A Typical Day in the Philippines

Hello!

Well I'm now into my third week of volunteering and living in Tacloban City, Philippines. While speaking to various friends online, they all seem to ask the same question...'what do you do?' Since I'm now into the swing of things, I thought it would be worth sharing with you what a typical day for me here consists of.

I wake up at 6am. I roll out of bed and breakfast will be waiting for James and myself. Everyday breakfast is different but we always get something very filling along with juice and some fruit. I'll then either shower but more commonly go back to my bedroom and lay down for half an hour. At around 6:45am, I go over to Matt's house. Matt is at the same placement as me so we meet up each morning to commute together. His house is a 20 second walk away and it's the one house in the whole community (that I'm aware of) with free wifi. So I usually go online until about 7:15 and then we catch a Jeepney to Tanauan to take us to the RRCY (Regional Rehabilitation Centre for Youths).

I already mentioned in a previous post what the RRCY is so refer back if you're unsure. We usually get to the RRCY at 8am and are greeted by a bunch of chuckling young men who are always very excited to see us. The first two hours is usually spent playing basketball as part of the league we set up. The last two hours, we set up a games room with cards, jacks, connect four, jenga, dominoes, chess, darts, pick-up sticks etc. We bought all these games from the local city centre and although the residents can not keep them (to prevent them gambling with them) we can bring them along each day for them to play with under our supervision.

We then leave the RRCY and head back to Bliss, usually rocking up at about 12:30ish. We'll meet James and grab lunch at our favourite burger stall (50p for two burgers!) and then most days we'll go to the gym. This brings me to a good plugging opportunity since I've now officially begun training and fundraising for the London Marathon. I am running for the Martin B. Cohen Centre for Wellbeing - Please visit my justgiving page: www.justgiving.com/samaboudara have a read and perhaps sponsor me if you feel so inclined!

After the gym, it's time for my tutorial. I have a group of 2nd and 3rd grade girls (8-9 year olds) that I tutor for an hour each afternoon. These girls are part of the VFV sponsorship programme and receive funding so that they can go to school. Each day I tutor them a different subject ranging from English, maths, reasoning, general knowledge etc. Dinner is served at 6pm which will always consist of lots of meat/fish, vegetables and fruit. After dinner, I enjoy hanging out with my family, playing games with the kids and kicking back. Later in the evenings, I often meet up with some of the other volunteers and we might go to the cinema, play cards or hit up some of the bars in town.

So that's a typical day for me! Weekends are far different and usually jam packed with fun. I'll try and share more next time.

Much love

Sam