We walk into the classroom and are happily surprised by the sight that awaits us: nearly 20 young children are gathered around two tables, heads bent deep in concentration over brightly coloured construction paper. Around the perimeter of the room many mothers and a few fathers chat in small clusters, while some lean over their children’s heads to coach along or answer questions. Several look up and smile upon our entrance.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
One may think that gathering 20 kids together in one place at one time would be a simple task, but these children have been specially requested and transported from all over the province of Aklan in the Philippines to this one central elementary school. They are children sponsored through World Vision by residents of Vancouver Island, and they’ve gathered today to say “thank you” to their sponsors in far-away Canada.
It’s no small feat, and this marks a memorable day for most of the youngsters, some of whom have never travelled this far from home, and many of whom will be getting their first taste of that ever-present childhood institution: McDonald’s.
We walk around the bustling classroom, thanking volunteers profusely for mounting this effort, chatting with parents, and peeking over the kids’ shoulders to check their progress. The chalkboard at the front of the classroom reads “Now I Have...” in block letters. These words also scrawl across the top of each piece of construction paper, but it’s the crayon illustrations below that tell so much about each child. Many children have drawn pictures of books. A few have drawn a house or food. One boy has painstakingly drawn and labeled a water system. All of their artwork represents tangible things that these children now have, thanks to their World Vision sponsors from Vancouver Island. To observe all at once, it’s an incredibly heart-warming sight.
The children wrap up craft time and a World Vision staff member circles them up. We play a couple of games, do a quick practice round, pull our videographer into the middle and away we go. Child by child, the camera moves around the circle.
Prince Justine, whose sponsor Heather hails from Sooke, leads the group using the Tagalog term of respect for “sister.” “Thank you Ate Heather!” he says. Around the circle we go. “Thank you Ate Aileen,” Ferlyn smiles to the camera; she has drawn pictures of a pencil, paper, and a pretty handbag. Nico offers a winning smile to his sponsor, Linda. Marjorie is dressed all in pink for the occasion. Jorge Jr. has drawn a school building.
At last we end with Brittany King, Victoria’s Kool FM midday host who has joined us to learn about World Vision’s work in the Philippines firsthand. “Salamat. Thank you for your child sponsorship with World Vision,” she says to the camera. As it pans down, we see her own handwritten sign – Now I know how I can help, it reads.
The camera beeps to signal that the recording is over. “That’s a wrap,” someone says. We laugh with a sigh of relief and give the kids a big round of applause. Now it’s time for lunch, which here consists of fried chicken and rice, rather than a cheeseburger and fries.
It’s been a big day for these children, and the end result may be just a few minutes of video footage, but we hope that it warms our Vancouver Island sponsors’ hearts, emphasizing that their sponsored children are real and beautiful and actually not so far away after all.