I apologize for not updating daily. With the compact scheduling (trainings, meeting, preparing, language lessons, etc…) the three of us were exhausted by the time we went back to Kuya Jerry’s place (where we were staying).
So right now, as you are reading this, all of us are back safely in Davao City where where we had more meetings, debriefings and street walks. Obviously, there was a lot that happened since the last update, so I’ll try to fill everyone in.
After our 3rd session – seeing how well it went in terms of relationship building, we decided to keep this kind of implementation for the rest of the training. I’m glad we did. I can say for Luke, Eugene, and myself, we had formed a deep relationship with each individual that attended the training (9 total).
We realized that the computer skills we taught might not be remembered by the community after we leave since we only had a 7 sessions (each 2-3 hours long), so our main objective for the training was for the trainees to be comfortable enough to use the computers and for them to continue to train others what they’ve learned even after we leave.
With that in mind, each session was not about us teaching the computer skills to them, but really about discovering that they themselves have the ability to teach each other. All was going well, and Ben suggested that I let one of the trainees lead a full session to see if they really got the concept of teaching each others down.
To my surprise, one of the trainees stepped up to lead our last session Weds August 26th. Furthering my surprise, this person came up with all the topics on his own AND completed them all during the session. Praise God for making this training successful and I’m thankful for MUPT and Luke and Eugene for providing lots of suggestions.
By the end of the last session, some of us were very emotional as we said our goodbyes (myself included – i had watery eyes). It was definitely a great experience for this team and I hope it was for the Rio Hondo community. Again, I say this for the team that we will all miss them dearly!.
Our time in Davao before we head back home is mostly going to be to unwind, relax, writing reports, and revisit some of the communities we’ve meet when we first arrived in Davao.
That’s the update for the last couple of days… sorry again for the delay. I will update photos soon!
~Greg