The Road to the Philippines
Not that I knew it at the time but the road to the Philippines began way back in 2017.
There was a church service at which Tearfund had a chat about the work that they do, and also there was an opportunity to sponsor a child.
The church that I go to, Windsor Park Baptist Church, requested to have children from a similar available to sponsor. The idea was to have an impact on multiple children in the same region.
I remember looking at the photos of the children available and choose a younger child. I don't recall why I chose the one that I did no doubt it was a very cute picture 😂
We have been sponsoring our child now for 7 years and receive regular updated from Tearfund, initially from our sponsored child's parents, and then eventually from our sponsored child herself. Most times there was also a drawing attached.
2023
Fast forward toward October 2023 and we received an email from Tearfund with information about an upcoming opportunity to visit the Philippines and meet our sponsored child.
After some thought, prayer, chat, and enquiries I decided that I was interested in joining the trip to the Philippines with others who were interested.
2024
Over the Christmas/New Years break I applied for my first ever NZ passport, which arrived mid Jan. Before this I had a Dutch passport, AND I have not travelled overseas in approx. 12 years.
Over the next few months there was backwards and forwards emails finalizing details around the trip, flights and accommodation etc.
I opted to go a couple days early so that I could have a look around before the official Tearfund part of the trip began.
Our group now consists of 10 people arriving on various different days, with the official part of the trip beginning in the afternoon/evening of 2nd April.
