We had a great week. We were able to present 50 wheelchairs to people who needed them, made by people who are in wheelchairs themselves. I don' have pictures yet. What I do have here are pictures of the most fun things we have done in the Philippines to date. We were able to travel with a local news crew 5 hours up into the mountains (Dona Romedios, Trinidad, Bulacan). The last half was in 4X4 trucks, you can see the river we had to cross. The family pictured had to walk two miles over the mountains to reach the school where we were handing out the bags. They were very proud of their heritage because they were "pure tribal blood" not mixed with lowlanders. LDS Charities provided around 2,000 school bags that contained, in 
addition to school supplies, 2 white t-shirts , soap, toothbrush, and a multipurpose washcloth hand towel that folks use here for all kinds of things. The foundation we are partnering with is busy traveling by foot, plane and boat to reach the other indigenous people. This is the only time we were able to go along and we had such fun. The children were so polite. They were also very curious about us, and a little scared. Many had never seen a white person before. One little girl through a translator said this was the first time she ever got anything new. Given the fact that there is no transportation in the mountains, except for a couple of horses and a few motorcycles, and the closest town is hours away that may be true. The small school we visited only went to grade 6. If students want to continue their education they must live away from home. This is not realistic unless there is a relative outside the village who is willing to take the student in.
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