De La Salle Visits Green Hills

Hong Kong Homestayers

In September 26 eleven students and two staff left Melbourne bound for La Salle Green Hills in Manila. It had been ten years since the first group made the journey, but this group was to experience a number of firsts. The 7.30am start saw boys’ bleary eyes open to the singing of the National anthem of the Philippines and the raising of the flag, followed by the singing of the Alma Mater hymn. After being introduced to the High School students by the Principal Mrs Amy Galang, the boys were given their timetables for the day and experienced a day in the life of a Filipino student. By the thirty-minute lunchbreak the boys were looking forward to the 3.40pm finish! Tuesday was set aside for a cultural tour of Manila. The boys were fascinated by their visit to the Intramuros, the site of the original Spanish settlement. The San Agustin Church and monastery was built in 1587 and survived British forces in1762, the Americans in 1898 and the Japanese and American liberation war in 1945. Wednesday afternoon we were told that classes would be cancelled the following day because Metro Manila would be hit by typhoon “Milenyo”. The day began with a heavy tropical rainstorm, but the real storm began about 10.30am, and continued until mid-afternoon. The destruction caused by the strongest typhoon to hit Manila in 15 years was beyond imagination. School had to be cancelled on Friday as well. Monday saw the program modified again. The boys arrived at school for a day of manual labour at the Conception Village, where they mixed concrete and carted it in buckets to build a staircase for a poor family whose house in the village had to be rebuilt. At the debriefing the boys commented on the happiness of the families, even though they had relatively little in the way of material things. Thursday the boys spent the day at the East Avenue Medical Centre where the boys entertained a group of children who were suffering from cancer. The boys played games, talked, read books and danced with the kids. For a short while at least the children forgot about their afflictions and enjoyed the company of their new Australian friends. Friday was a day of interaction with former street children. The bonding that took place was extraordinary. The street children spoke little English and our boys spoke only a few words of Filipino, but they were able to express themselves by way of drawing posters that expressed a real understanding of belonging to the same Lasallian family. The theme of the farewell party was ‘Rehla Saida’ (So Long). We shared the Filipino hospitality and thanked our hosts for making our stay so enjoyable and productive. We look forward sharing our culture with Green Hills students next year. Mr Murray Ennis