Written by Board Member, Ate Charmain Tan
It was still a rainy afternoon as typhoon Butchoy caused continued downpour. Despite the bad weather the team of U! Happy Events and the volunteers made it at Virlanie Tanglaw for a much anticipated Story Telling Workshop by the kids’ favorite Kuya Rich.
It was the 18th birthday celebration of Ate Raisa, who wanted to spend her birthday with these children. She organized the event to celebrate with her family and friends. Ate Raisa was joined by her cousins and her childhood friends from Assumption College.
We have partnered with Virlanie Foundation since 2012 and it is a partner beneficiary with one of the most number of events with us. We’ve done so many activities with Virlanie from Dance Workshops, Mural Workshops, Film Showing such as the Avengers and X-Men, Art Workshops, Story Telling Workshops and others. This was our 25th event with the children of Virlanie.
Our Story Teller for the day was Kuya Rich. He was a member of Alitaptap Storytellers for seven years. He is currently the president of Ang Pinoy Storytellers, which was founded two years ago. Ang Pinoy Storytellers is a group of volunteer storytellers who go around the country and visit the different communities. It aims to promote literacy to the children from different areas. They source different kinds of books and give them to the children as they encourage reading and learning.
To start the day’s activities Kuya Rich did a Boat is Sinking ice beaker game. The energetic volunteers and kids laughed and cheered as they tried to group themselves as fast as they could. Everyone was going around as they tried to form the required number of people in a group. After the ice breaker everyone was formed into four groups. The volunteers and children got to know one another by sharing things about themselves, like their favorite food and their hobbies. Most of the kids liked eating vegetables while some of the volunteers liked fish balls. They had different hobbies ranging from sports, like basketball, social media, like Facebook, all the way to sleeping. The kids wanted to be seamen, doctors, and join the air force when they grow up.
The groups came out with group names and cheer. First group was Mga Bibes and as their choreography they danced and sang the current dance craze Ang Tatlong Bibe. The second group was Boom Chika Boom. They did some dance moves with different tempo. They started with a slow tempo then changed it up to dancing fast as they cheered Boom Chika Boom. The third group was Milky Way. They did a cheer leading type of choreography. The last group was Rainbow group. This group was the most energetic as the volunteers led the rapping and beat boxing cheer. In line with their Rainbow group name they used props like colorful umbrellas as they danced. One of the kids showed of his skills by doing cartwheels. They ended the group cheer with two volunteers carrying a kid while he struck a pose in air.
Kuya Rich then did his famous “achuchucha” dance to the excitement of the kids. They have been looking forward to do this dance. When Kuya Rich arrived at the place all the kids came up to hug him and quickly chanted “achuchucha”. They were all excited to do the dance again. When it was time to do the dance the children were ecstatic. They laughed as they tried to do the funny poses Kuya Rich was showing.
Kuya Rich did some exercises like teaching the kids to pull an imaginary rope and to make sounds with facial expressions. He then asked the groups to act out different kinds of scenes. The first scene was Calamity Rescue. The groups acted out how they would help out other people who are victims of calamity. Volunteers were carrying kids to show them being evacuated from flooded areas. The second scene was an Earthquake Drill then followed by a Fire Drill. The second to the last scene was save Mother Earth. The kids used props like plants and umbrellas to show them planting and abundant trees growing in nature. In line with our birthday celebration the last scene was Birthday Party. There were colorful banderitas and some volunteers who acted out as mascots.
After the fun-filled afternoon we had our snacks while the children got to rest. Ate Issa then gave out story books as gifts for the children. We then sang a Happy Birthday song for Ate Raisa and the children hugged and thanked the volunteers for spending the afternoon with them. The kids of Virlanie loves reading so they were happy with the storybooks they received. Kuya Rich and his group was also able to gather around 400 books to be given to Virlanie Foundation. As they say, “A book is a gift you can open again and again.”
