i had seen everything looked completely different from what i had imagined it too be. the modes of transport around Manila doesn’t always turn up on time. But the Shalom Centre is accomidation is very good, and exactly what you need for a 2 week stay. my first ecxperience of the famous Mr. Poons was brilliant. i really enjoyed it. today we went to the school for the first time and it looked brilliant. completely different from the pictures i had seen whilst it was under construction. its hard to imagine what it looked like when it was just shipping containers. The local people in the Manila are so happy to see us and stop and say hello. everyone is very freindly and i have really enjoyed it soo far.

Matt Hubbard

We made it safely to where we are staying in Manila at about 2am local time last night… today we’re going to have a rest day to recover from the journey and tomorrow we’ll begin our projects. More news when we have some!

All good so far – we’re at Abu Dhabi, it’s 8:05am local time, 4:05 UK time, heading off to Manila in an hour or so. More news soon…

Have a look at this video – showing the job the PCF Social Workers do to on the dumpsite to make it possible for the children there to go to school.

Eric and Dave are now three days into the mammoth 250 mile walk across England.

We started at the old Severn Bridge at lunchtime on Friday 2nd September in brilliant sunshine. The route followed the Severn Way to Berkeley, a distance of 12 miles.

Yesterday we started in Berkeley to continue along the Severn Way to Sharpness before following the Sharpness – Gloucester Canal to Slimbridge. The hardest part of the day was the navigation from Slimbridge to Eastington across a myriad of complicated fields using footpaths which were both poorly maintained and infrequently used.

Once we reached Eastington, three hours behind schedule, we picked up some lost time along the valley of the Frome to Stroud, Gateway to the Cotswolds. The total for the day- 21 miles

Today we initially followed the Wysis Way, which links Monmouth to the source of the Thames. Reaching the start of the Thames was a highlight of the day- only problem though- no water. Good job David Walliams is starting his swim at Lechlade tomorrow, which is some 30 miles downstream. Today we finished the walk at Ashton Keynes village, and another 17 miles under our belts.

The total to date then is 50 miles down, 200 miles to go, but at least we are now on the Thames Way. Tomorrow’s destination is Lechlade.

On Monday I stood on the helipad of the forty eight storey RCBC skyscraper in the Makati City- the business hub of Manila which would not be out of place in downtown Manhatten.

Less than twenty four hours later I was up to my knees in the filthy mud and desperate stench of the Pier 18 dumpsite less than ten miles to the north in the Tondo district of the city.

This is the reality of life in one of South East Asia’s biggest metropolitan districts and home to more than 15 million people.

People who work in affluent Makati would never consider travelling to Tondo. The people of Tondo, who live a hand to mouth existence, and where few can read and write, where running water, sanitation and elecricity are a luxury will rarely if ever venture out of the confines of this port district of Manila.

For almost ten years now the Hedge End based charity, The Philippine Community Fund has been providing education, health care, welfare, nutritional support and employment to some of the poorest people on the planet. without their support, and other NGO’s like PCF, life for the people of the warehouse district of Tondo and the Pier 18 dumpsite would quite simply be intolerable.

We are here in the rainy season, when conditions for the poor are made even worse by the daily heavy downpours which turn the ground into evil smelling mud We have the luxury of wellington boots. Most of the locals wear flip flops or nothing on their feet at all..

Every day, around 4.00p.m. the rains comes, often accompanied by thunder and lightning. Not gentle rain, but heavy downpours which turn roads into lakes and the dumpsite into a swamp. On some days, it rains all day, like today. Manila lies fifteen degrees north of the Equator, well within the Tropics, and this is warm rain for the air temperature does not fall below thirty degrees by day or by night.

When we are here next February, not only is it the coolest time of the year when temperatures drop to around twenty five degrees, but it is also the dry season when the humidity is tolerable and this is the best time of the year for the people of Tondo.

For us, staying at the Shalom Centre in Malate we have the luxury of air conditioning, and without that, sleeping would be extremely difficult. The people of Tondo of course have no such luxury.

I went to the old school at the warehouse yesterday. PCF have moved out now and the building is used only by the church. Our vehicle struggled to negotiate the mud which came up to the axles in places. When we finally reached the school we found that it was flooded throughout the building to a depth of about six inches. In previous years PCF regularly lost up to forty school days a year in the rainy season due to flooding. Now, with the new school that is thankfully a thing of the past.

We have been able to plan for our visit next February and the area is already chosen for the location of the hairdressing salon using the equipment donated by wella UK.

We have met with the Barangay- the leaders of the dumpsite community and negotiated a piece of land where Mick O’Doherty, from Playdale will supervise the instalation of playground equipment. Like us, the elders of the community agree that children deserve the right to be children. Far too many children have to scavenge to supplement the meagre family inome where 200 pesos a day (about 3 pounds) has to feed a family of perhaps six or seven.

The staff of PCF are remarkable people who care passionately about the children and the community they serve. It is a priviledge to be part of the team, albeit for such a small period of time.

Desmond Tutu said “It means a great deal to those who are impoverished to know that they are not alone. Never let anyone tell you that what you are doing is insignificant.”

We look forward to returning in February with twenty nine students from The Sholing technology College together with nine staff. Together we can help to make a difference in the lives of these remarkable people.

After a journey of almost thirty hours, Tom and I finally arrived at the Shalom Centre in Malate, Manila, our home for the next twelve days.

It’s a six hour flight to Dubai from London and a further eight hours to Manila. This is the rainy season in the Philippines, and the afternoon rain usually starts around 4.00p.m. On the day we arrived, the thunderstorms were particularly severe, and we spent almost an hour circling Manila until the weather improved sufficiently for the pilot tpo land.

The Philippines is seven hours ahead of London time at this time of the year, so that’s an adjustment your personal body clock has to cope with, on top of the very long journey from the UK.

Nevertheless, we were anxious to get to the new container school, and next morning we were ready at 8.00a.m. for the drive to Tondo. This is a journey which the team will take most days when we are in the Philippines in February next year and the trip can take anything from 40 minutes, to more than an hour, depending on the traffic.

The traffic in Manila is manic. Like most countries in South East Asia, there doesn’t seem to be any structure to the traffic flow, and certainly very few rules- just who can move first. He who hesitates is lost. The horn is used all the time, which just seems to add to the chaos.

Tondo is on the northern edge of the sprawling metroposis of Metro Manila and contains the docks area. Once we crossed the river into Tondo, the poverty is immediately evident. Makeshift homes line both sides of this busy thoroughfare- lorries with bald tyres, jeepnies belching smoke, and rows of redundant warehouses now occupied by thousands of families scavenging a living from the recycling of waste. In a city of 15 million people there is a lot of waste to recycle.

Life is hard- at this time of the year, with heavy rain on most days and sometimes lasting for 12 hours, life is even harder. The temperature day and night hovers around thirty degrees, and the humidity level is very high. Without the luxury of air conditioning, life for the poor is barely tolerable.

We pass the lane leading to the old school and moments later we are at the new school. Last time we were here the building was a construction site. What an amazing change. Almost 500 children are now educated in a state of the art building which is so much better than the old warehouse across the road and which was the PCF school for more than six years.

Seeing the children again in their light blue and dark blue school uniforms, it is easy to forget that these children live on the Pier 18 dumpsite, in the warehouses of Tondo or at the cemetery site in Navotas. they remember us from last time, and it’s good to be back.

We have a busy ten days ahead of us- Tom needs to plan all his filming for February, as well as document this visit. I need to get to grips with the planning and preparation for next February and make arrangements for our programme.

When we return to the Philippines in February the team will embark on the journey of a lifetime. We can’t change the world- we can make a difference to somebody’s world.

The PCF children know that we are coming back and they are looking forward to our third visit to Manila, and our first to the new school.

The team will be taking to the New Forest to raise money for the project. Staying just outside Brockenhurst, the team will walk 50km over two days. Any member of the team would be very grateful for your sponsorship. If you would like to donate you can Text TSTC12 to 70070 and specify a donation of 1,2,3,4,5 or 10 pounds, eg TSTC12£5

Thank you for your support!