Written by Vice President for External, Ate Charmain Tan
We visited the UNO kids once again in Leveriza, Malate, Manila. The event was sponsored by Ate Tracy’s Monday Bible Study group. Ate Tracy has sponsored events with us in the past. She elebrated last christmas and her birthday with the children of Metro World Child and Childhaus respectively. Today, she and her friends shared their blessings with the UNO children. These children live in the neighboring communities in Leveriza, Malate. Headed by Ate Lilet Tupas, they are one of my most visited groups of children in the years I have been volunteering for U! Happy Events. They are always so fun to be with and we have known some of them since they were little. It is always nice to visit them as they share their appreciation in the little things we do for them. Our partnership with them started in 2012 and we’ve had 25 events with them to date.
The children were grouped into six as we introduced their ates and kuyas for the day. Ate Tracy first taught them the song Open the Eyes of my Heart and demonstrated some actions to be followed by the kids. Ate Beth and Kuya Glenn joined her in front as the kids sang and danced with them. Ate Tracy, a teacher herself, is always so animated when she’s with the kids. She did some funny dance steps as the kids laughed while following her.
The volunteers and children got to know one another. The ates and kuyas shared their favorite games as children. The kids in turn talked about what games they liked playing and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most of them wanted to be doctors, dentists, architects, and lawyers. One of the kids even wanted to be both a doctor and dentist.
As everyone was excited we started with the first activity, the Fax Machine game. All teams formed a straight line. Ate Te and Kuya Glenn gave the first person of each team a shape. The person then had to draw the shape at the back of the next person. The person then had to pass it to the next person in front of him by drawing it also on his back. They had to continue passing the shape until they reached the last person. He then would be drawing the shape on an actual paper and give it to Ate Te. The first group who gave the correct drawing got a point. It was fun watching as the kids tried very hard to figure out the shape based on the feel when someone was drawing it on their backs. Not all teams got the correct shapes. Some rectangles because squares, some smileys became lollipops. Other teams did really well as they kept giving the correct shapes. In the end it was the group of Ate Jane that first reached 3 points.
As the Bible Study Group wanted to teach the kids some lessons from the bible we played the short video clip, In the Beginning, which showed God creating the universe. The kids asked for the video to be played twice as they kept saying they wanted more. Ate Tracy and Ate Candice then asked a few questions afterwards. They asked from where God created man and what is the name of the first man. The kids eagerly raised their hands to give the correct answer.
We then watched the magic show by Master Jhong. He performed several tricks as the kids watched in delight. When the doves few out from books all the kids shouted as they tried to reach for the birds. Master Jhong turned sticks into candles and he was able to hold the fire. He put 2 cylinders on a bottle and a drinking glass and asked the kids to guess which one had the glass as he kept switching places. The kids couldn’t seem to guess where the glass is. Each time they tried following the cylinder that had the glass but every time he lifted the cylinder it’s always the bottle inside. For his next act he called on a child volunteer Christopher to wear a funny mask with a huge mouth. Master Jhong used his funny voice as the character talked to us. All the kids kept laughing as they were watching their friend Christopher in the funny face mask. For his final trick he called a girl volunteer to hold the other end of the table as it magically flew above ground.
We then had our art workshop by Teacher Blanca. She taught the kids how to make parrots that they can wear on their wrists. She went through the step by step procedure of cutting the papers and forming them into cylinders. She then attached the paper beaks and crepe paper on the sides that became the wings. Fuzzy wires were attached to the parrots that the kids tied them to their wrists. The kids happily wore they parrots on their wrists as we took funny boomerang photos of them moving their parrots.
After the entertaining morning we got to have our lunch. We got to enjoy barbeque, pancit malabon, and pichi-pichi. In addition to the hearty lunch there was also the ice cream cart with Mamang Sorbetero. The line eventually became long as the kids all wanted to have second and third serving. Even the volunteers enjoyed the dirty ice cream. As there were lots of cones left after the event more kids around the community were also invited to have some ice cream.
Ate Tracy and her friends gave out plenty of gifts to the kids. They gave bed pillows, bags, toys, drinking cups. toiletry kits, and clothing. Kuya Martin and Ate Pinky also gave the kids loot bags of their product Mega Sardines. They kids got so many gifts that they didn’t know how to carry all the gifts home. They were so happy they started wearing the bags and hugging the pillows. As we said our goodbyes the kids hugged and thanked the volunteers for their generosity and love. At the end of the day we are not measured by what we have but by what we give.
