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On the 6 January 2017, ten students and two teachers from Lumen Christi Catholic College were given the amazing opportunity to participate in the second Philippines Immersion Trip. We stayed with the Franciscan Sisters of St Anthony in Pontevedra for two weeks where we were immersed in the culture.
On the first day we were warmly welcomed by all the sisters and the community. We happened to arrive on a Saturday and on this day the sisters invite all the local kids and their mothers to the convent to play games and provide them with lunch and gifts. The atmosphere when we arrived was overwhelming; they automatically treated us like family and made us feel a part of their community within seconds. All the children and mothers put on a great concert for us, where they danced, sang, talked about themselves and then they gave us bags that they had handmade for us out of old popper containers.
The next day we got to see more of the island. We went to church in the morning, then came home and had breakfast, which was interesting to say the least, then made our way out to the local markets and towns. This was one of the most challenging parts of the trip, as compared to Australia it was so busy! People were everywhere; so much movement and action you couldn’t catch your breath. Although there were so many people they didn’t ignore us, every person would smile and say hello to us.
Over the next few days we visited schools. This was definitely a highlight for all of us as seeing the differences between the Australian education system and theirs was astonishing. The most surprising thing for me was the education, 4th year Maths at University in the Philippines is equivalent to the basic trigonometry we learn in Year Nine. Although the Filipinos face challenges day in and day out no one can take away their amazing sense of faith and family. The happiness, hospitality and generosity everyone showed towards us was a constant reminder that no matter what your financial status or race, you should show kindness in your everyday actions. We taught the students about the Catholic faith and also about Australia. Their reactions when we told them that we had part time jobs were amazing.
Poverty is an issue facing the majority of the Filipino population, no running water meant we had to hand pump our own water from the well, shower with buckets, flush our own toilets and be careful to only drink bottled water. Lumen Christi and the Social Justice Advocates of the Sapphire Coast, in collaboration with Disaster Aid Australia and the Filipino group, Balay Mindanaw, have developed a Clean Water Project aimed at installing the world class water treatment technology of the Maxi Skyhydrant. If you wish to assist in providing clean drinking water to the Pontevedra community, please contact Mrs Wendy Mockler at Wendy.Mockler@cg.catholic.edu.au
We also had the pleasure of meeting the recently retired Bishop and the current Bishop. The nuns insisted we danced for the retired Bishop, so we learnt two dances and performed them for him and he loved it! We also sang him Australian songs and surprisingly he knew all the words to “Waltzing Matilda”. After that we travelled back to the current Bishop’s quarters and had a great chat with him about his faith and how he lives his life as a bishop. This was an amazing day and gave us an insight into their lives.
We travelled to all these places on the nuns’ bus, which was definitely an experience as we were a little squished at times but we soon forgot about that as we would always sing wherever we went. They loved to sing and they loved us to sing even more. We had some down time as well as the nuns took us to a resort near the convent where there was a pool. After having a swim we had dinner there and watched the sun go down and it was one of the most beautiful things that we had ever seen. We also got to stay in the mountains for two nights in this big wooden house. The nuns took us out to this amazing waterfall in the rainforest. We all went under the falls including the nuns and this was a major highlight as none of us wanted to leave.
The day came where we had to leave the nuns for good, the saddest moment of the trip as we had become so attached to these amazing people in such a short time. We will be forever grateful to the Franciscans Sisters of St Anthony as they showed us a new life and taught us how lucky we are and also how to open our hearts to help others in need. The work they do every single day is to benefit others and not for themselves which truly amazed us all.
We thank Mrs Reckord and Mr Watters, Lumen Christi Catholic College, Pambula and Bega Catholic Parishes, Social Justice Advocates of the Sapphire Coast, Merimbula Rotary Club, Rotary Club of Hall, Tathra Lions Club and the Pambula-Merimbula Golf Club for helping make this trip happen. It was one of the greatest things we have ever done.
