Friendship Home

Today was our annual Holiday party with the kids from Friendship Home.  Each year we take them out to do something ‘special’ during the holidays.  In December of ’09, if you remember, we went to the IMAX.  Well this year I thought we’d change it up from movies and do another thing I knew they’d love–VIDEOKE (or karaoke as it’s better known in the US).  Little did I know that chaos would ensue when 20 children are cooped up in a small room for 3 hours!

As expected, the kids were way into it.  Group shouting was preferred to taking individual turns with the mic, so the noise level remained at a deafening roar for the majority of our 3 hours at Redbox.  It’s impossible to explain what it was like without you being there because Filipinos take karaoke to a whole new level (and often include synchronized dance on top of the singing).

The room also came with a pool table, which was in constant use throughout our time there.  Pool is huge here, perhaps only topped by basketball and boxing.

Over the years I’ve developed a reputation for being quite an ‘animated’ singer.  Unfortunately for me, my little buddy John completely stole the spotlight on our duet to Alone (MY signature song).  Check him out wailing in the background–eyes closed, head back, hands clenched.  He was totally feeling it.  Maybe I can take some lessons from him to get my spark back?

Some kids went all out, wearing their ‘Sunday Best’ for this oh-so-special occasion!  It’s quite heart-warming to see what a big deal it is for them…

As I mentioned earlier, the calm facade that you saw in the first photo deteriorated rather rapidly (as seen in the above photo).  At 90 minutes in we were breaking up wrestling matches and taking the kids outside in groups of 5.  From that moment on I was just running interference and praying that no one would bang their head on the corner of the sharp table edge!  Thankfully we made it through injury-free, but I can’t lie – that third hour really tested my patience.  And where, you ask, was my husband during all this?  Oh, he disappeared around minute 75, claiming that he was overwhelmed.  Well, me too honey, but we can’t all leave now, can we?!?!  Maybe we need to relook at this whole parenting thing again and push it out a few more years…

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As is the tradition, we put on a big ole Halloween Party for the kiddos this week.  Man was it fun!  Their energy is especially infectious on ‘special days’ like these when we go all out to celebrate something.

Due to lack of costume options, 2 out of 3 kids were ‘dead people’.  We appreciated their effort though… definitely some of the cutest ‘dead people’ I’ve ever come across.  :)

Here’s a shot of my guest Katie (the Admissions Recruiter from CSB/SJU) and a couple of the kids.  She really enjoyed getting some time with locals.  Friendship Home always tends to be a highlight from my visitors’ stay here!

We did a way cool Halloween Windsock project.  What I enjoy about these kids is that we can take a really simple project (that might bore other children) and they’ll get super into it and come up with a truly elaborate creation by the end.  It’s so rewarding doing things for them because they appreciate it so much and really make the most of any effort we put forth.

After art we headed down to the ground level to partake in some traditional Halloween games.  There was a Ghost Bean Bag Toss, a bucket game similar to the one from the Bozo Show and the ever-popular fishing game.  Come on, tell me you didn’t love that one as a child?!

The kids enjoyed every minute of it (as did the adults) and at the end they rewarded us with a dance for the occasion.  The coolest thing about this dance was that they had made it up entirely themselves (no adult assistance)!

We were blown away by how good they were.  Seriously, they looked like they’ve been taking dance lessons for years.  They were all in sync and WAY into it.  Perhaps most surprising was that the stand-out performers were some of the children who had been the shyest up until that point.  I love that performing allows people to release an expressive side of them that gets hidden in other situations.  Don’t miss out on the video clip below from their dance.  It’s truly incredible!

PS- More pics available on SMUGMUG!

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Hello blog readers- Sorry for the posting delay!  I have a good excuse – I was busy getting myself to Minnesota!  I’m getting settled in nicely now and enjoying spending time with my family before all the friend visits begin.  Before I start blogging about all my Minnesota activities, I wanted to make sure and get a post up about a fabulous event that took place with Friendship Home right before I left Manila.

My good friend Selina (pictured with me above) was kind enough to donate 30 tickets to the Philippines Premiere of Despicable Me!  It’s a fancy-pants deal with appetizers, pictures with characters and of course, the screening!  As you might imagine, this was a big day for the kiddos.  No lie, some of them arrived 45 minutes ahead of our leave time because they just couldn’t wait anymore.  Those of you who are familiar with “Filipino Time” know how absurd it is for any Filipino to show up on time, let alone early.  Gotta love that kind of enthusiasm!

As I’ve mentioned before, this group of kids are all 12 year olds that live in the same neighborhood.  The Embassy volunteers go to Friendship Home each week on Wednesdays to teach the kids games, art and science and work on their English skills.  This is a very poor part of town and I delight in how appreciative they are of each little thing we plan.  The field trips we take them on are the equivalent of Christmas Morning to an American child – something rare and magical that only happens once or twice a year!

On to the event details!  The kid rode in style via a private Jeepney that a community member had loaned for the event.  Public jeepneys are the most common form of public transportation in the Philippines, by the way…. when we arrived at the Premiere, each child had their picture taken with ‘The Minions’.

Then we proceeded inside to enjoy some appetizers and then a local TV station did an interview with me and a few of the kids about the experience.

We then settled into our seats and tried on our 3D glasses.  The anticipation was building… honestly, I think the movie could have been the worst one ever made and they still would have had a blast.  Happily, it was actually a very good film, even for an adult to watch!  Check out the joy in these faces – life doesn’t get much more enjoyable for me than this….

For the full gallery of photos, mosey on over to SMUGMUG to see more smiling kids.  Thanks again to Selina for making this day possible for the kids.  They (and I) had a blast!

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I was in charge of designing a holiday party for the Friendship Home kids.  I was determined to make it highly memorable, introducing the kids to a few new holiday activities.  It didn’t take me long to decide on cookie decorating for the main activity.  Norma was in the kitchen for 2 days baking 60 cookies and making 6 different colors of frosting.  It was absolutely sensational – the kids ate it up, quite LITERALLY!

Their favorite part was the sprinkles, which they’d never seen before.  There was all sorts of curiosity about what they were.  When I demonstrated that they were edible, the kids were awed.  All of a sudden, sprinkles adorned every inch of every cookie!  Just look at these final products!

I thought it would be best to have two stations that the kids rotated betwen, so I came up with an art project as well.  I thought back to some of those classic holiday projects and finally decided upon the one where you wrap a piece of tissue paper around the end of the pencil and dip it in glue to create a Christmas object.  I waffled for a bit and almost didn’t do it because I thought it was too basic, but boy was I glad I did.  It may have been even more popular than the cookies.  Just another reminder that the things I take for granted or consider old and mundane are so fresh and exciting to these kids that have never experienced it before.  So great!  Here are some of their creations….bring back memories?

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I think I’ve mentioned this before but the Manila Embassy has a charity organization called the US Embassy Club (USEC).  They sponsor 8 different welfare projects in the city and fundraise primarily through 2 Bazaars per year (one of which is in jeopardy by another impending typhoon this Saturday).  I recently got involved with one of the USEC charities called Friendship Home.  Our group goes once a week and provides after-school activities for roughly 20 children from 4-6 PM.

I can’t tell you how joyful these kids are to be around.  Mind you, many lost their houses this week, so it can be difficult to be joyful right now.  They’re just so open to learning and relish every new experience.  It’s a blast to be around them!  This week I arrived a little before 4 PM and my car was driving down the back street that the home is on.  As we’re passing a neighborhood basketball court I hear someone shout, “Hey, that’s Sarah.  Come on!”  All of a sudden 7 little bodies are running and screaming after our car.  It was the best feeling EVER to be greeted with such enthusiasm (especially since I’d been there exactly 1 time before).  It was hugs and high-fives and huge smiles as soon as I got out of the car, after which I was promptly pulled into the house to start playing.

Good thing I came prepared because I was the only volunteer there from 4-5 PM with 12 hyper children.  There were demands to continue Po Bo Ski Rotten Totten and the boys had decided that they wanted in too.  I wrote up all the jibberish words on the board (they kept asking what the words meant to which I had no reply) and we practiced singing it together.  They had it within 2 refrains.  Then it was time to start the knock-out rounds.  For each game, you end up singing the song over and over until one person is left.  We had 13 of us and played five rounds, so I would estimate that we sang the song at least 60 times.  If I’m being honest, I was a bit horse by the end!

That filled a good half hour but there was still more time free.  Good thing I had BUNCO in my bag!  I introduced the kids to BUNCO for the very first time and we created our own tournament.  They were SO INTO IT!  All of them picked it up quickly and loved shouting BUNCO!  We had to discuss that it wasn’t appropriate to yell this out if you didn’t REALLY have a BUNCO.  Much learning all around.  It was a great afternoon and I feel so fortunate to be interacting each week with these fantastic Pinoy kids (Pinoy is another term for Filipinos).  I better start thinking of what we’re going to do next week.  Any teachers out there have an idea?  I was thinking of doing that age-old science experiment where you make a “volcano” expode using 2 reactive ingredients (can’t remember what they are).  Or maybe we’ll just do an art project… I’m open to suggestions!

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