"Wow, oh my goodness. We are definitely in the provinces now." Anywhere outside of metro Manila is considered the provinces in the Philippines and we got to spend the last two days with a group of city boys at camp in the "provinces" aka our town. One of our fellow volunteers works at a center for boys ages 12-16 who were living on the streets in Manila. In three vans 23 boys, 8 staff, sleeping mats, clothing, toiletries and food (which means LOTS of rice) came down to a seaside park owned in part by the LGU in our town. The guys loved the water and spent every moment they could swimming in the ocean. We also spent time learning about coastal ecosystems from Steve, hiking, watching giant fruit bats, playing games and eating (of course!). The center had brought along their kitchen so every meal included rice, an ulam (main dish), and some vegetables and of course we always had our twice a day meriendas (snacks).
Everybody's a creature for the food web.
