Bringing a 10 year old Australian kid to the slum can be quite an intense experience. New sights, sounds and smells. I've been amazed by how well Johan adapted to the new environment. He was a bit quiet at the beginning and just absorbing everything. But he wasn't shy to mix in and play or sing and dance with the kids - even when none of them speak English. He never once refused to do anything he was asked to do and he gave everything a "go". He often volunteered to carry things or to fetch things, and was comfortable to ask questions now and then. The only thing he did complain about was the heat as we were roaming around the slum doing the pop-up de-worming stations.
Johan is a pretty easygoing child in general. Like any kid, he loves to play and particularly enjoyed the games played at the kid's parties - where language is no barrier!
We brought a few handballs with us from Sydney and Johan loved showing how to play handball at the church.
The ball did fly out of the window at one point and Pastor Manny kindly went to get it for us - watch the video below to see where the ball landed and how it had to be retrieved. Being as OCD as I am, I did have to wash the handball before I would let Johan play with it again.
The kids got to know Johan's name and even though they spoke no English, they love to call out his name and follow him around. Here he is playing chess on the street with an older gentleman. A bunch of kids came and just stood to watch them play for probably 45 minutes - even though the kids didn't understand chess at all. They were just highly curious and fascinated - and totally adorable! The man won one game and Johan won the second game. They played the entire time hardly speaking a word to each other since the man couldn't speak English well. We have discovered there are so many games you can play where you don't need a common language!
Johan really has a heart for dogs and was especially saddened to see the state of the animals that roam the streets. He witnessed cock-fighting (a popular "sport" in The Philippines) on the street and he immediately asked about that. Johan was especially fond of a little puppy owned by Roderick (one of the youth leaders) and he loved to carry Whizer around.
I would have liked for him to try more local food - but I was particularly worried about gastro because he isn't used to eating street foods and most of the food items aren't refrigerated. The risk of getting salmonella from the chicken or eating any seafood items was just too high. I also didn't allow him to have any of the colourful ice drinks he asked to try because I couldn't be sure that the ice has been made with clean water. Given there is no proper toiletting facilities at the slum, it would have been a huge inconvenience if we got gastro.
I was worried about COVID (both getting it and then spreading it) but keeping masks on the entire day just wasn't feasible given how hot it was and also given we were working with little children and a smiling face is always better than a masked one. I was obssessive about sanitising hands and I brought soap with me so that we could wash our hands whenever there was clean water available.
Overall, I think it has been such an eye-opening experience for Johan. Even though he is a pretty quiet kid and doesn't say much, I know from reading what he wrote for the blog that he is processing the experience. The people of Baseco has shown us so much kindness and really looked after Johan so well - especially Roderick and the other youth leaders. I'm very thankful!
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