Last August, a friend of mine organized a charity event for Batang Pinangga Foundation. BPF stands as a temporary home for abused, abandoned and neglected children. Its mission is to build caring communities so that these children would not end up in the streets but in the families who are willing to care for them.
Since the organizer of this event is a big fun of outdoor adventures, she decided to share a bit of that adventure to these little angels. We help her prepare a mini adventure race for these children, an activity that would strengthen their relationship to one another, and leave them great memories to reminisce at the end of the day.
Some volunteers for this event went to BPF, the night before to prepare the venue for the race. Others who wasn't able to stay there overnight, went to the venue early that day to help prepare other control point (CP) that needs to be readied.
While other volunteers are busy preparing the place for the race, some are also busy helping prepare our food for lunch. We enjoyed our lunch at their open dinning area. It was just a simple meal, but you know how it feels when it is shared with a bunch of sweethearts.
We had our final briefing in the conference hall, before going to our designated CP. I was assigned the beads area. Each one needs to make a bracelet and necklace using these colorful beads. They have to make it to their liking because their'll be wearing these all throughout the race. Failure to wear it will mean infarction on their scores.
I love this group! See that little girl in red on the right? She's so cute. I never thought she could make a bracelet on her own. And I salute their team leader for giving out encouraging words to this kid. He definitely knows how to make his team work.
After all the groups were done in my CP, I gather all materials and went to other CP which serves a delicious snack. There were few hotdogs left when I arrived, so I help myself. I nibble on the hotdog and Ice Cream while waiting for the race to end. I help Carla gather the material she used in her CP, and went to the Conference Hall afterwards.
There were still a lot of groups finishing their puzzles when we arrived in the conference hall. You can observe how they work together to finish their last activity.
We had a little face painting session after the race. Our official face painter is still available and there was still extra face paint left that we can use. This kid above just got his second round of face paint done, or shall I say he had it retouched. :)
Did I mention that Batang Pinangga Foundation has an in-house Germany volunteers? Aleena is one of the volunteers from Germany, and she already spends a year with the BPF children. You don't have to worry about German language skills, because this girl can speak Bisaya very well.
If your thinking to help a child, here are some of the suggested things you can do. I saw this outside their conference hall wall. Thought I should share. We had a great time with these children. Looking at them enjoying the activities we prepare for them is enough to pay off the effort. I can see how thankful they are that we spend a day with them, and let them experience some activities that they thought they wouldn't be able to try. It was a great experience, and we're planning to do this again, hopefully this coming December.
If you are of thinking of doing a charity event here, feel free to contact...
BUTCH CARPINTERO
Executive Director
mobile: 09176169638
ANNABELLE D. MAGUATE
Marketing & Promotions Officer
Mobile:09176251583
Email: [email protected]
NICANORA LICAYAN-PASAJE
Office Secretary
Mobile: 09274909373/09223140777
EMMA BANTILES
Resident Social Worker
Mobile: 09062251754
Batang Pinangga Foundation is located at Brgy. Triumfo, Municipality of Carmen, approximately thirty (30) kilometers North of Cebu, and about six (6) kilometers from Danao City, Cebu, Philippines.
