The Biggest Thing and Yet Unseen

Friday nights at J-K often ended late. Still, for the staffs, this was nothing even when a heavy rain blessed their way home, because at dawn the following day, they would have to start a life-changing deed most of them hadn’t experienced before.

J-K Staffs gathered in the office lobby at 5:00 AM

The cold dawn hadn’t stopped the staffs from waking up earlier on a weekend. They gathered in the office lobby, prepared the materials they’d all need and boarded the three separate vans which would take them to the Norzagaray mountains where a Filipino local tribe was waiting for their surprises.

The squad is ready 🙂

After two hours of drive, the whole team arrived at the area where the roads were already too narrow and slippery that the rest of the way to the community could only be accessed by foot.

The team having a short orientation before the hike up starts

Everybody gathered for a short orientation and guidelines before the hike (to the community) started.

The squad arrived with still a high dosage of energy

Not long after, the hike started.

The staffs each took their piece of luggage in their walk; from water gallons, to sacks of rice to boxes of hygiene materials to food containers, everybody had been such a great help .

The road was highly passable. Yet the rain, the night before made it hard to take a step ahead of the other, through the muddy and caky ground. Not long after, the community sitting amidst jungles, caves and mountains greeted the whole team.

A tiny signage marking the tribe’s territory was the sign the team had already reached the community.

Despite the muddy ground, the hopeful kids welcomed everybody. Their hopeful eyes and smiles were unparalleled by any city lights the team was so used to seeing in the Metro.

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A full list of activities was prepared for the kids and for the whole tribe as well. To facilitate these activities, the J-K staffs were grouped into three who’d each focus on Games, Gardening and Food Preparation.

The first set of games had started.

The kids were all cooperative in the games prepared.

In exchange of chocolates, biscuits and candies, the children’s riddles, poems, vocabulary and motor skills were tested.

While the games were unfolding, the team handling the food preparation was busy cooking the mixed delicacies prepared for the community.

The J-K squad handling the food preparation

As the lunch banquet was getting filled with food, the group in charge of gardening were already busy covering their planted seeds with soil.

The seedlings under the ground, may not look much for now. Yet in a few week’s time, the team’s hoping that their climb would bring forth something fruitful for the community.

The team left the gardening area satisfied and hopeful that a few minutes of their time spent with the soil and the grass, would someday equate to a healthy, heartful meal among the tribes.

Soon enough, every body climbed down the mountain where the whole community, together with the other J-K staffs were waiting for a bountiful meal.

After a prayer of thanks, everybody started to dig in.

The rest of the day went by with the Dumagat folks guiding the staffs to the renowned hidden jewels of their community.

Boasting a few hundred feet above ground, the Dumagat Tribe’s mountain peak offers a stunning view of the Sierra Madre ranges of criscrossing rivers and healthy, untouched lush.

In celebration of their 7th Anniversary, J-K Network had gone out of their way to give back to the community. In the end, they have received so much more with the joy, the hope and the satisfaction they have seen in every folk’s eyes.

 

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