The next 4 days were spent at Atipuluan High School. It was still under construction at that time. We helped out with some manual labour - I KNOW. ME? MANUAL LABOUR? It was really tough work especially under the scorching sun and 38 or 39 degree heat. The thing is that the kuyas and titos (older brothers/ uncles) did it like it was nothing for them. 50KG sacks of soil that we couldn't even drag, let alone lift, they lifted with ease! Respect man. We did construction for 2 days.
The next 2 days were devoted to the environmental programmes we conducted for the students. We split them up into "OG's" and we were the OGLs. As with any situation where total strangers are put together, there was bound to be a stiff awkwardness of sorts.. However, once we broke the ice, there was this immediate sense of warm affinity that they extended towards us.
I love my kids. It was a two-way learning process because they taught me so much. They reminded me of the purity of hearts and what it was like to give love so freely. They taught me to find happiness in the simplest of things and also how to love your friends like your own brothers and sisters. They taught us warmth which we had grown foreign to. I think it's true that when you go on trips like these, you don't remember what you ate, what you said or what you did nearly as much as you remember the people you met.