At the Construction Site

Part of the joy of our week in Boracay was seeing the progress that had been made at the construction site since we had been there the year before. Where last year we had been tying re-bar and pouring cement columns, this year stands a fledgling school, with preschoolers and kindergarteners learning English in a Christian environment. The progress on the building is made all the sweeter by the fact that it is worked on only when manpower and materials come available through giving of time and funds by those who support the ministry.

The mission of Agape Boracay Academy is "Raising Future Leaders."
Here is the "hallway" of the school... three classrooms under a thatched roof, on the second floor.
One of the preschool classrooms.
While we were at the construction site, we had the opportunity to give the classroom teachers a little break for a 15-20 minute session a couple of mornings. Here the girls in our group (Madelyn in yellow t-shirt at the middle table) are reading stories we brought with us to one class of children.
Just on the other side of the woven walls where Agape Boracay Academy is holding their little classes, we continued the construction work. Most days including lots of shoveling of rocks and sand. Seemed it was always needing to be moved from one place to another! Several days we were a part of getting the 12 buckets of gravel and 7 buckets of sand needed to mix each batch of concrete, and then passing the wet cement by bucket brigade to the Filipino workers in charge of the job to pour footers for another section of the building.
Seth was a shoveling machine!
Taking a break on the scaffold.. favorite hang out in between assignments!
Seems like a small thing, this little bitty school of so far only 5 and 6 year olds... what impact can it have long term? The ministry of Boracay for Christ believes that teaching the Way, the Truth and the Life to this handful of children will surely have an eternal impact, hopefully not only on the students themselves, but also on their families. As the construction project continues, opportunity for more students and families to be impacted will increase as well. In the meantime, what is also being provided by this project is a chance for people like us to dig in and get dirty for a cause... there's benefit in that as well. :-)