Bertie

Bertie:
Just one month ago Ruel received a call asking us to take a serverely malnourished baby aged 1 year and 2 months. A small bundle was brought by his sister and aunt, who had been looking after him, weighing just 4kg!!!! It was devestating to see a little baby in such bad condition. The photo below does not really show fully the state his little body was in. He had sores all around his groin as his skin was peeling due to the severe malnutrition. His skin was loose around his arms and legs and he had no energy to move or cry. All I wanted to do was cry as I held his little hand in mine and looked into his dull, lifeless, little eyes as he feebly cried.

Within a few minutes he was bathed, his sores soothed and tucked up in a warm bed. When caring for a severely malnourished child there is a strict procedure to follow. It would be so tempting to just feed and feed and feed him but that is the worst thing to do. It is important to start slowly and for the first week to only give milk until he gets stronger to eat food. Watching him guzzle his first bottle and knowing that he is safe and will get better was an amazing feeling.

One month on:
Now a month on and you can see the change in him! The first picture was taken 2 weeks after he had arrived, he looks so cute and small next to the balloon! He was at this point beginning to eat food and really enjoying it!!
It has been such a privilege to be a part of this amazing transformation and know that what we have done has saved his life! He is now starting to sit up and smiles and laughs daily. His eyes are shining and full of life. It is impossible to resist him when he holds his arms out longing for a cuddle! Watching the recovery of Bertie only confirms what an awesome organisation the Ruel Foundation is!!

Change and a rest!!

Change:

I am really enjoying teaching the children here at Ruel and it is so rewarding and wonderful to see them learnig and enjoying their learning too! Despite the language barrier they are make such great progress and coming on in leaps and bounds. Their English is also getting so much better! I have increased my teaching sessions to an hour every morning with the two oldest children and we are joined by one of the daughters of a Canadian couple who are missionaries here at Ruel. It is a win win situation for us all, as having her in the group is so good for the English development of the others and at the same time she is getting her schooling. In addition to the hour in the morning we also do an hour in the afternoon play-based learning. This is the best part!! I have 5 children and we spend each afternoon either cooking, painting, playing outside, walking, singing...etc... basically just having a whole lot of fun!!

Another change that has happened this week is that I have moved from my apartment to make way for a maternity clinic. In the Philippines many women a day will die during childbirth not to mention the babies. Maternity care is expensive and many women cannot afford to pay. Offereing free pre-natal, birth and post-natal care will make such a difference to the community and prevent many many deaths. It is exciting times so where I was living is now going to be a birth room! Looking forward to being involved in this part of the ministry and hopefully maybe even seeing a few births.

Rest:

After a very very busy first 7 weeks last weekend we headed to what I call paradise! A beach resort about an hour and half away called Peurto Galera. Along with my friends from here we went to spend 2 days chilling and relaxing. It was very much needed as since we arrived it has been non-stop with establishing my teaching, rennovating Theresa and Jason's house and setting up the maternity clinic and they are just the big things - never mind the smaller day to day jobs!Watching the sunset on the beach was fantastic and swimming in the sea, I cannot remember the last time I swam in the sea!!! It was a must as it was the only way to cool down from the sun!!! I resisted the several offers for a massage but think next time will put on my list!! We came back feeling refreshed and well rested -ready to start again! At the end of this week I am hoping to go to Manila not so sure that will be as restful but I am looking forward to seeing a mall!!!

School!

I went to school last week!!! As our 2 older children attend pre-school in the morning I thought I would pop along with them to see how things were taught here. Pre-school here operates in a similar way to our nursery in the sense that there are 2 intakes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Our children attend in the morning and the session starts at 7.30am and finishes at 10:45! A long morning!


The official age for starting school at the elementary government school is 6 and the school year starts in June. The school day is from 7am-3pm. It is hard to believe that they expect their children to be at school that long at such a young age. I am hoping to visit the elementary school next week as I believe it is very different to the pre-school. Look out for the post!




On arriving at the pre-school it was immediately clear that the children were not going to concentrate on their teacher when there is a strange white woman standing at the back on the classroom - not really like I blend in!!!! All the children were sitting at tables appearing busy! These children are aged 3-6. The classroom was very endearing lots of recognisable areas of learning such as, role play, small world, science area etc... but at the same time completely different to ours. It was really great to see the Sari-Sari (shop) and house role-play area as that is exactly what you see along the road here in the Philippines. I think I might steal that idea and build a sari-sari and house here at Ruel!




I wandered around as the teacher was talking to them in Tagalog and heard her mention 'madame Lynette' a few times and assumed that was me! Then after a while I noticed that she had left!!!!! What was I to do - 30 little faces looking up at me. I tried to talk to them in English and they tried to talk to me in Tagalog but we were getting nowhere and just to prove that children everywhere are the same, when their teacher leaves they started to be very silly! We had several boys running around with waterpistols, girls crying and lots of children trying to talk to me in a strange lanugage I didnt understand! So in true style the water pistols were removed and although I couldnt stop the girls from crying some sort of order was restored. Let's say we had not been very productive in all that time!


I felt really sorry for the teacher who is on her own with 30 children aged 3-6, I understand how it is not an easy job and I only had 19 in my class when I left and had support! And to think she does all this for less than £50 a month. Never have I been so grateful and appreciative of my job. I certainly will be looking with fresh eyes around my classroom when I get home.

Playdough!

Good news now feeling totally better and back to normal. It was so nice to be back working with the children and although I was only unwell for about 4 days it was amazing how much I missed them!

On Sunday I set out to make some playdough ready for using with both the big kids and small kids at Ruel. Accompanied by Maiya and Ayda we made 4 lots of playdough - using lots of different colours. It was such good fun! Believe it or not I had never made playdough before so had the potential to be a complete disaster.

It is amazing how much fun and learning you can get from playdough. Watching the childrens faces light up as I brought out the bright coloured playdough. I have been teaching the bigger kids the letters 's' and 'a' so we used the playdough to make these letters. You should have heard them gasp in wonder when I showed them how to use the playdough mats to make the letters. They had so much fun. With the small toddlers they seemed a little unsure and the sensation of the playdough in their hands felt strange to start. But they too soon got the idea and enjoying flattening, banging, rolling and prodding the playdough!!!! Something so small and cheap to make has brought me and the children so much joy this week!!

A mixed week!

Week 4!!!

Week 4 already and a month has passed since I left the UK! As each day passes I am feeling more and more confident to do more things and getting familiar with my surroundings. Here are some pictures of our street and neighbours.

This week I travelled on my own into town on a tricycle to collect my passport. Doesn't sound like much but for me it was a big thing; being able to do something completely on my own and successfully! I was even confident when the tricycle driver I asked to bring me home wanted more than double the fair! I just told him I would find someone else to take me! And I did!

Week 4 has been mixed. Start of the week went really well the children are making progress in so many ways. I was planning to do so much with them, the first thing being to make some playdough! But by Tuesday evening things did not all seem to be well...and by Wednesday morning it was obvious that I was not myself!!! So enforced rest has been upon me - but I am making the most of it. Enjoying reading my bible lots and watching DVD's and sleeping until I feel better. Oh and drinking lots and lots and lots of water!!! Today (Thursday) I still feel a little weak but I think the worst is over! So hopefully I will make the playdough at the weekend and we will be back to normal next week.

I am praying for wisdom at the moment that I will know when to do the right thing. When you are living side by side with people who are experiencing injustice, poverty, corruption its impossible for your heart to not want to help. Especially when you consider that a days wages over here is a little over £3 and that would have been a very hard day for most people. Being part of The Ruel Foundation has really opened my eyes to so many things and I am learning all the time. They face hard decisions daily and there is always a need somewhere within the small area in which we live never mind the wider community.

Well...no plans as yet for weekend but I am sure it will be busy there is always something happening or somewhere to go, people to meet!!!

Settling In!

Week 3:

Nearly half-way through week 3 and I am amazed at how quickly time is going. Starting to feel like I am getting into the routines here and feel a little more sure of what I am doing! Its true what they say you know you have the confidence to do something when you can show someone else and that happened to me this week! Christina arrived for New Zealand last Thursday and together we went into town at the weekend - I was able to show her around and I actually felt very confident for the first time since arriving!

Starting to make progress too with my little class of 3!! They have stopped crying - result! They now run to me when I come and start getting the table and chairs ready for our lesson. They love the time we spend together and in the evenings when I go back to look after them they are desperate to show me what they remember or want to practise more!! Language is still a little bit of a barrier but I can already see their progression. Surprisingly preparation is taking almost as long as at home! I never will complain again about photocopier being down!!! Or about not having right resources. I have realised how lucky and blessed I was back home with everything to hand in my classroom. Here I am making everything by hand (really enjoying the creativity actually!) and reproducing it 3 times - just as well I only have 3 in my class couldnt imagine having to create 30 sets each time! Just wish I could find some decent paint - all paint here is very small and not good for children's painting - will go on a hunt at the weekend!!



My Class of 3!

Have finally erected my mosquito net properly - not touching my legs anymore! Was quite impressed with Theresa and myself it wasn't easy trying to attach it to a bunk bed! Sleeping getting a lot better too! Now used to the noise of the fan which acts as a great distraction from the barking dogs and early morning noises! Making the most of the cooler nights and days and lying in because as soon as the hot weather arrives I am sure lying in a hot bed will be the last place I want to be! Off now to enjoy late afternoon sun! Its a beautiful day here today!!

Saturday Shopping

The weekend arrived and with it no duties at Ruel - what to do? After a much needed lye and then lunch we headed to Calapan City for some shopping! Saturday is my traditional shopping day at home with my mum so why not transfer some traditions here! Theresa and I headed off on a mission to find things!!!!! My first ride in a tricycle! 20 peso will take you the 6km to town thats just 30p!

Shopping in Calapan is rather different! Theresa and I nearly landed ourselves in trouble within the first few minutes! You would think crossing a road is simple - however Calapan is the 'discipline city' and crossing the road is only permitted on a pedestrian crossing! Good job the officer took pity on us otherwise we would have had a 500 peso fine!! The market shopping is most interesting - all kinds of food; meat, fruit, vegetables lined out on tables as far as the eye can see, takes a little adapting to! Lots of smells and noises completely filling all my senses! Even though I havent even been here a week I still managed to bump into 2 people I knew in the city! Some things stay the same no matter where you are! Before catching tricycle back couldnt resist calling at the Philippine version of McDonalds Jolibee where I ordered french fries - they tasted so good!

Looking forward to next Saturday and the sights and sounds I will be experiencing!