My visit started with a little mix up. Children International KC had told me to arrange my own transportation to the office by 10 AM (due to the time with traffic), but the local office intended to pick me up at 9 AM. I had left at 8 and made it by 9:30, then received the most thorough tour ever - I even met my fellow accounting people! Then, we were off for some shopping.
The family priority was a new, thicker foam folding mattress (about $40 on sale). I offered a second one, but was told no by Rosa, the staff person. I thought it was a concern about the cost, but learned otherwise later; however, she did have a paper where the local staff had accounted for the $200 visit fee - it was nice to see how conscientious they were about it. Even though the 2nd mattress didn't work, I insisted they get groceries as well and replace the 12 kg rice with 25 kg. We followed up with clothes shopping, where I gave the thumbs up to clothes for the family too. In total, they went over about $50.
We had the opposite problem everywhere else. I learned McDonald's serves fried chicken with a packet of rice and gravy or spaghetti over here - a favorite and cheap! We then headed to the family home, where I learned why two mattresses wouldn't work - they wouldn't fit. I had assumed that Lovely was able to go to college because the family was better off than my others; however, if they are, they sink it all into education!
I didn't take many photos of the home because Lovely looked embarrassed when she told me which home was theirs. In the photo, it is the metal part only - the concrete block home is the neighbor. I had expected something more like that because that's what most of my kids have had. The floor is plywood being supported by plywood stuck in the rocks on the creek edge.
The family still happily showed me the storage cupboard and fan that my EGs had funded, but I realized that food and clothing may have been the top items because there wasn't space for anything else - the kitchen is a pot outside that you'd have to squat to cook on even. I decided to treat everyone and asked Lovely if her younger sister, Jenalyn, wanted to join and her niece. The little neighbor girl (also sponsored) playing with her got confused and changed into her nice clothes with everyone else, so I could hardly refuse! Lovely's oldest sister, Yolanda, also joined us.
Despite this, we didn't spend much at the EcoPark (they gave us a discount) and I'm not sure the others had eaten, so a "snack" was proposed. Those of us who already ate ordered something smaller than before, but the others had a meal. There were still funds left, so sundaes were added for the kids and a dinner for Lovely's father and Yolanda's son, who'd been in school when I showed up. As many other sponsors have mentioned, fried chicken is a huge hit!
All-in-all, it was a great day. Like with other visits, I was shown well-worn letters and pristine photos and postcards that I'd sent. Lovely even asked about my sister, who'd originally sponsored her. Mom, Milagros, teared up when thanking me as we said our good -byes and her, Lovely and Yolanda all hugged me. I was on the fence about sponsoring here in the future, since so many people seem to like the letters in English (so Filipino kids get sponsored relatively easily), but I really liked the staff, how excited they are about Into Employment and hiring former CI kids, it's quite affordable to vacation here and the people are so warm and genuine!
On a practical note, I learned tonight that you can hear EVERYTHING in the hall at my hotel. Other than that, it's been a good choice to stay near the airport. Don't use shuttles via the airlines though - mine was about $25 and the hotel shuttle is half that. Even better, my Uber back is quoted at about $3.50 & the hotel and CI staff said it's safe.
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