To get here, we drove 50 km north from our hotel in Quezon City to Marilao in Bulacan Province. Little did we know our hosts were up before dawn clearing the school courtyard of mud and water from floods caused by heavy rains the night before, and transporting some of the children by boat through the flood waters to the school to make it on time for our distribution. These are people who deal with hardship every day, but do so with a big smile on their face.
Before we distributed our 350 bedkits, we were treated to a spirited singing of O Canada by the chldren. Thanks to excellent organizational work by Dr. Ito's SCAW Philippines team, the local team from the school, and our own Canadian team, the distribution went very well. We were then treated to an excellent lunch, including delicious Filipino papaya.
After lunch we were invited to visit three homes of families whose children received bedkits today. They showed us around their modest one or two room homes of 300 to 400 sq ft housing sometimes three generations of 7 or more family members -- always with pride and warm smiles.
How would I sum up our experience with the children of Marilao? Maganda, which means "beautiful" in Filipino!
Brian Barr for Team Philippines 2016
