Sorry it has taken so long to upload this but i was unable to get internet in China. So i guess it is better late than never.
This past month I have been digging holes for the foundation for school and for a local family’s house. It would consist of being up and ready for breakfast at 8 and then once we were done eating heading up to our dig site. When we arrived we would hop into a hole with a digging bar and a shovel, and start to dig. We would dig until 10 and were then given a break to go and fill up our water bottles at the YMC, our living quarters, because it was the only place that had water safe for drinking. Once we filled our bottles we would then head back up and continue to dig in our holes. We would dig for around another hour and a half or so and then we would be done for the day.
It doesn’t sound too bad, digging for a little over 3 hours. Let me tell you it was no cake walk. First of the temperature was in the 90s usually which isn’t too bad in itself, but when paired with a humidity that is around 85% it was quite difficult. Also what we were digging up was mostly clay. If any of you have had to fig up clay you know that it isn’t nearly as easy as digging up dirt. And the last thing that added to the difficulty is that the holes needed to be 3 meters deep, so nearly 10 feet deep.
Our time spent digging wasn’t all bad though. I was able to really bond with the 3 other guys from my squad that were digging with me. We would share stories, tell jokes, and really help motivate each other. Also I was able to connect to a couple of the Filipino workers that we also working at the same site as us. The two main workers that I was able to connect to were Chris and Yow. Both are 20 years old and have very interesting stories.
Along with being able to have bonding experiences I was also able to talk to the kids that would come up to see what these 4 white men were doing and to say hi to them. Since we were working on the foundation for part of a school, we were doubling the size of the current school building that was there, a couple of the boys would come out and hang out with us once they were done with classes for the day. One of the boys that I really connected with was Aris. There were also a few kids that were not from the school that would come and talk to us.
The biggest impact that this had was that were able to bless both a family and help give them a house and also the whole community by building a school so that more children of the area could get an education. In the Philippines it is nearly imposable to get a job that would cover ones living expenses unless you have an education. For instance, McDonalds requires that it employees have one year of college completed or that you are currently enrolled in college. So hopefully by building this school we will help out all of the kids in this community by giving them and education and the chance to get a job that will support them and their families and make growing up for their children easier than growing up was for them.
