Students builds basketball court for school in Philippines
Dr John Cox
Editor, Reflections
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
It has taken four years and $70,000 to complete but a primary school in the Philippines has a sports facility thanks to students at Avondale.
Finishing touches are applied to a basketball court student club One Mission helped fund and build.
A team of 27 from student club One Mission finished building a basketball court that will double as a covered learning area for students at the Seventh-day Adventist school in the village of Maitom on the island of Negros Oriental. The students also built an extra classroom for the school and funded the first six months’ salary for a new teacher.
They contributed in other ways, too, organising a children’s program each afternoon, an evangelistic program in the evenings, a feeding program in the local community and a program called Empower Hour for students at a local public high school—the Avondale students involved the high school students in the children’s and feeding programs and in the building project.
Theology graduate Joel Slade, now a ministerial intern in Newcastle, led the team—his fifth mission trip to the Philippines.
Over the four years, more than 100 baptisms have come from the evangelistic program. Simon Gigliotti, a final-year theology student, spoke at this year’s program. Braden Rath, also a final-year theology student, and Joel assisted. Those living in the local community led most of the Bible studies. The result: 26 baptisms and a reconfirmation of faith for those who had been baptised on previous One Mission trips.