I got to Cebu, about 3 years ago.
I worked as a diving instructor in Phuket at that time and learned to appreciate Thai culture. In my opinion, it is one of the best-run societies in the world. Children, the old, the sick, everyone is taken care of, no one is left behind, everyone is helped.
Everyone needs a vacation and that is why I flew from Phuket to Cebu for diving. We wanted to spend a week on a sailing catamaran and go diving around Cebu and Bohol with some friends.
Meeting point was Cebu, Philippines, the starting point of our tour.
I landed in Cebu at 6 in the morning and was immediately fascinated by the architecture and construction of the airport. Who would have expected a wooden airport on a Philippine island?
By cab to the main street and checked in at 101, one of the high-rise buildings opposite this concrete gray church, which also housed a hotel on a few floors.
A short shower and then off on the street, I was finally for the first time in Cebu and for the first time in the Philippines.
But what I had seen there then, has spoiled me the desire for breakfast.
Small children who slept on a piece of paper on the sidewalk, woken up by adults because they wanted to sweep the sidewalk.
Little girls in pink glitter jackets and white leggings, taken to their hometown sidewalk by their freedmen.
Little boys who were already sniffing glue out of a bag at 8 in the morning.
And all within sight of the shuttered church and hotels and banks. This must be that Christian charity the priests always talk about on Sunday.
But just a few hours later, like everyone else, I stepped over the sleeping, filthy children and ignored every begging child. And in the evening, to be on the safe side, I asked the hooker for her ID. I knew that the Philippine society does a lot to protect its children.
And I am a good person, right?
The next morning we left first for the boat and then for diving. It was a dream vacation.
