Trails to Empower Kids or TREK, takes us to communities that are often neglected because because their remote locations make them difficult to access.

Our most recent mission brought us deep into the mountains of Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, and into the heart of one of the eight indigenous groups on the island of Mindoro.

The Hanunuo Mangyan are distinguished by their unique tribal name, language, customs, and a distinct form of writing.

Our journey from Manila to Mansalay took over eight hours. From Mansalay's municipal hall, we rode a dump truck for 30 minutes, followed by a two-hour trek through rivers, uphill paths, and slippery, muddy trails.

My introduction to the Hanunuo Mangyan was through Fr. Ewald Dinter, an honoree of The Many Faces of the Teacher by the Bato Balani Foundation, which I help promote. He devoted himself to establishing schools for the Mangyans, including Anahaw Elementary School, which was chosen our beneficiary.

According to him, education is their weapon to protect their lands and to prevent others from treating them as second-class citizens.

One parent who joined us affirmed this truth. He used to sell coffee, receiving a mere five pesos per kilo from lowlanders who sold it for 95.00 per kilo.

Witnessing poverty evident in the area, with children in worn-out clothes and soiled feet, made us reflect on how the pork barrel could have made a difference.

During our recon a month ago, specific requests were made. In Anahaw, they prioritized slippers, hygiene kits, and mess kits. They suggested Duralite slippers, unfamiliar to us at first, but research revealed their necessity in the muddy village where ordinary slippers wouldn't suffice.

They also asked for mess kits, highlighting the need for an improvement from using coconut husks during past feeding programs.

We only had a month to gather donations for 380 students at Anahaw Elementary School (excluding preschoolers) and an additional 200 students from Lucban Elementary School two hours away. By God's grace, we managed to collect enough supplies, including raincoats, storybooks, toys, and school essentials.

Upon arriving at the school, we settled into the classrooms, which served as our resting place for the night. As always, the evening was filled with stories, laughter, and all the ingredients for happy memories that we would cherish and talk about for years to come.

One of those memories was about the rice. Our first attempt at cooking rice, which we humorously called himasu, turned out to be a disaster. The top layer was hilaw (raw), the middle was malata (undercooked), and the bottom was sunog (burnt).

Undeterred, we tried again, and this time, the rice was cooked perfectly—or so we thought. Later, to our horror, we discovered that the water used had been sourced from the drainage, mistakenly assumed to be clean. Despite the mishap, our third attempt was a success, and we finally enjoyed a satisfying dinner together.

The following day, we spent the morning preparing for the actual outreach. During the turnover, we witnessed the genuine appreciation of the kids for the gifts. The teachers expressed that it was the first time they experienced something like this, thinking such moments only happened on television.

The turnover process took more than an hour, during which we sang songs together, played games, and even had our names written in Hanunuo Mangyan.

These shared moments of joy and connection made the experience even more special for all involved