stepping stones

it has been about 3 weeks since i was last able to visit the jail, so i was really excited to visit the inmates this past friday. it was really nice to have them all ask me how my time in manila was, and i got to catch up with them on some of the happenings in the past 3 weeks (the things i missed).

they recently celebrated NACOCOW week, which stands for (National Correctional Consciousness Week), where they had a mr. and mrs. nacocow competition, they raised money by selling raffle tickets (i made a rule that i would only buy one from each cell - for fairness reasons, of course!), and they had different events during the week - well, since i was in manila, i missed the celebration, so i was so sad! haha, some tried to bribe me to stay by saying that i could be the emcee, but alas, maybe the next celebration i will be there! one of the communities in the jail even had this awesome dance number. it was pretty high speed and required a lot of movement. haha! they were very talented.

on friday, we played a couple of team building games with them. the first, something called "stepping stones," having to cross people from one side to the other side, while only stepping on the minimal number of small newspaper cutouts...the second variation we did, was with a competition between two teams in getting from one side to the other, using only 3 "stones." the last, we had a competition to see who could build the highest tower...however, to get the materials you would use, newspaper, tape, cups, you would need to donate different things...i think my favorite part was that, for tape, you would need to donate hair, and each strand would determine how long of a piece of tape you could get.

however, while all of the CICL we work with are male, some have long hair because of their choice of lifestyle, and so, they were more than happy to donate. :) haha, except when some of the other boys tried to pick their strands without them knowing. haha, it was pretty funny actually! hilarious!

here is a recap of some of the things they came out with from friday's activity...

...something that was needed to get the task completed.

 

 

yay! he enjoyed the activity! LOVE when that happens! :)

 

he is usually more creative than this. haha, but true - team work was needed. :)

some of the things that didn't work // on top : no faith to own self/ability

that means: "no trust in own self," "no trust in others," "does not know how to be with others"

they live together. team work is uber important in community.

team work, lots of participation, haha, but very talkative kids and sometimes no team work too!

looking forward to more activities with them, and more processing times with them too. i think we might be playing basketball next...we will see about that. the basketball court is pretty much in the courtyard, and well, this might prove to be VERY interesting. eeps!

more to come! * please pray for transitions that are ongoing in the lives of the inmates, for safety, strength, perseverance, and hope. lots of prayers are needed, and greatly appreciated. thank you! peace :)