The Awesome SMILE Project was a very successful event. It took place at Luis Amigo Ladies Dormitory Last Sunday, June 2. This project was initiated by @indayclara with the coordination of @jassennessaj & @steemph.cebu community. This project is meant to make those street children smile by giving them delicious foods, slippers, clothes & gifts. We also had fun activities.
Without further talking, let me recall what happened.
My fellow steemian volunteers came from 8:00 am to 8:30 am. The program started with an opening prayer by @kayegrasya & followed by a simple welcome address from @indayclara and @morken.
The children seem very excited about the event. They were very early in spite of the rainy weather. Each child is given a nametag as well as the volunteers in order to be easily recognized. There were also parents who came along with their children.
The Art Workshop
From our previous Cebu Writers' Guild Meetups. We planned to have an art workshop for these kids. Since @indayclara told us that the kids do love coloring activities.
The volunteers @christianyocte, @smaeunabs & @iamqueenlevita gave some coloring sheets to the children for them to work on. This first activity is a beginner-level which was very easy for all the children who managed to join.
The children were very focused on shading those drawing outlines because they knew there will be an award for the most beautiful and cleanest artwork. We asked them to put their names above the coloring sheet.
The volunteers helped the children in beautifying their artworks. They taught the children some tips and tricks in order for them to have a wonderful artwork.
Other children were also guided by their parents. This kid named Ronje and his mother helped each other to win the prize!
Baby Lyka, one of the youngest kid on the event was motivated to join by @morken as well.
Other volunteers like @ryancalaunan, @steembytes & @jason04 were also there to help the kids. Surprisingly, they also joined the workshop.
While the other kids were busy coloring, there were some that came in late. They were soaking wet due to the rainy weather that day. My friend Jasmine helped her take a bath. She was crying when I captured a picture of these two.
This boy also came in late and wet. He didn't mind the other kids that were busy coloring. He washed his clothes and dried up in order to be ready for the next activity.
After consuming the time given, we asked to hand over their coloring sheets to be judged. The kids were very happy to finish their artwork.
I was very happy to see their awesome artworks. At their young age, they have already that talent/skill in the art. I know that some of them would become a professional artist someday!
The Basketball
After the art workshop, a basketball activity was followed. The kids were divided into two groups. Each group was led by a fellow steemian. The 1st group was led by @jassennesaj and the other group was led by @josephace15.
It was a 4 vs 4 game. The game was very intense, they sometimes miss a shot. The game went more intense when each team started to gain some points. As what is being said, whatever team that wins would get a prize!
Look at how enjoy @jassennessaj was.
The boys went competitive. Obviously, you can see the smiles on their faces. They were enjoying the game.
The kid in the 2nd picture above named Jaysen was very funny. He was one of @jassennessaj's team. Every time when he could shoot the ball into the ring, he immediately gets the mic and announced the updates of the game. Player + Announcer. lol
The other boys that didn't join the basketball just watched the game. They didn't join because they were too young or I think they didn't know how to play. They were given some bread to be eaten while patiently waiting for the next activity.
Batman or the kid with @morken enjoyed watching the basketball while eating his bread. His very cute and lovely.
The Art Workshop 2
In the other side, some kids were busy in the art workshop intermediate level. Most of the participants were girls. The task was to create a colorful and clean outcome only using colored papers. The volunteers @iamqueenlevita & @christianyocte were the ones who guide and took care of the participants.
There are also kids that couldn't participate the intermediate level of art workshop. So @ybanezkim26 just gave them another sheet they can color with. My friends Meia Rose and Dorothea were the ones who helped and took care of those kids.
After a half hour, the two activities were followed by fun games. Before that, each member of @jassennessaj's team was given some rewards because they won!
Paper Dance
The 1st game was paper dance. The players dance when they hear the music and when the music is stopped the players should balance themselves in the paper given without a foot touched outside the paper. This game is very popular with Filipinos. The kids were asked to find a volunteer to be a partner with. I was very sad though I couldn't join because I have to document the entire event, but it's ok. I enjoyed watching the kids and steemians together.
The game was pretty fun. The volunteers carried their partners balancing to win a prize for the kids. Many had failed to balance but many won as well.
The winners were very happy to receive their rewards.
We immediately proceeded to the next game "giling giling" & "cup relay". In the giling-giling game, the kids were group into three. The participants were most likely to be girls, they were led by @smaeunabs, @junbride, & @gratefulayn. The players needed to dance first then destroy the cup pyramid then turn around the chair then assemble back the pyramid then dance and pass to the next player.
@smaeunabs' team won. The girls were very happy. I was very amazed by @smaeunabs when I saw her dancing. She got some skills!
And for the boys, the cup relay was a fun activity as well. The cup relay is where the players should bring the cup just by attaching it to a straw in the mouth.
Again, @jassennessaj's team won. The boys were given some watches as their reward. Look at that mini @jassennessaj and he himself. How cute.
They also announced the winners of the art workshop. The first picture where Ronje received his award was very funny. His mother was very proud but he's like "what happened?".
I am very proud to the four of them. I know that they could aim higher! I am very sure someday they would become successful. After all, they received some lovely toys for them to play.
The activities and games were over. It was the time where we gave them their lunch. From a very long talk, I am very sure that they were very hungry. The sisters from the dormitory and the volunteers helped each other to arranged the tables and seat for the children and parents.
All the volunteers distributed the packed meal & the juices to every kid and parent.
The kids were very happy to have their lunch. Some of them prefer to pack their lunch back and bring it to their parents, but the sisters in the dormitory told them to eat their lunch. I felt sad when I heard the same thought to a parent who also wanted to bring her own lunch to her family.
I have admired the girl in the picture above a lot. She prayed first before touching her meal. How inspiring.
My saddest part of the event was when I saw Mark being taken care of the sister. Little did I know that he has an injury in his right foot. He told me that it happened when a taxi cab hit his foot. Luckily, the driver gave him money for his injury recovery expenses. I am very happy the sisters took care of him.
When the distribution is already done, the volunteers as well had their lunch. What about me? hmmm, I was still busy capturing some photographs. When I had a chance to, I ate as fast as I can.
While the other volunteers were eating the others were busy arranging and getting ready for the goods that we would give to those children. They formed the word SMILE with those slippers to be given to those children.
The volunteers were having a tough job when the children started to receive their precious gifts. The team gave slippers to the kids to wear in order for their feet to be safe in walking the streets. The team also gave clothes that were individually checked in order to give the right size of the shirt and short. There were also packed-goods that will be given to the family of each child. The team made sure that every child received the same gifts and goodies.
The children went home very happy bringing the gifts they'd received to their family.
The program ended with a group photo of the volunteers and the children where everyone SMILES.
The children and along with some of their parents very thankful and blessed. They thanked the sisters and the volunteers for the lovely event. Memories will stay forever!
The Volunteers were:
@calvinweigel14 | @christianyocte | @chuuuckie | @gratefulayn | @iamqueenlevita | @indayclara | @jassennessaj | @jason04 | @josephace15 | @juichi | @junebride | @kayegrasya | @liamnov | @morken | @panoramicview | @ryancalaunan | @smaeunabs | @steembytes | @thian2817 | @ybanezkim26
Insert my friends Jasmine, Meia Rose & Dorothea
Thank you all for attending the event. It was nice to meet some steemians that I haven't met before. To all, it was nice to meet you!
Insight
I was very happy to be a part of this awesome project. My heart went very sad and happy at the same time. I learned a lot of things in every child. The smiles on their faces hurt me very bad knowing that they only live on streets with their families. I know that these kids would grow definitely a good person and would become a successful someday. I wish to help them strive poverty but I couldn't. Only through this event, where I was able to let them feel that they could smile in spite of the aches and struggles they brought in their hearts. I love these kiddos so much and I hope I could meet them again. To be honest, I got teary-eyed when I wrote this blog. Memories accidentally recapped every story behind their smiles.
As a documentarian, I hope that my photographs were alright. I tried my best to capture every story in the event. This was my first time to photograph the whole event. I'm very amateur and I'm sorry. Through my experiences, in this event, I learned a lot about photography.
I would like to thank @jassennessaj for helping @indayclara in this initiative. To the benefactors: @youarehope, @yehey, @tarekadam, the @steemph.cebu members, @surpassinggoogle and A Dollar A Day with special mentions: @redrica, @mother2chicks, @nikolina, @aggroed, @cryptocurator, @gmuxx, @goldendawne, @mother2chicks, @nikolina, @pennsif, & @steemcommunity. Thank you so much for helping and supporting @indayclara in raising the funds for this event.
I also want to thank everyone who upvote and resteemed my posts about the project. I love you so much guys! You can check the blog where I donated the post payout of my post here.
@carlitojoshua