Written by Core Team Leader, Mikel Jacinto
On December 26, U! Happy Events was able to celebrate — the day after — Christmas with the kids of the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) in Puypoy, alongside Ms. Cherie Co and her fellow volunteers.
CCT is an organized Christian response against poverty and social injustice. They are able to do this through the training of servant leaders, who will act as agents of transformation. The provision of holistic and integrated services, as well as the establishment of community-based organizations/institutions composed of the poor themselves which will serve as instruments for action and change.
One such institution is their base in Puypoy, which gave the U! Happy team a chance to take a road trip to Laguna. It was a bit of an adventure trying to find the center itself, but luckily we made it without any complications. Although the day was a bit downcast, the cheerful atmosphere of the students and volunteers coming together more than made up for it.
The day started out with the usual getting to know you game, with the participants split into 4 groups. It was interesting to see everyone interacting with each other, especially since the age range of volunteers varied greatly. There were some ates and kuyas who were around the same age as the kids or just a little bit older, and some who were kids at heart. At the end of the introduction, everyone was comfortable with each other and was ready to tackle the activities of the day together.
With all the groups well acquainted with each other, it was time for the real games to begin! For the days set of activities, the U! Happy team prepared a number of Filipino Games or what is known in Tagalog as “Larong Pinoy” for everyone.
The first game was a round of Tumbang Preso. This is normally played with a pair of slippers and tin cans, but we decided to stick to a set of plastic bowling pins and bowling balls. The players then had to use an overhand throw to try and knock down the kids, similar to the typical rules of the game where the slippers are used to knock down the tin cans. Many of the teams got into stride early on, managing to hit all of the pins in one go.
The second game was the popular Patintero. The U! Happy team marked off a number of boxes on the floor, two columns of three boxes each. There was a total of 3 vertical lines and 4 horizontal lines. Two teams went up each other at a time, one on offense and one on defense. For the defensive team, there were 6 line guards in total; four on the horizontal lines, one on the middle vertical line, and one running around the whole square of the playing area. The objective of the of the offensive team was to cross to the otherside, while the defensive team would use their line guards to tag the opposing team’s players out. It was a very lively game of Patintero, where everyone got a chance to move around and expend all their extra energy.
The third and last game was Luksong Tinik. Each team had two players that acted as the “Tinik”, and there was a total of 4 rounds. Round 1 had the players jumping over a foot, round two was two feet stacked together, round 3 was two feet and a hand, and round 4 was two feet and two hands. It worked to the kids advantage that they were still quite small, as they were able to jump very high. It was actually impressive seeing them being so nimble, though the players who were being jumped over were a bit nervous about getting hit in the process.
After all the fun and games were over, everyone gathered together to share a meal. It was done in a picnic style, with each group sitting on a blanket and sharing the food set down in the middle. There was sandwiches, pancit and lumpia shanhai for everyone to enjoy. Both the kids and the volunteers ate a lot, as they had expended a lot of energy in the games.
When all the food was finished and cleaned up, the gifts and goody bags were distributed to the kids as a Christmas gift from the volunteers. Everyone then gathered for a final picture taking session, with many hugs and thank you going around. All in all, it was a very fun day for everyone!
