Written by: Ate Charmain Tan, Vice President External
It was one of our biggest event of the year as we headed to Tondo Manila where 300 energetic kids welcomed us. Project Pearls aims to help the poorest of the poor children to have a better life by giving them PEARLS: Peace, Education, Aspiration, Respect, Love and Smiles through education, empowerment, nutrition, nourishment, and healthcare. Last year Ate Leslie shared her blessings with the kids of Heart at Play Foundation where we had different activities for the children with special needs. This year Ate Leslie and her friends from Rotary Makati visited the children from Project Pearls. Kids were divided in groups of fifteen and the U! core members joined the teams. Ate Leslie and her friends introduced themselves to the children and they also joined the different groups.
To start the day Ate Leslie and her friends gave food for everyone. The kids enjoyed their early lunch and enthusiastically ate with their groups. After the early lunch we played Bring me Art. Everyone was given colored papers and we named objects for the kids to form using the colored papers. The number of papers were also specified before each round. The kids were to give the shaped papers to the U! core members and volunteers in their groups and the ates and kuyas had to run to the front with all the papers. The first team that finished first got a point. The shapes were heart, circle, triangle, and others. The volunteers were very competitive as they ran so fast to the front. In the end it was the team of Kuya Joms who got the most points and won the game. The next activity we did was Shape Me Up. We asked the group to form a star using all the members of the team. Some groups finished fast while the others were creative as they came up with different way on how to form a star.
The next activity we did was the Origami Workshop. Each of the kids received origami papers that had cute prints. The papers were printed with fruits, palm trees, and other shapes. Origami artist Kuya Ron taught the kids how to make a heart. In line with the Chinese New Year he then taught the kids to make dogs. He also taught them to make a whale and paper envelope. Some of the kids put their hearts and dogs origami into the envelopes.
Ate Leslie and her friends also gave out gift packs for each of the kids. There were cookies, rice, and other treats for the children. The kids then did some dance numbers as a way of thanking the volunteers. The boys performed Dessert while the girls also did their group dance number. We then had a group photo and it was a challenge getting more than 300 people to fit in the frame. Our photographer Kuya Chris was already up the second floor to make sure everyone fit in. We thank Ate Leslie for partnering with us again this year for another successful event.
