We went to bed on Sunday night to the sound of a Super Typhoon coming. We weren't sure if we would need to cancel our trip to Baseco on Monday because of the typhoon. But when we woke up on Monday morning, it was all calm. Super Typhoon Noru had weakened overnight and passed us.
It wasn't long before disaster struck! The motorised Tuk Tuk we were taking to Baseco wouldn't start because it was too heavy with 5 people plus all the donated clothes and items we were bringing. We were picked up at our hotel by the chuch leaders (Pastor Manny and Roderick) from the slum in a motorised TukTuk. Security guards and passers-by had to help to push the vehicle before the engine would start.
Pastor Manny (you can see him in the photo below carrying the two bags of clothes) used to be a pirate (stealing sugar, oil, and wood from ships) before he found God and became a Pastor in Baseco. I thought that was interesting.
As soon as we got to Baseco you knew it was a slum because the air smelt of rubbish and all the houses were made out of flimsy pieces of timber, scrap metal and random materials. There were lots of wild animals around, most of which were chickens, dogs and cats.
Tour of Baseco
First we went on a tour led by the church leaders around Baseco. Some areas were flooded by the typoon that had struck yesterday afternoon and you had to use sandbags and loose bricks or stones to cross certain areas that were flooded. Some people's homes were flooded and you can see the occupants wearing gumboots inside their house. All these kids were living in tiny homes often made of sticks and plastics and you felt sorry because we live in a nice house with a bedroom and a clean bathroom.
Kids Party at Church
After the tour was finished we headed back to the church to have lunch with the church leaders. We had different types of bread we had brough from a bakery in the morning before going to Baseco because my mum is worried we would get sick if we drink or eat anything that may not be clean because many places don't have clean running water and the food and meat sit out all day without a fridge.
The church is basically one room with concrete floors. It was set up with party decorations because every last Sunday of the month the church leaders host a party for the Sunday School kids and they learn about God in a fun way such as playing games and giving points to be swapped for prizes to the kids who remembered the most Bible verses.
The party was meant to start at 2 PM but there was line outside the church from around 1 PM. Seventy kids came rushing into the church excited to have visitors and to be playing games. First, the junior church leaders showed us how to sing and dance to a song all about God. Everyone was having fun and getting excited about the different things that we were going to be doing today.
We were then divided into teams and played different games. For example, there is a line and on both sides there is a pattern of lines that you have to step on without dropping your balloon but the twist was that you had to be holding hands with the person oppisite you so it was all about teamwork. Another game was like Twister. And another game you are blindfolded and have to collect as many coloured pieces of paper which were stuck onto a wooden frame. I got to play all the games with the kids.
As a special treat, we ordered the children Jollibee which is like KFC or McDonalds. Amazingly, not one of the kids touched their boxes of food - the church leader explained to us that this is quite common because they all want to take it back home to share with their family and friends who couldn't come to the party.
As the children were leaving with their meals to go home, someone from the churh was handing out "scramble" which is like a home-made milk-shake basically. It contains shaved ice, milk powder and chocolate syrup. And you mix it all in with a straw.
De-Worming
As all the kids were leaving happily, we handed out the Combantrinc de-worming chocolate squares. Some of the kids wanted them but others were nervous and anxious because it was probably the first time that they were eating something like this. It felt rewarding seeing that this would help them if they have worms in their stomach.
Garlic Peeling
After all the children had left the party, we went over to a house to help peel garlic. People would peel garlic for days and get very litte out of it. For a 15 kg bag of garlic, you would only get something like AU$2-$2.50! Peeling garlic is a common job in the slum and the peeled garlic are sold to restaurants.
All these peeled garlic would sell for AU$2-$2.50 which is the bare minimum the locals need to survive each day.
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