Day Five - 7th of January 2010 (Boys)

Today we woke up to a wonderful, humid, Filipino morning. First up on the agenda was food packaging in a warehouse owned by the mayor of the town we’re staying in so team SA hopped into our van and headed out through the busy morning traffic. The food we were packaging was for distribution to families in need of help in the disadvantaged communities of Mindanao. Grouped inside a stuffy warehouse we set about packing 2 cans of sardines, 4 packets of two minute noodles and 2 kilos of rice into plastic bags. Not that hard when you think of it, but when you have to pack 600 bags it becomes quite hard work! It took us around 1.5 hours to pack all the bags and by the time we were finished shirts had come off and we were all sweating buckets; nevertheless it was a great feeling to see all those rice sacks filled with food!

Next on the agenda was a food hand out. We were taken to a small community tucked away in the backstreets of Dipolog where ­­­we were introduced to an enthusiastic crowd. After the introductions the pastor gave a gospel message to the crowd and team SA handed out the tracts and ballpoints. The final stage of our visit was the food handout. Families were called out and we took turns giving them the packages of food. The experience was really profound as we witnessed their thanks for what was for us a really basic gift. All that was left to do was say our goodbyes and hop back in the van; although Danny couldn’t resist giving the team candy to throw out to the children, and often adults, as we drove out.

After a lunch out at the mall the team headed back to the hotel for a rest, with departure for our evening games at 3:30pm. That’s when the saga began. Our first game was supposed to be the furthest from town so that we wouldn’t have as far to drive when we were finished with our second, and final, game. Unfortunately there was a mix up with venues and by the time we were at the furthest venue we were informed our first game was at the closer venue. Arriving 1.5 hours late we started what was to be a 20 minute game. Once again the Filipinos ran away with the game at the start and team SA had to dig deep to rein them back in. At half time Tristan gave his testimony to the crowd and we started handing out tracts as the second half started. Team SA eventually got the better of the Filipinos as we came back to win by a tight 4 point margin.

We Arrived at our second venue almost 2 hours late and were about to split our team up for a scratch match in front of the large crowd when the Filipinos turned up at the last minute. What ensued was a very low scoring game as our tight defence prevented the Filipinos getting the ball to their tall centre whilst team SA struggled to find their range on the super tall rings. Special mention to “Scuba” Steve with his sharpshooting at the 3 point line. Team SA won the game comfortably with a margin of 15 points.

The return journey ended at 10:30 and team SA chowed down hungrily on some chicken on a stick and about 8 litres of soft drink. We returned to the hotel at 11:30, too late for the massage session scheduled by everyone but Danny and myself, and hit the sack almost immediately. Thus ended a long, but very fulfilling day. Thanks for tuning in and I’ll catcha l8r sk8rs!

-Andre Janssen