A big part of our summer vacation to the Philippines this year was playing our part in two separate Boy Scout (BSA) "Eagle" projects.  After hearing through one of our friends about our activities in sending clothing to the Philippines for distribution to the needy people there, these scouts came up with a plan of their own!  Working with family and friends they purchased brand new school backpacks here in Utah.  A local liquidation company allowed them to come to their warehouse and load up boxes of school supplies to pack into the backpacks.  With the help of their respective troops they filled the backpacks up and delivered them to us.  We packed up the backpacks into the large (24x18x24 inch) shipping boxes and sent them over to the Philippines in advance of our trip.
     In the Philippines we had different venues where we were privileged to help give out the backpacks.  We gave some of them to neighborhood children in the homes of our friends Carmen Sy (in Cebu City) and Fe Perez(in Consolacion).  More were distributed at the Mabolo Ward (LDS Church) building one Sunday.
     The largest group was passed out on the tiny island of Cabul-an, part of the Bohol province.  This special place holds a sacred spot in our hearts as this is where Daisy (my very own Filipina girl [and wife!]) was born and grew up.  It is home to around 350 families most of whom derive their sustenance from the sea as fishermen.  There is electric power on the island only 4 hours a day from 6 to 10 pm (about half the time it goes down early because of generator problems).  They have no running water and the plumbing system simply flows out into the sea via a long pipe leading to deeper water.  To say people are poor there is to grossly understate the situation.  Even by Philippine standards these people are very poor.  That is not to say they are miserable or unhappy with their life, they are not!  As with Filipinos everywhere, they are friendly and positive people who go about their daily routine as though theirs is the only way a life should be lived.
     This is therefore where we chose to give out the bulk of the backpacks, in a place where they can do the most good to help change lives for the better.  The looks on their faces say it all.  The kids here were just so pleased to have any backpack at all, and it meant that much more to them that they came all the way from America just for them!  The photos of all the children who received backpacks are in the slideshow below.