Boracay, Philippines

Today we went to breakfast, then walked about 40 min down the beach to Holy Rosary Church, looking for Sister Victoria hoping to volunteer within the Ati Community. The Ati's are the people who inhabited the island long before it had become a tourist attraction. They have been displaced and driven away when tourists and investors started to come to the island.  All the Ati's live on a small piece of property by the beach, which resort owners are trying to take away from them as well.   

Unfortunately, Sister Victoria was no longer with the church so we kinda got the run around before hiring our own motorbike to take us to the Ati Community in Lugutan. When we got there, we weren't sure how we could be of help, so we spoke with one of the ladies who understood a bit of English. We started playing with the kids on the beach, played games, tried to teach them some counting and spelling ,before we realized, all these kids really wanted to do was play with us. So we began building sand turtles and castles, and before we knew it we were in the ocean with 8 kids on our backs wanting to be held, thrown, pulled around and chased.

The Ati's were very friendly and motioned for me to come play a game of volleyball, causing more people in the community to come around and enjoy the game and our company. They may not speak English, but playing, smiling, laughing and slapping high fives are universal. After about 5 hours of being in the water with the kids and playing non stop, we decided to head back, grab some dinner on the beach and watch the sunset, then headed out for the night.

As we were heading out, we saw some children begging on the beach and we ended up starting a conversation we them.  We sat down in the sand and talked with them for over an hour, they were so friendly and sweet.  We were playing math games, which they were awesome at, and naming capitals with countries.  It was such a good time and they really enjoyed themselves.  

If anyone would like more detailed information on volunteering with the Ati's, please feel free to email me at Trunswim1@aol.com, it was very tedious trying to figure out ways to get to help community, but so worth it!