My experience: week 3 and 4

I spent two more weeks in a low-income neighborhood. I worked mostly with children that most of the times don't have a well nutrition because they dont have money to buy their food. This children were in a very bad situation so it  felt nice to help them and in some cases, save their lifes. the children are just amazing and I've bonded with them very quickly! There have been highs and lows adjusting to everything but that's what I wanted...to be able to experience a whole load of emotions, good, bad, happy, sad...that's what makes the experience come alive for me and enables me to be pushed out of my comfort zone and get the most out of the experience.
My favorite moments were playing with the kids at the orphanage and seeing their faces light up. I also enjoyed making new friendships that will last me lifetime.
I felt like I was valued and needed which is exactly what I wanted from my volunteering experience.
I borrowed a guitar left by another volunteer and played few songs for kids. At the very end of our stay the kids were asking me to play the song and they were ready to sing and dance, and it was great!
I think my work was appreciated, I just wonder how I could have made it more valuable for them, but to do that I guess you have to stay longer than 2 weeks.
I am just extremely fortunate to have met such incredible children. I was so touched by each one of them and found it very difficult to leave them. On my last day we were able to throw a big party for the street children and to see them all so happy was touching.

My experience: week 1 and 2.

The first two weeks in Philippines I lived in a familly house. I teched the family the propreties of aliments and how to have a good feeding program. My project exceeded my every expectation - this was without a doubt the single greatest experience of my life!
I was ‘over-appreciated’ in many ways! My host family made me feel so at home from the moment I got there. I feel like they were constantly putting me FIRST. I was there hoping to meet THEIR needs and yet all they could concern themselves with was my level of comfort. I was overwhelmed by their kindness...

I left my clothe on the bed and when I returned home it was cleane and bent on my suitcase.

I can’t say enough about the host family - never in my life have I met such wonderful welcoming people!

Leaving my country

I left Uruguay the 24th Agoust at 4pm, saying goodbye to my familly and friends was very hard knowing that I wont see them for a while.
I received a lot of goodbye letters of my closest friends and familly.
It was a very emotive farewell to me.
I slept almost all the time on the plane, and dreamed about philippines and how I imagined this country.
In my suitcase I only packed a few t-shirs and pants and a lot of photos with my friends and familly, just to remember that I have them in the moments of sadness.
An adventure starts today for me.

Puerto Princesa

Before leaving my country to start my experience, i looked for some information from Puerto Princesa:

Puerto Princesa is the second largest city in the Philippines and is located on the island province of Palawan. The city lies 567 km south west from the capital Manila. 

The city has two prevailing types of climatic conditions: six months of dry weather from November to April, and the rest being a wet season from May to October with the heaviest recorded rainfall in September, while the driest month being February.

The main economic activities in the city are tourism, mining, agriculture and fishing.

Puerto Princesa covers an area of 2540 sqkm and has a population of 276 330 inhabitants living in 45,265 housholds. The city has 66 barangays (villages/wards), majority of which are rural settlements with a population of 150,000, most of them engaged in agriculture and fishing. A third of the population resides in the city´ urbanised settlement. About 14% of the households live in city’s nine slums.

The poverty indicator of the National Statistical Cooperation Board lists 27.7% of the population to live below poverty line. 

There are 207 schools within the city. Currently the total literacy rate in the city is almost 99% in urban and 96.5% in rural areas. Health services are provided by four hospitals in the city.  Among the five most common diseases are respiratory infections, genito urinary track infection, malaria and muscular skeletal disorder.