The thought came about to have the badminton tournament because there are so many kids here in the neighborhood and I thought this would be a fun way to spend an afternoon. We had posted a poster to let the kids know about our tournament and the different age divisions that we were going to have. To make it fair I wanted the kids to play with other kids in their age group so we had three age groups. Age 7-9, 10-13 & 14-17. We did charge the kids an entrance fee to play which was only Php 20, only $0.43. The fees I collected from all of the kids did not even come close to the amount of money that I spent on everything but that didn't matter as this was all about the kids and as long as they had fun I was happy.
For each age division I gave out three prizes, the first prize was Php 500 which is about $10.86, not bad after they only had to pay Php 20 to enter. The second prize was a little gift for the top boy player worth Php 100 and the third prize was a little gift for the top girl player worth Php 100. All participants that played though did get a bag of candy just for participating. In addition we also fed the kids a full meal which included pancit (noodles), hot dog and rice. For dessert we served fruit salad in little cups. So like I said I did end up spending more than I collected but it was satisfying to see all the kids having fun and just being happy.
I don't speak the language well yet and can only understand a few words here and there. It has been a real challenge for me but I manage. A parent had came up to me and let me know that what I had done was "beautiful" and that no one had done that before and they really appreciated it. They were speaking this in Filipino so I understood only parts of it but when he said that to me I felt really happy that someone acknowledged what I did. I also know that this is something that the kids won't forget either and as long as I am able to make an impact someway and somehow in a small way that is all that matters.
Because this tournament was such a success a lot of the adults have been coming up to me asking when the tournament for the adults is going to happen. I let them know that we will plan it sometime soon. I was also thinking to myself to cut down on my budget as well before I go broke (ha ha joking only)!! Enjoy the pictures.
No comments:
Post a Comment