Monday, January 5, 2009

Day 2: Shopping is not for the faint hearted.


The start of our first week began with a tour of the streets surrounding the Guest House (located in the slums of Manila just 10kms from the centre of the city) where much of the social and urban development has been undertaken by Jeff Long and his team.

A four-storey school building, a church and a children’s home are just some of the recent building projects undertaken by international volunteers which have transformed the area into a refuge for the locals who are now provided with free education, running water and an orphanage for children in need.

A twenty minute drive away saw us arrive at the Greenhills Mall in the centre of Manila where all manner of shops, multinational chain stores and eateries greeted us. The contrast between the environments we had seen during the morning was obvious for all of us.

After seeing the local sights (including a visit to the manicure spa for some of the boys) and dinner from American fast food stores we all felt the need for some light training at Faith Academy before the night was through.

With our uniforms delivered by our American team member Josh Manthe we settled into some drills with Kirk Long, now famous in Manila for his role with the Ateneo Blue Eagles college team.

The team flies out to meet Pastor Gary Visitacion in Ilioilio tomorrow morning and plays its first match tomorrow night.

Tomorrow : Our First Result.
Giles Creelman.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seeing Paul playing basketball at the kids home, please remind him not to break the ring (again). Apparently Filipino backboards are not built for Beacham's to hang off. Az n Al

hoopsforhim said...

Agreed, thankfully no other Beachams on the trip can get high enough to dunk.

Greg.