The Philippines

In the Term 3 break, an excited group of 19 Year 9 and 10 boys bade their parents farewell before embarking on a two-week cultural and social justice exchange with La Salle Greenhills in Manila. Accompanied by Mr Murray Ennis and Ms Angela Runci, the students — Benson Adams, Marcus Andrews, Peter Bradley, Jack Campion, Will Carson, Mitchell Clarke-Smith, Jon Craig, Jordan Dalgliesh, Harry Dziubinski, Jordan Gasparini, Aaron Gross, Michael Harris-Jaffe, Ben Jopling, Paul Masson, Ryan Moody, Sebastian Otten, Jack Reeve, Max Stephens and Jordan Wells — spent two weeks living with a Filipino family, experiencing the culture and customs of a country some of us know very little about. Nothing could prepare us for the intense heat and humidity that hit us on arrival. La Salle Greenhills is located in an affluent area of Manila. The school itself boasts a soccer field, running track, swimming pool and basketball stadium. Staring out of the comfortable air-conditioned bus at the haphazard shantytowns bordering both sides of the road, the boys were struck by gross inconsistencies between the different levels of society. The city of Manila itself is inhabited by the equivalent of Australia’s entire population. Many live on less than US$2 a day. La Salle Greenhills is heavily involved in social justice action. While it may be one of the most affluent schools in the Philippines, the causes it supports are Lasallian in every way. The majority of students agreed, it was the Outreach programs which left a lasting impression. We spent a morning learning about the lives of street kids who come to La Salle to get an education and learn basic life skills. One of the boys slept on a piece of cardboard. As Michael Harris-Jaffe commented: ‘the thought of this really hit me hard’. One of the organisations that Greenhills is heavily invovled in is Gawad Kalinga. In Filipino, Gawad Kalinga literally translates to mean “giving care”. This organisation is a Philippine-based poverty alleviation and nation-building movement. Its mission is to end poverty for 5 million families by 2024. Together with the La Salle students, we spent two days working with volunteers from the city of Manila helping to build houses for people. The time spent at Gawad Kalinga was certainly the most rewarding for one student Peter Bradley who said: “shifting bricks, bucketing water and shoveling dirt was certainly hard work, but to be able to assist these poverty-stricken people, even with something as simple as unloading a truck full of bricks, felt like such a contribution. This hands-on aspect of the trip was why I wanted to go from the start”. Visiting the Jaime Hilario Integrated School was a highlight. Located in Bagac on the Bataan Peninsula, La Salle provides funding for student school uniforms, recess and lunch programs and transportation to and from school, and aims to instill an understanding of community and environment. Boys spent a morning cleaning the coastline, planting a vegetable garden, and visiting classes to play games and sing songs before gathering for lunch. Another member of the group, Jack Campion, said it was the day that touched his heart the most. “On our last day, a Brother from Jamie Hilario gave me a note written by one of the students telling me how happy she was that we had spent time there.” Other highlights included visiting the resort town of Tagatay to see the The Taal Volcano, an active volcano with a large crater lake with a small cone rising in the middle, and being transported back to Spanish colonial times inside the walled city of Intramuros. Some fearless students also tasted Filipino street food like Balut, boiled duck eggs! As we drove away from Greenhills, waving to our new Lasallian friends, many of the boys talked of going back to Manila to work with Gawad Kalinga and visit their host families again.

Ms Angela Runci, with the help of Michael Harris- Jaffe, Jack Campion, Peter Bradley and Ryan Moody