Adam all alone with no one to talk to... means a long post!

Last great post from Adam on his epic journey to be a person of faith, remembered for his love, and a voice of hope in the Philippines

I am sitting in Manila airport after making sure the taxi driver did not rip me off. Unfortunately people try to rip you off all the time; you need to be careful; so I made the taxi driver actually use the meter. After I paid the man his dues and he drove off, in Filipino tradition I had to wait... so as I am waiting I'm just attempting to bring together what actually happened in my time here:

On the road trip up to the airport we had 8 kids and 7 adults in one car... sure it was a jeep, but it was cozy. The beautiful green mountains surrounded us, and as we drove across a bridge, I saw this amazing waterfall that crashed down the mountainside. The kids we so excited because they were going up the city to hang out at a mall and see a movie. Two of the boys had never even been to the movies.

Along the way we were having trouble with one of our tyre's leaking a little, so we stopped to get it pumped up in a little town, where there were a lot of military. The military were parading around with some serious weapons; they look a lot more serious than in Counter Strike. (Plant the bomb at long A!!)

I remember walking on the streets in Malaybalay outside the back, and the security guard was holding a massive shotgun... there was another guard outside a super-market holding a shotgun, and it seems like it was not pointing at the ground.

But as I do reflect on my time I realise the greatest gift for me was meeting the children, their joy and life has so won my heart. For example yesterday I bought a lot of lilies and ran a treasure hunt for the kids in the home and the kids in the community... they were all so grateful, looked out for each other, and have such respect for their elders. In fact in Visayan (the main language spoken in Mindano), there are two words you need to use after many of your sentences when addressing those older than you... 'Po', and 'Kuya'... I was known as Kuya Adam.

In the afternoon it bucketed down with rain, like a monsoon or something, and outside kids were sliding and running in the rain, having a blast, one kid even decided to get naked and just run around. Every day here I have run games for kids, taught music and taught the children how to write songs, it truly has been a joy. Last night as I was leaving all the kids drew pictures for me and gave me gifts, and the staff encouraged me in celebrating what they saw in me that were strengths.

The pace of life was difficult for me to begin with, getting up at 4:30am to run; 5:30am was a sleep in. The kids and adults are in bed by 8, and I would just stay up with Felicity to chat and play games. In being here I realise again that I can get quite driven, and end up defining my identity by how much I can fit into a day, and not who I am becoming.

I climbed mountains, walked down waterfalls, ran up and down staircases with local kids, played basketball and to the kids dismay, I still cannot dunk it! I ate a frog, I ate random fruit, I dug holes in the ground, I got my haircut, I had to slouch so my head would not hit the roof, and the Filipino "hairdresser" had to stand on a stool. I attempted to learn Visayan, but only mastered a few words... and I played with kids a lot, and even changed some nasty nappies (nasty is too light of a word).

But though I have been encouraged by the joy and life of the children, and many of the adults, like everywhere there is the other side of the coin.

The day before I left, a man who lived close to the home came by and invited me to his house; he was very drunk. We walked across the paddock, holding hands - the Australian in me was very uncomfortable with this. We went to his house and there were about 5 guys just getting blind drunk. Most Filipino men had a predetermined course of action they thought I was going to take. First they just wanted me to get drunk, then of course because I was leaving I needed to give them something (I did not though), then they went on to offer me Filipino women, some were young girls, not really women yet. I eventually left, but was amazed in one day to see the extremes of what people are capable of. The kids brought such life and love, and these men were just dirty. Dirty doesn't seem strong enough to describe men who offer their own daughters in prostitution for their own gain.

So I am ready to return to Australia, and in no way am leaving the Philippines thinking that this is utopia, in fact it is up there in the top-ten most corrupted nations... but I saw glimpse of humanity... what a great trip its been!