Written by Vice President for External, Ate Charmain Tan
It is another busy saturday for the team of U! Happy Events. One of the events in the afternoon was held at Living Faith in Jesus Ministry in Las Pinas. In the midst of the holiday traffic our sponsors made it in time. It was the birthday celebration of Ate V. It was coordinated by her husband Kuya Miguel.
We grouped the well-behaved children of the ministry and the volunteers. This was a opportunity to get to know one another. We asked the kids to talk about what they wanted to be when they grew up and the volunteers to talk about the current job. Kuya Miguel works for an international hotel conglomerate which is inspiring since one of the teen member of the ministry is taking up Hotel and Restaurant Management and she said she also wanted to manage a hotel after she graduates. Most of the children wanted to the firemen, policemen, and doctors. We also asked the groups to come up with their group names. One group came up with a funny group name Dakilang Samahan ng mga Polis at Doctor, since all the kids in the group wanted to become policemen and doctors. The other groups came up with touching group names like Team Faith and Team Kapwa. The kids chose the name because it is their goal to help others.
We were first entertained by watching a spectacular magic show. The kids were delighted as they watched the magician perform several tricks. He wore a metal cylinder on his arm and the kids were amazed as he lit the fire on his arm. He also called on a kid volunteer to perform with him. He gave him a wand which kept on bending. The children were laughing as the kid in front tried to keep the wand straight.
After watching the show we played the bring me cutout game. The teams have to cut out on a piece of paper the items we asked for. The catch is that each of the group members should do their own cutout. The fastest team wins. In light of the holiday season we asked them to cut out christmas tree, a gift, angel, snowman, star, and santa. Some of the kids were really creative as their cutouts looked really nice.
After the game the kids did a dance performance for our volunteers. Jerome, RT, JR, and Jomar showed us their best dance moves. The audience cheered for their favorites.
We then watched exciting acrobatic show. The children watched in delight as the team of four did all kinds of acrobatic tricks. They stood on top of each other creating a 3-person tower. It was nerve racking to watch as they balanced themselves. They did tumbles on top of a chair.
We played our last game Paint me a Picture. The teams have to act out the scene that we asked for and held the pose as we went around to judge who was the best team. We asked them to act out shopping mall, church, noche buena, and caroling scene. It was fun to watch as the teams tried to be as innovative as they can be in interpreting the scene. For instance during the shopping mall scene, one team all faced the front and pretended they were watching a movie in a theater while eating popcorn. Another team posed as mannequins and shoppers. In the noche buena scene some members even posed as the lechon!
After our fun games we had our snacks and gift giving. We gave them school supplies and story books. We sang a happy birthday song to Ate V and thanked her for celebrating her birthday with us. Ate V also gave a message to the kids telling them to study hard. The kids then thanked the volunteers as they said their goodbyes.
