The trip has finally sold itself to me

After a few days in Cebu, we are nearing the end of our experience when I feel like I am just starting to learn. However, what I have learned so far is much more than I could learn in several weeks of normal schooling. The children that we are teaching have an innate curiosity and a love of learning. Whereas at home we have many children in school that are aimply forced by the law or by their parents to attend school, many of the people in the schools that we have visited walk two hours to and from school. This society places a very high premium on education. After a talk with the Student Body President of Binaliw Integrated School, Aikel Ardiza, he told us, "I really enjoyed it [the program] a lot because you and your company taught us learnings we did not know." He continued to say that the decision-making presentation was his favorite because it would help him make good decisions as a student body president. About the water filter experiment that the Department of Education taught, Aikel said that the students have no idea about such experiments, and the ISLP participants are helping teach them how to explain things.
With respect to the title, the trip has sold itself to me in the sense that I have been personally touched the past couple of days by a couple of events that made me appreciate the opportunities that children in our community can receive as well as the opportunities that are lacking to many Cebuanos. For instance, I taught some salsa dancing at the Mabini school on Monday, and one of the girls said that they would love to learn more, but there is no one to teach them. This touched me because I love dancing, and I love to share my passion with others. The thought that some of these children do not have the chance to learn because of finances or where they live makes me sad.
The second event just happened today at the Binaliw school. The students were performing a decision-making skit using the S.T.A.R. method. The scenario involved a father losing his job, and he and the mother explain to the daughter that she has to stop her schooling and go to work to help support them. After consulting her teacher, she decides to work during the day and attend school at night. When it comes to reviewing stage of the scenario, she pretends she is looking back on her decision after finishing college and becoming a successful professional (a difficult goal for many of these students to attain). She began to cry when she was talking about this, and it tugged at my heartstrings. After the presentation, I came up to her and encouraged her to work hard in school and continue performing at the best of her ability.
All these children are so genuinely appreciative of our presence that we feel happy to go to the schools every day to teach. I am sure we would all elect to stay for much longer if we could to help in these schools and learn from our friends, the Cebuanos.
Boris Yelin, Communications Team