Teams in the Forest

The PSHS Main Campus faculty went on a two and a half day team building trip a few days ago.  We stayed at the Forest Club in Bay, Laguna.  The place was designed for team building.  They had group activities that will really make you work as a team.  They have this Eco Adventure challenge where we got to cross a body of water in three ways, and battle obstacle courses (yes that's plural).  There was also a canopy walk where you traverse a path on bamboo poles se high above the ground while admiring the view of the surrounding countryside.  Then there were the water games in the swimming pool (which I refused to join on the grounds of endangering myself as it was held in the part where I can not touch the  floor).  Best of all our team won (Go BLUE)!!

The games got me (and my companions too because we talked about it).  Many of the kids we teach were city kids.  They probably never had to do anything on a fart.  Oh, they have been there, visiting the old folks maybe or staying at a resort farm.  But most likely they had not had a chance or were never given the chance to get dirty.  As such, they have been deprived the experience of working with the earth or with animals and plants that they study in the biology lab.

I remember when we were kids, we used to spend summer vacations in the province.  In the mornings we would clean the house, gather fallen leaves and fruits, and feed and clean the pigs and chicken coop.  Sometimes, we would be brought along to the market to get fish and vegetables.   In the evenings, we were called to serve food if the adults had a padasal or some such affair.  We had to serve plates of rice cakes and rice pies with coffee. If there was nothing going on, we would be counting calamansi or other produce to be sold in the market in the morning.

Occasionally, specially during lent, we watched the men catch fish in baskets (my cousin in the US wanted to import this but we could no longer find the men who could make them so well).  We ourselves had tried to gather snails and fresh water eels.

Those summers weren't all work though.  After the morning chores, we would all hie down to the river that flowed through our property to swim (the same place where we got fish and snails).  After luch, we clambered up trees to ge the fruits and eat them there.  Or we would relax on the swings, or in our little playhouse made of nipa.

I think many parents now want to protect their kids from hardship, which is all very well.  However, sheltered children may actually be deprived of certain coping abilities.  If they had never experienced anything hard, they might not know how to act when the going gets rough.  They may also not respect hard work and the rewards it could bring will be lost upon them.

Just a thought:  Maybe we should put those politicians through team building, eh?