VISITING THE ISLAND OF BOHOL IS A DREAM COME TRUE

   The island of Bohol is in the central Visayas region of the Philippines. It sits almost in the very middle of the island chain. It has been called the 'Jewel of the Philippines' and for good reason. We only had a short time to be there, but we were loaded with things to do.
  Our first stop would be the island of Pamilacan.

 

We first got a 'Taxi' for the 14 Km ride to the small island in the Bohol Sea. Sea breeze blowing in our hair, small ocean ways, the smell of sea air and the warmth of the clear blue water. This was truly a paradise.

 

 

The island is just under 300 acres which is small by our standards, by about 2000 people live here and somehow eke out a means to survive. The main means of support is fishing and that includes Manta Rays, Dolphin and Whales. Plus there are hundreds of other species of aquatic life.

 

 

The other means of support is tourism. If people knew the beauty of this place, they would come. As more people do discover this location, the accommodations will improve. But for a few days in paradise, roughing it is great.

They do have a water source, but is has to be desalinated. Also we would like to see if we could help with distribution. They all have to come to the top of the island to get water. A gravity feed system would work, but it would be very difficult to bury it due to all the rock. However, there is a way. The other issue is that the diesel generator for power only runs from 6pm to midnight. Remember, I said roughing it.

 

 

The other possible project would be the addition of more classroom space for their school. They currently have 4 classrooms and our hope is to build 2 more.

A quick story on the building of the last 4 classrooms. A young returned missionary from Utah, Ben, was in the Bohol area for his mission and wanted to help these people on the island. He was never able to go there while a missionary, but organized a charity to be able to go back and help. They built 4 classrooms out of concrete and hollow block (cinder block). That includes concrete floors and sidewalks. Now, there are only 4 motorcycles on the island and that is it for transportation. Every bag of concrete, sand and hollow block had to be carried by them to the top of the island and then mixed by hand to achieve their goal. Some were taken up by the small motorcycles (125cc) but it was too difficult to handle. The boat that we rode over to the island on brought the concrete over at 50 bags per boat trip plus windows and metal for the roofs. I stared at this project and was in awe as to what that would has taken. And all in 95 to 100 degrees and very high humidity.

Amazing !!!

 

 

This is basically their library. Stacks of materials on the floor and the leftovers are stacked against the wall. We hope also to provide shelving for the library materials.

 

 

Sister Hadlock fell in love with this place and had to get a better feel of the warm, soft sandy beaches.

Paradise Found !!!