After building, we visited the 2013 buildsite of AKC. There we will have dinner, play with the kids, and see if we can finally beat them in basketball!
Right off the bus we immediately felt welcomed.It’s so amazing how fast you can become friends.We took a tour of the village to see it’s progress. It was beautiful. It shows us how Masagana will eventually look like.It’s basketball time. The girls huddle and create a game plan. The local boys they will be facing copy them 🙂Canada’s height dominates the boards.Canada wins by a narrow score of 5-4.Time for the boys to play the men of the community. In the last 3 years, the Philippines have won every match. Final score: Canada 10. Philippines 11. Canada loses the wager once again and buys the opposing time RC Cola.Before we leave the court, Wendel tries to give the people what they want with a dunk. Joel from the community wows the crowd with his own move. The entire crowd was chanting his name.Time to refuel with some delicious Filipino foodAfter dinner it’s show time. There are a few words from the community leaders. We also give our introductions.Kids from AKC wow us with a danceAlexa performs a song.Teenagers from AKC also perform a danceVeronica and Julienne perform a song togetherThe show continues with another song from AKC ANCOP scholarsThe boys give the people what they want and sing 2 songs: We wish you a merry Christmas, and Baby by Justin Bieber! The crowd goes crazy!The final performance is our Firework dance by Katy PerryFollowed by the our modernized rendition of the Bird DanceThis picture doesn’t do it justice but the crowd was immenseWe broke up into small groups to get to know each other and play some gamesThe groups spread out amongst the tight alley way.The kids already knew how to play “Stella” words and all. We can tell Michael has been here before.Gift giving time.It feels good to give.Wendel even gave up his cool looking sunglassesBefore leaving, it felt we took hundreds of photos.The kids asked us to sign everything from their t-shirts, toys, hats, and even arms!It was a frenzy of signing and picture taking.The best thing about going back each year is to reconnect with so many familiar facesThe kids in the community are growing up and it’s fabulous to hear about their successes in life and in schoolOur visit to AKC was amazing. We will never forget this community.The kids follow us all the way to the bus.This was the last picture taken from the bus door just before the last of us boarded
Thank you for following our travels.
Tomorrow we will be continuing our build in Masagana and skating at the Mall of Asia.
Feel free to write a comment below and read our own responses.
9 thoughts on “Day 8 – (pt.2) Visiting AKC Community”
What can I say? AKC was so lit, man. Everyone there was so excited to meet us, & genuinely get to know us. The kids kept smiling & the excitement in the air was present since the time we stepped off of the bus. Basketball definitely isn’t my sport, but I had fun doing it. It was nice knowing that I could be playing the game completely wrong, yet still have people cheer me on as the game comes to an end. But, things went differently at the end of the night. Kids weren’t cheering us on for our departure, as they instead (almost) encouraged the tears to fall. Leaving the community broke my heart, especially as I got to know so many of the individuals there on a whole new level. When the time comes, I hope to revisit AKC & share more experiences with those I met, but until then, I keep all of the memories & tokens of love close to my heart.
I finally got to see the village my sister built at a few years ago, the houses were so nice, almost as nice as all the people there. AKC was sooooo much fun! i swear i saw a kid who looked super familiar, i thought he might have been in a picture my sister had but he said he didn’t know. Anyways, it was so much fun! there was this one boy who was so adorable, i wanted to take him home in my suitcase but unfortunately i don’t think i’d get very far without being caught haha. The basketball game was… fun, but i think i agree with megan that it’s not exactly “my sport”. They had some good players! and they had a bunch of girls that could really dance! it was really fun to see that. AKC was definitely one of the livest villages by far, it was really fun.
Ahhh AKC was so crazy :):):)!!!!! Everyone was so excited to see us! It was really fun to play basketball with the community members (haha even though the little kids almost beat us).Also, everyone there was so talented! I remember a little boy who was really shy but, I encouraged him to sing and he was amazing!!! It honestly felt like we were celebrities there, which was weird because we are just like them. However, it felt good because they really appreciated what we were doing,
AKC was such an amazing village. I played this little game with some of the kids where they would try and high-five me and I would try and dodge them. The game got intense really quickly, with kids running up to me when I wouldn’t expect it and slapping my hand. These kids know how to play a game.
Today at AKC was so much fun! When I started talking to the older group of children it was amazing to hear and see that they have graduated high school and in their first year of uni. I was in shock to find out that they were only 16 yrs old. They family’s were so welcoming and amazing dancers all of them.
This village was absolutely crazy! The atmosphere was so welcoming, and fun loving. Everyone was so supportive, whether I was missing layups or hitting all the wrong notes when singing Baby.I felt a bit like a celebrity, and I think some of the kids genuinely believed i was Justin Bieber. There were a lot of kids their our age, and we were able to talk about school and plans for the future. Many had been sponsored by ANCOP, and it was amazing to see the impact that ANCOP has had on their lives. It was super hard to leave.
The AKC community was beyond amazing. The amount of people welcoming us was crazy, there were so many kids that wanted to get to know us. They got attached to us so quickly, whenever I’d be walking around there would be at least three kids holding one hand. One child caught my attention and was attached to my hip the whole night, her name was Romelyn. She was sponsored by Dana, a girl who went on the trip last year and sponsored her. She treated me like I was her guest, she took me to her house to meet her family and to show me where she lives. I felt like I was part of the family, she gave me a red butterfly pencil as a remembrance, and I’ll never forget her. It broke my heart to leave the village, especially when she asked when I’d be coming back.
Boy do I feel blessed to have the summer and to have the storage space to be able to enjoy these emails.
Peace, Joy and Hope, Steve De Quintal Teacher, St. Mary’s CSS, 66 Dufferin Park Ave. Toronto, Ontario M6H-1J6. 416-393-5528 ext. 84293 “that they may have life and have it the full.” “Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.” – Vesta M Kelly ***You can always email but a call or a visit will get a quicker response*** ________________________________
What can I say? AKC was so lit, man. Everyone there was so excited to meet us, & genuinely get to know us. The kids kept smiling & the excitement in the air was present since the time we stepped off of the bus. Basketball definitely isn’t my sport, but I had fun doing it. It was nice knowing that I could be playing the game completely wrong, yet still have people cheer me on as the game comes to an end. But, things went differently at the end of the night. Kids weren’t cheering us on for our departure, as they instead (almost) encouraged the tears to fall. Leaving the community broke my heart, especially as I got to know so many of the individuals there on a whole new level. When the time comes, I hope to revisit AKC & share more experiences with those I met, but until then, I keep all of the memories & tokens of love close to my heart.
It’s amazing how you can get so close so fast. That’s the power of love and hospitality.
I finally got to see the village my sister built at a few years ago, the houses were so nice, almost as nice as all the people there. AKC was sooooo much fun! i swear i saw a kid who looked super familiar, i thought he might have been in a picture my sister had but he said he didn’t know. Anyways, it was so much fun! there was this one boy who was so adorable, i wanted to take him home in my suitcase but unfortunately i don’t think i’d get very far without being caught haha. The basketball game was… fun, but i think i agree with megan that it’s not exactly “my sport”. They had some good players! and they had a bunch of girls that could really dance! it was really fun to see that. AKC was definitely one of the livest villages by far, it was really fun.
Ahhh AKC was so crazy :):):)!!!!! Everyone was so excited to see us! It was really fun to play basketball with the community members (haha even though the little kids almost beat us).Also, everyone there was so talented! I remember a little boy who was really shy but, I encouraged him to sing and he was amazing!!! It honestly felt like we were celebrities there, which was weird because we are just like them. However, it felt good because they really appreciated what we were doing,
AKC was such an amazing village. I played this little game with some of the kids where they would try and high-five me and I would try and dodge them. The game got intense really quickly, with kids running up to me when I wouldn’t expect it and slapping my hand. These kids know how to play a game.
Today at AKC was so much fun! When I started talking to the older group of children it was amazing to hear and see that they have graduated high school and in their first year of uni. I was in shock to find out that they were only 16 yrs old. They family’s were so welcoming and amazing dancers all of them.
This village was absolutely crazy! The atmosphere was so welcoming, and fun loving. Everyone was so supportive, whether I was missing layups or hitting all the wrong notes when singing Baby.I felt a bit like a celebrity, and I think some of the kids genuinely believed i was Justin Bieber. There were a lot of kids their our age, and we were able to talk about school and plans for the future. Many had been sponsored by ANCOP, and it was amazing to see the impact that ANCOP has had on their lives. It was super hard to leave.
The AKC community was beyond amazing. The amount of people welcoming us was crazy, there were so many kids that wanted to get to know us. They got attached to us so quickly, whenever I’d be walking around there would be at least three kids holding one hand. One child caught my attention and was attached to my hip the whole night, her name was Romelyn. She was sponsored by Dana, a girl who went on the trip last year and sponsored her. She treated me like I was her guest, she took me to her house to meet her family and to show me where she lives. I felt like I was part of the family, she gave me a red butterfly pencil as a remembrance, and I’ll never forget her. It broke my heart to leave the village, especially when she asked when I’d be coming back.
Boy do I feel blessed to have the summer and to have the storage space to be able to enjoy these emails.
Peace, Joy and Hope, Steve De Quintal Teacher, St. Mary’s CSS, 66 Dufferin Park Ave. Toronto, Ontario M6H-1J6. 416-393-5528 ext. 84293 “that they may have life and have it the full.” “Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.” – Vesta M Kelly ***You can always email but a call or a visit will get a quicker response*** ________________________________