What are those kids talking about?

By: Arnica Lorenzo De Guzman

Volunteer for the South Sea Exclusive Foundation

Walking down at Rizal Avenue with so much excitement, I saw the Grade 5 section A of West Central School scrambling on the schoolgrounds with their bags packed and their smiles on. You can really tell how more excited they were. It was our first excursion to Pandan Island with the students. I have not been to that place, eventhough I grew up here in Puerto Princesa. Most of the kids have not seen it too so we feel mutually the same.

Our group (I mean the group and I, because I was actually scheduled to only teach the Grade 6A class on Thursday, but I insisted to join the Tuesday group too =D) rode a bus from the school to the harbour in Honda Bay. We rented 3 boats there and it took us about 20 minutes to go with the boat from the port to Pandan Island.

Looking at the sea, I got goose bumps with all those beautiful sights and landscapes of the islands and the open sea. Plus, when I add the clear sky and the fine weather, everything was like perfect.

Upon reaching the isle, the activities were worked out. The children were divided into three groups. There were beach games, a mangrove tour and snorkelling for the pupils which they really enjoyed. After everything was done and we had a lunch break all together, I kept hearing the children’s stories and chitchats about what they have seen while they were snorkelling. You could really feel their amazement upon seeing all those creatures from the sea. I got envious (really), because even though I am a volunteer, it seemed that I just wanted to be a kid again like them to enjoy these opportunities.

Then kuya Sander approached us and asked if we (we were with three Philippine volunteers) wanted to try snorkelling. I’d love to, but at first I didn’t decide immediately because my other colleagues said they will pass. I would have liked to try it out with them, so their decline dropped my excitement so low that I said “No”. But then it seemed that “What if’s” kept knocking in my head. “What if you won’t able to try it again? You’ll miss the chance” or like “What if you’ll get sick the next scheduled time, no more next time for you?” and so much more.

When kuya Sander came back, he asked us again. My friends (the other two volunteers) really decided to do it next time primarily because they did not bring spare clothes (for Philippine people it is custom to swim in your clothes and not just in bathing suites like European people do). But I… okay, I went =D.

With a life jacket (for safety purposes and to keep me afloat, because I do not know how to swim), kuya Sander guided me to where the fishes and the corals were. At first, I was very nervous, because I had not done this before. Seeing myself with a snorkel swimming on an open sea were my feet can not reach the bottom, existed only in my imagination before.

Swimming slowly, my fear of drowning was swept away by the majestic view of the underwater world. I enjoyed floating above the beautiful corals, looking at the urchins and small eels and pointing at almost everything that was new to my sight. It was like I was just dreaming. I felt like the sea was giving me a warm welcome to their world, because I never felt scared or nervous even though we were way far from the shore. I saw fishes of varying size, colour and shape that I had never seen before. They were all amazing and beautiful.

During these moments, it was like “WOW! I will not just chase pictures of the sea on my mind anymore, because now, I have seen it for real.”

Though it was hard for me to swim from one place to the other, I still enjoyed wondering around the snorkelling area. Physically it was tiring for me, because I really needed to struggle to move into the right directions. But seeing all those things was fulfilling. I will not forget this experience ever. Now, I know what the kids were talking about. =D

On the way to the Honda Bay pier

Coast guards explaining the rules upon arrival at the island

Sander explaining the children about what they are going to see under water

All geared up

Coast Guard Frogman accompany the kids during snorkeling

Volunteers Honey (right) and Arnica (left) teaching the kids about mangroves

Pupils proudly showing their sand made sea turtle

And finally.. Lunch time!

New school, new kids, new chances

By Lysanne Snijders

Last week we started at a new school again. This school is located more in the centre of Puerto Princesa. What means it is easier accessible for our Philippine volunteers, but quit a ride for me each morning. Naturally, as I am a Dutch girl, I eat sandwiches in the afternoon in stead of rice, preferably with cheese, and so I also cycle to work. But before I go to much into detail about my unwillingness to adjust to certain parts of the Philippine lifestyle, or actually, to give up some parts of my Dutch lifestyle, I will explain the specifics of our wonderful program to you first.

In total, we visit 5 schools with our program and in general the program for the 5^th and 6^th grades will last for 4 weeks. As there are usually 2 classes of grade 5 and 2 of grade 6 we work from Tuesday until Friday, so this means a class a day. We are now down to our 3^rd school: West Central Elementary School. It is located next to a beautiful blue cathedral and, as I empirically found out last week, the school is currently painting there building the same colour. So also the side of the stairs. My hands could blend in perfectly with its new surroundings for the remainder of Tuesday morning.

But, as I said, we just finished the first week. This means 4 half days of teaching the kids about the importance of mangroves, but of course not without playing a game with the same topic. We keep it fun as well as educational! The second week, this week, we start with the whole days in the program. Next days will be occupied with animals of the sea and coral reefs. Next to the lecture we have a sea animal quiz, a bingo and, as we also do not let them miss out on important educational movies, watching Finding Nemo.

Although watching the movie is very relaxing for the kids, I am all nerves. Children will be children and as I was reminded at the last school, it is very hard to temper their enthusiasm. While inside a small room with about 40 excited kids, a number of wires and some expensive and essential movie watching materials, things easily go wrong. Until now, the beamer has survived a metre long fall on the concrete floor and the sound boxes even still work after 3! This luck is however not something I would like to stretch.

The 3^rd and 4^th week will consist of excursions. One to Pandan island, where the children can see the corals and mangroves in real life and one to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) where the can feed the giant groupers!

Although it takes some work and coordination to keep everything running (and keep everything in one piece!) it all pays off when we see how much the kids enjoy the activities that were designed for them. Because the most important thing is leaving the children to have a positive association with their beautiful natural environment. They are the future and they should not HAVE to conserve their surroundings, the key is that they should want to!

Volunteer Jessa, giving a claas about mangroves

Playing the mangrove game

Sea animal bingo

Concentrated on the numbers, who has bingo first and wins the price?