Day One in Banilad

There are not even words that can explain how amazing today was. I was in Banilad Elementary school working with the fourth graders. For all three programs, Communication, Education, and Justice Administration, we worked with the same classroom. Tomorrow, we will be working with the same students in the morning but get two new classes for the afternoon. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by some of the 6 and 7 year olds with a whole Christmas production. They sang several American Christmas songs including "I wish you a Merry Christmas" along with some songs in Cebuano. It was so incredibly touching. They were still extremely shy this morning. I got them to warm up to me by singing them "You belong with me" by Taylor Swift. As uncomfortable as it was for me, they LOVED it and finally joined in. The most touching experience that I had today was when a little girl, barely wearing her uniform, tried to give me her bracelet right off of her hand. So far, every single person I have met here would be willing to give any of us in need literally anything they had. These people barely come from anything yet they are willing to greet us with all of these wonderful things. After completing our morning program we went to about 10 other classrooms in the school to teach them the CARDS cheer. I am going to need a day to prepare myself for another 10 more cheers. Never knew it was so exhausting! I cannot wait for day 2 in Banilad and to meet some new students.
-Kara Keeton, Justice Administration