Some Kind of Wonderful

That’s what I felt after the school painting activity last Friday.  In lieu of the corporate Christmas party, Jollibee opted to spend the money in the rehabilitation of different schools all over the country that were devastated by the wrath of Ondoy and Pepeng.  Our department, Information Management, was assigned the most badly hit secondary school in all of Marikina, Nangka Highschool.

Pardon the sweaty face. LOL. I was just too excited to get my picture taken with the mascot that I forgot to tidy up beforehand.

The school is located along the bank of the Marikina River (click photo to see bigger image). Across the exclusive QC subdivisions Tivoli Royale and Capitol Hills. The building is 3 floors high and its relatively new at 2 years in existence.

When Ondoy hit, the river swelled up and water went up to knee high….at…get this… the 3rd floor!  Mud was waist high at the 2nd floor where the Computer room was housed.  Text books were all submerged, chairs, cabinets and school facilities. When the principal, Mr. Albert Mutya, presented the before and after photos, it broke our hearts to see the extent of damage done to the school.

The school also temporarily housed evacuees from the community during these gloomy times.

The work itself was fun and seems relatively easy. Holding the paint roller and standing for hours at a time was the hard part. But you know what kept me going, despite the heat and exhaustion?

It was Jollibee.

Just kidding.

Its actually our elder managers, who, despite their age, really worked hard to set a good example for everybody.

Plus, the presentation also inspired us to work harder on finishing our painting jobs by the end of the day. Two weeks after the devastation, classes had to resume. And it did. The students attended school against all odds, despite the muddy and still flooded floors.  I have to hand it to them.  That’s how much they value their education.

But yeah, the person inside the Jollibee mascot was awesome, too. Imagine being inside and carrying more than 20 lbs of costume for about an hour in the sweltering heat? Thinking about it alone makes me feel woozy already.  I guess seeing the smiles on the faces of both students and faculty (and hearing their excited screams) must be enough to fuel the extra energy to keep that guy inside the mascot going. Yes, he’s a celebrity like that.

Time to share pictures.

Jollibee in action…

My co-workers, assigned to paint room A-6. The two ladies in blue are our faculty coordinators. (L-R: S’Angelo, M’Malou, S’Jarold and me)

Now here’s me in action… (yes folks, that’s the real thing)

There are more pictures of the whole department up at S’Angelo’s Facebook page.

Thank God we’re given the opportunity to help and share our time to those who need it most while having fun.  I hope we’ll get a chance to do stuff like this again, in the future, disaster or none.