Part 2 of Back to School

We stepped off of the banca onto a bamboo raft and then were towed to shore

I was fortunate to join a team of medical professionals and division office staff to visit the island in the center of a crater called Taal Lake. Actually the island itself has another crater inside it, a crater within a crater. There is no electricity there and most folks make their living by fish cages. Horses are a main mode of transportation, I felt like I entered the Philippines 50 or 100 years ago. I talked to all of the pupils, sang songs, asked questions....

 First Island school we visited, no electricity

I saw a lot of these native type homes

Kids on line to get their teeth checked, notice the photo over the blackboard

What we saw upon arrival stop #1

Mam and I prepare to leave, yeah I need to quit eating rice

We head for another part of the island

enroute to stop #2

Next stop, beautiful flame tree in bloom top right

Buko juice a natural.....

Yes, we had to eat at every stop, no matter the time of day

Filipinos love getting their picture made, the gr. 1 class had 85 pupils and 1 teacher, ahhhh!!!

Really cool partnership between an American Solar Panel Corp. and the Philippines, free panels and they will create electricity to power a generator, then the school can have electricity

We head for our next stop, via this old volcanic cone

The third and final school we visited, the kids in this small community had to previously travel daily to the mainland to go to school, now they have a brand new one in their town, cool old volcanic cone in the far left distance

Not sure who this guy was but check out what he had stashed in his pants

Made a quick extra stop to change banca drivers and get fish

Tilapia waiting in the net

We got really wet on the way home

At our last stop, the earth/sand was black volcanic type silt. It was SO SO hot on the island, sort of like the molten lava way down inside the earth was radiating heat up to us

Look carefully at this photo, those bags weigh 50 kilos each and the guy in the foreground has 4 on his back!!!!

 

 We circled the entire island by boat, it was a real adventure and probably one of my most memorable days here as a volunteer. Seeing the remote location and how people survive and thrive....the kids appeared well nourished and happy. I would like to visit again and actually get to climb up the ridge and peek into the center volcanic crater and see the most interior mini lake.
Wow the Philippines are such an incredible place...
Got a great shipment of donated books from Books for Peace in California, finally setting up a mini-library. Veron and I hope to transfer to grade 5 soon. Heading to the big city for medical visit, Walk for Freedom anti-human trafficking rally, weekend here at home then off to a marvelous spot with gorgeous beaches and hopefully incredible snorkeling next week! Will research the old leper colony....stay tuned.