From 23 January to 2 February, a group of 8 volunteers from Australia and New Zealand participated in a service project in Cadulawan, Philippines. Cadulawan Integrated School gave us a welcoming ceremony. We were very moved by everyone’s hospitality and generous efforts to make us feel at home. We were in awe at how colourful the school was, how beautiful the scenery was and the excitement they all shared with having us at their school.

We were divided into three groups to teach classes on dental and personal hygiene to grade 4. We also taught grade 8 classes (valiant and creativity) about careers and goal setting. We thought these were important topics for this age group, and we were very impressed with how engaged the students were.  We hoped to inspire and remind the students of their great potential and virtues. Rather than compare or focus on what they don’t have, we want them to focus on what is important. We also discussed the need for the construction of new classrooms to facilitate the growing school. We hope to get started and help with this project, as much as we can.

We also started to repaint the planter walls next to the covered area and we started to paint the mural. For the mural we wanted to include mountains like the ones that surround the school. We also wanted to include mountains like the ones that surround the school. We also wanted to include the words: “Soar to great heights” to accompany the mountains to inspire the students to aspire to great things!