FIRST TRIBAL CHILDREN’S CAMP

FIRST TRIBAL CHILDREN’S CAMP

May 26 – 29, 2014 at Kihan Elementary School.

Glory to God for the success of the children’s Camp. It was harder than I thought to control children who gathered in a camp for the first time. Unlike the camps I ran before, this one is unique and worth remembering.

THE Participants

207 Bla’an children came (ages 6 – 12 years old) from 4 sitios (small villages) of Kihan and were excited to experience that first time event in their lives.

Teachers and Volunteers

With the help of 3 teachers  and  23 volunteers the camp was made possible.

Miss Sol Chua – A teacher and a church worker at Tagum Christan Fellowship. She helped handle the children 6 to  8 years old.

Miss Marjorie Gayagaya – A licensed teacher, a Bible School Graduate and a children Minister at Bula GB  Church. She handled the 9 – 12 years old during the camp.

Pastora Karen Mada- A tribal worker and wife of Pastor Elmer Mada now serving Faith Gospel Church of Amnas, Kihan, Malapatan, Sarangani Province. She served as assistant Director of the Camp. I am praying for her to lead the future children’s camps.

The highlands Youth assisted the teachers in the class and in serving food,

The  women helped for the food and merienda preparation

The Pastors helped in  some other capacities.

REACH TEAM also conducted medical clinic at that time and served as the medical personnel just in case of emergencies.

Alabel youth served as my personal assistants in transportation and photography.

Camp Acitivities

May 26 (Travel, registration and orientation)

We Travel from Gensan to kihan along with the volunteer  teachers and  with the initial supplies at the back of Pepe. I also took the extra refrigerator to kihan so we a place to stack the perishable items. We arrived near lunch time as the travel needs to be slower due to the condition of the vehicle. We had few stops wondering if we can make it to kihan as the back wheel began to have a grinding noise but as I continued, the noise were gone. I also needed to shift to low gear on that long Downhill road as the brake didn’t seem to hold. We were also stuck on the muddy trail near kihan as the rainy season is starting, thus making the travel more challenging. But we made it to Kihan. Children are there waiting to be registered. Sister Kristina already registered some and got more than 60 on the list already. The rain poured after lunch and making the place cooler as the breeze blew on the Clinic. We have to wait for the rain to stop and began the registration. The road toward the venue was muddy but the children didn’t mind it due to excitement. We registered 160+ on that afternoon and made orientation on the kids about the camp and what they needed to do and what to bring with them. We dismissed the kids at 4pm as it was a day camp only ( the facilities was not suitable for children staying overnight). The REACH Team arrived late that afternoon for the Free clinic and Medical Support of the Camp. When their vehicle got stuck in the slippery uphill climb before reaching the clinic, I was called to tow them out which I did hoping Pepe could help. But it was funny because the supposed savior needed to be saved later as Pepe got stuck and wouldn’t start. The REACH vehicle managed to get out anyway without Pepe’s help (I just assisted Jordan how to get out) and later towed Pepe toward the open space near the clinic.

That evening at the Clinic’s upstairs (Staff house), the staff were up until 11pm preparing for the things needed for the next couple of days.

May 27

The staff continued to register the participants coming that morning and we did reached 207 participants as  we started at 8 in the morning. We had the opening program in the morning with Praise singing, prayer, Introduction of staff, setting the Camp Rules, Learning new songs and Short Movie. Then we divided the participants into 2 groups for the division of class according to their age category. With the help of teachers and youth volunteers, the children were able to enjoy more lessons and handwork in their respective class. We serve Merienda in
between class and Lunch after the morning session. In the afternoon, we divided the participants into 4 groups for the group games and with the help of 4 youth volunteers who served as coaches (team leaders), we were able to make the children enjoy the games that whole afternoon. We served merienda at the end of the games before we dismissed them at 4pm.

May 28
We started at 8 in the morning with praise and worship and the word of God through movie with

Pastora Karen Mada. Then followed by the division of classes and workshops. Merienda and Lunch were served. In the afternoon we shorten the activities due to heavy rains and we needed to send some of the children that needed to cross the river before the kihan river gets high. While the activities went on that day, I was purchasing food  supply for the last day, the prizes and the giveaways here at gensan. I borrowed the REACH TEAM’s red truck as Pepe was in trouble. Pastor Benjie 
and Cristina were with me that time. When we were on our way back, the river was flooded so high for the first time since April  that we cannot cross to have the supplies delivered to the other side. 

That was 5:30 in the afternoon and we waited for many hours along with the stranded people on the village before crossing the river. We look for a place where we can cook something to eat and I am grateful, an assembly of God member volunteered to cook for us. I bought rice and sardines in the sari-sari store nearby. That was 9 in the evening that the stranded people decided to go as the river was low enough for them to cross on foot. Pastor Benjie and Cristina decided to walk toward the clinic. I decided to stay and wait for the morning as I have to cross the river 5 times and no one could help in case I have troubles in the middle of the night. I did not go somewhere but stayed inside the vehicle praying that I could be able to deliver the goods safely to the other side. I could see lightning flashes somewhere beyond kihan and begun to worry of the river might go even higher when it rains up in the mountains. My fear worsen when heavy rains poured so hard at around 2 in the morning and I began to talk to God about the need to cross the river and for what purpose why I got stranded in the other side of the river. The answer to my questions got answered at around 3 in the morning when I heard noise outside from people walking in the rain with their flashlights on carrying somebody on a hammock. I went outside out of curiosity and found out that a woman gave birth at around 9 pm and the placenta still left inside. The tribal customs here did not permit the umbilical cord to be cut until the placenta comes out. So in that case, the newborn baby was already outside with the umbilical cord still attached to the mother for 6 hours. It was cold and raining with only one umbrella to cover the mother and child. I was moved with compassion and without a second thought, I said to myself that it was God’s purpose why I was stranded on the other side of Kihan, to save that mother and the boy. I then volunteered to take them to the Hospital as there was no available vehicle to transport them, and that case was considered urgent. It took me less than an hour to reach Gensan Hospital and delivered the patient safely. It was already 5 in the morning when I got back on the river side but amazingly, the river did not go higher as I feared to happen. Glory to God. Back at the clinic the night before, the Camp staff and REACH team were worried with us as there was no other means to communicate anybody at the clinic to let them know of our situation.

   May 29

The most joyous day for me. I arrived safely at the site  so renewed and invigorated despite the

lack of sleep the other night. Arriving that morning  means I have to do what was supposed to do the night before, the sorting of the goodies (school supplies) and the prizes. But with the help of the volunteers, the task was done so fast. We had the children gathered again for that last day of camp. We worship God in singing praises with Pastora Karen. I preached to them and led hundreds of them to give their lives to Jesus. What a Glorious day. We gave a spaghetti treat to the children (so special here) and divided the class for the last time for their workshop and distribution of the school supplies. The children were so happy for the gift they had because 
school started on the first week of June and the thing they received were useful as they start the school year. We distributed a pack depending on his/her grade. Inside the pack (plastic case) were pen/pencil with sharpener, notebook, eraser and writing pads. I could added more items but because of that number of participants, I limited the items to what we can only afford. It was not only the children, but also the parents who witnessed the distribution of school pack were happy and personally thanked us for the help. It was just a simple thing, so limited but that meant so much to lives of the people here at the mountain. After Lunch we had some short games and surprises at the hall then we distributed the prizes for their game winnings. The children were so happy. Many asked if we will do it again next year…. And we answered “ we plan to do it again”. We then asked the children to help in the clean up and restoration of the venue which did not took us too long. The Camp officially ended at 3 in the afternoon. Later that afternoon, together with the staff, we had a small thanksgiving celebration at the clinic. I appreciate all their efforts and their joy to serve in the camp. Everybody was in high spirit as we discussed each experiences during the camp. I gave each a simple token of appreciation. We stayed for the night and had a movie for the staff.

May 30

Early in the morning, with the hope that I could make Pepe (the mountain Jeep) to start as I did not took any attention to the vehicle on the  onset of the camp. After figuring out , patience and prayerful tries, I made the engine to run again. Glory to Jesus. We loaded our stuff to the jeep , ate our breakfast and helped in cleaning the Clinic before leaving. We left Kihan at around 9 in the morning. The travel was  slow and with caution as we had trouble with Pepe on our way to kihan 3 days ago. We made a stop-over at alabel Church to drop some volunteers then continued our way to Gensan to eat Lunch at the House with the 2 teachers going home. I finally rested my mind after the month-long super adventure in the highlands of Sarangani.

for more pictures of the camp, just click the facebook link : https://www.facebook.com/jogubal/media_set?set=a.10204158975318677.1073741856.1355015043&type=3



Pastor Jojo Gubal
EFM Ministry Associate