I am excited to announce the start of our 2020 trip to the Philippines! This trip is composed of seven members of the Philippines team: four students (Maija, Matt, Dylan, Mireille) and three mentors (Kim, Carrie, Kurt). As of now, I am happy to say the team is safely settling into the house of Concepcion, our community contact. Our first day and a half of the trip was a lot of traveling! We left Newark International Airport at 1:00 am on the 18^th of January before embarking on our flight to the Philippines. Including our several hour layover in Hong Kong, it took almost an entire day of travel to reach the Philippines!

Once the team successfully checked in to the Cebu Airport, we met up with Concepcion and made our way to the Cebu mall. Here, we had time to relax a little bit and grab some souvenirs before continuing our journey. We boarded a ferry to take us to on a several hour ride to Bohol, where we were a drive away from Concepcion’s house in Inabanga. Now, the team is getting ready for our first big day in the Philippines, full of community meetings and preparation for construction. There are many more updates to come as we continue our adventure in the Philippines, so stay tuned!

Matt Walton