Hello,
Today the 21st of July, the school celebrated their National Nutrition Month. Here every month there is a subject they celebrate and July just so happens to be Nutrition month. We took this opportunity to start the feeding program today, so from today onward the kids will be getting fed everyday of school. Thank you all for your support. The teachers still want to raise some pigs and are very determined to make it work. They will just start with 2 pigs and see how they go (that will also happen this week or next). The garden is starting to look like a garden now and not just a lot of weeds. We kick started that project and bought them some extra tools and seeds which they have started planting.

I am confident we are leaving all the responsibilities here in very good hands. It is going to be sad to say goodbye to all these kids. I have visited the Philippines quite a few time before but only in hotels or in the city of Iloilo. This is the 1st time for me to stay in a small community like this and be part of everyone`s lives. It has been very fun,exciting, and rewarding to be able to help these people. At times it has been very difficult for me to hold back my emotions, To be a part of and live with people who are experiencing such poverty can take it`s toll on you mentally. I want to help everyone and find it hard to have to say no to some people sometimes. I will send you a pic of a boy who broke my heart, we planned a big day out with a bunch of kids and parents to the swimming pool. When all the kids were climbing in the truck someone spotted a little boy hiding behind a banana tree with a very sad look on his face. When he was asked to get in the truck he said he couldn’t because it was the weekend and it is his job to look after his grandpas 100 ducks. Every weekend, this boy does not get the chance to play with other children, because his family relies on the ducks getting fed and walked to the rice field so they can swim in the water. If the ducks do not swim, they will not lay eggs. They only get 5 pesos for every egg, and that`s if the duck even lays one. I gave this boy 150 pesos and he collected his ducks and went home. We also bought him some school supplies and a school bag. There are so many stories of hard luck and poverty to tell. I really feel for these people and the hurdles they face everyday, but they just take it on the chin and carry on with life. They just do what they do for survival and know they have to look after themselves because their government is not going to help them. I wish I could win the lotto and live here to help them. Anyway, I will keep you updated and hopefully you can get to talk to the teachers on the phone at some stage.

Ian Horton