It wasn’t my first time in Asia.

China, a couple of years before, was one of the most blasting experiences I’ve ever had in terms of travelling. Understandable, of course, as it was my first intercontinental trip. But as I love to say a couple of years later, comparing China with South East Asia is like saying that New York and a small town in the middle of Kentucky look exactly the same.

It wasn’t my first time in South East Asia, either.

Bali, Indonesia, one year before. Blasting, one more time. Everything looked so different, so much to see, so much to discover, the smile on the face of the people, the food, the environment. But somehow, because of the time spent there, and because of some choices during those days, I still felt more like a tourist than a guest.

And here, within this picture, comes Boracay, the Philippines.

There are few places on earth that stay in my heart more than that tiny island, so famous for tourism, but still inhabited by a huge concentration of people with a true heart and a shining soul.

I wasn’t supposed to be there.

Someone else was ready to go instead of me, but an unlucky event brought to the fact that in a very short amount of time I had to:

  • decide if I could go there and take charge of the first module of EUROASI
  • get my mind ready
  • phone my parents to tell them I was about to leave for 3 weeks to go to the Philippines
  • get, basically, everything in place to provide to the project the quality that I’m use to give

Easy enough to understand for those who know me, 5 minutes later I was already getting myself into this new, exciting adventure.

And, once more, blasting.

I travelled for more than one day to finally reach the place. Cagliari-Rome-Abu Dhabi-Manila-Caticlan-Boracay. Taxi, Planes, Private Car, Plane, Trycicle, Boat, Trycicle. A number of issues and happenings already in between, during the trip. But finally I managed to arrive, meeting Nigel at Caticlan’s airport, and going straight to leave my stuff and check that amazing place which is Boracay. Excited to discover it, how it looks like and what it means to live there, and interested to see how we would have proceeded in details for the training on NGO Management I was about to start, and how delivering such training in a completely different environment from the one I was used to, would have been.

In the three weeks spent there, I lived in close contact with the community in a small apartment rent from Tachi, the Japanese dive instructor that welcomed us with few English words and a large amount of food and drinks.

I met great people: Nigel, friend, colleague, prè (as he would say); Mike, the owner of the dive shop; Marlo, Rona, Joy and the others at the Red Cross that hosted our training; Karen and her Frisbee club; Olive, the American girl passionate for education and children’s rights; Kevin, the owner of the Exit Bar, where I spent several evenings; and many more, always welcoming, smiling, and ready to help and to share experiences, food, stories, moments. Eager to know, to get and to give.

I had the chance to try scuba diving for the first (and maybe last) time in my life, to play Ultimate Frisbee with the kids on the beach, to spend Easter with a Philippino family eating lechon (roasted pork) received via air mail, to try the Balut egg and many more strange and delicious dishes, to watch beach weddings and to attend radio programs and festivals.

Of course, I had the unbeatable chance of bringing my experience to the Philippines and Asia, sharing it with the local youngsters and youth workers, testing my skills in a different environment, and hopefully bringing a positive change.

It hasn’t been easy. People are of course different, the culture and the habits are a bit mysterious when you first look at them, you cannot know how your humour or certain concepts will be taken. And the training goes on for days and days, having to deal with participants’ time, work, business, family time, holidays and more.

But there is one thing that makes me be happy about how it went, and trustworthy in the sustainability of the work done during those weeks, and it’s not only the smile on the face of those great guys, the hugs, the compliments, the promises to meet again soon.

It’s the fact that, even with work, holidays, family meetings and more to deal with, they kept on coming. They kept on asking questions, eager to know more. They kept on working with passion, ready to share with the other ones. And most of all, the fact that each and every single day, going for dinner or for a drink, they kept on talking about the things we discusses; why those issues are affecting the Philippines and Boracay; what can we do to solve them; how active we have to be and how to involve more people in our cause.

When evaluating it all, while writing on the plane to go back to Italy, my home country, this is what stays in my mind: the fact that those people kept on discussing it as if they really believe that they could and should and will do something about the issues affecting their community.

At this point, I cannot know if that will happen.

But I am as I am. Trustful. And I want to Believe in it, and to dream with them.

Goodbye Boracay, thanks for everything you gave me, see you and your great people hopefully soon, and hopefully with an even brighter sun shining upon you…