Philippines Tour 2025 – Lunoy, Cogon & Bokaw

Welcome back, We’re sharing stories from our recently completed Philippines 2025 tour.

Our final week in Bayawan was jam-packed, with some truly treacherous (and at times terrifying!) adventures. We travelled to remote school communities on central Negros Island, which are part of Bayawan province and completely cut off from regular road access.

To reach them, we hiked through the jungle, crossed rivers both on foot and by boat, and rode the mighty Cobra up and down rocky, muddy tracks. Many of the teachers at these schools travel the 2-4 hour hike on a Monday morning and back on a Friday evening to return home for the weekend. One even shared that she leaves her children at home with their grandparents while she goes to work for the week, as this was the only job she could find. The catchment areas for these schools are vast and rural; the students travel long and dangerous paths to get there, but everyone values their education in the Philippines, and schools aren’t just access to education but also to community, free meals, and government resources.

We had a day in-between with regular school visits, and then it was time for more big adventures. Cogon was another new school, which we were told may be difficult to access by vehicle depending on the river levels. Luckily we did manage to drive across with all the equipment. Ryn & Poppy rode in the back of the truck on the way there, and the views were incredible.

We thought it would be impossible to beat the scenic beauty of Lunoy Elementary, but Cogon was even more stunning; surrounded by green hills, standing in the school yard felt like you were on top of the world.  The students were still in their classes when we arrived, and when we poked our heads in to say hi, we were greeted with a welcome chant from each class. The teachers provided tea and snacks, and then we got to it. We made a huge circle for songs and games and then split the children into age groups. It was great to have such a large flat space to do workshops, and the age groups meant we could tailor the content to the groups. Everyone learnt so fast, and they got to have a go at everything: hoop, poi, juggling & spinning plates. It rained again during lunchtime, so we did another classroom show, this time on an even smaller scale, but it was intimate and fun, and the team made the necessary adjustments to make it work while those not on stage held precariously hanging Christmas decorations out of the way of those who were. We did some post-show giant bubbles, and the humidity allowed the bubbles to float so high that they went out of sight before actually popping.

The school and the people and the scenery were all so magical. We donated some equipment & said our goodbyes. They requested that we come again next year, and we assured them that we would most certainly love to!

However, that was just the morning visit of a very big day; next up was the treacherous journey to Bokaw Elementary. While there are some high school age students, there isn’t a separate high school, and sadly a lot of the older students end up dropping out as they are needed to help with farming at home. It’s a classic tale and one that resonates as it happens in our countries too, especially in Ireland, where I come from. We did hear that after last year’s visit from PWB, some older students said they were going to try to stay in school for longer, partly so that they could experience the visit again, which was very touching to hear.

We carried on in the pickup truck to Mandu-Ao, where we transferred into the mighty Cobra, an off-road military vehicle, which would transport us to Bokaw. As well as us in the Cobra, there were teachers, locals and the military unit which would protect us along the way and, as we discovered, help to build roads and move rice husk sacks underneath wheels when the Cobra inevitably got stuck, either in deep mud or on steep, slippery, rocky hills. All of us, as well as supplies, equipment, drinking water and two loaves of soft, vulnerable bread that got bashed around a bit but somehow survived the ordeal! 3.5 hours of clinging on for dear life as we bounced around in the back of the truck. Every now and again everyone had to get out so that it could scramble up a particularly steep hill. There were moments when it felt like walking might actually be the safer, more sensible option.

There was also the added element of rain, which we tried to protect ourselves from with a big tarpaulin, and then there was the foliage and the bugs, which, as we passed by sugar canes and overhead trees, got flung all over us: ants, spiders, and even a praying mantis at one point. The team had heard the stories and seen the videos, but really nothing could have prepared us for it. A wild, wild journey to probably the most remote location PWB has ever visited.  As we neared Bokaw, we were greeted by children and families along the road. Ryn, who had been to Bokaw the previous year, recognised the people and places and filled us in on what we needed to know.

We made it, again, just before dark, to Bokaw Elementary, but our day wasn’t over yet. We had a fire show planned, and the whole community gathered in the basketball court in front of the school to watch. The team was exhausted, but after a quick meal and costume change, and a chance to admire the welcome poster they had made for us, featuring images of previous PWB tours and our current team, it was show time!

Privacy doesn’t really exist for us in Bokaw. The classroom where we slept had windowless windows on every side, and there were always curious children poking their heads in. We made curtains where possible, but still the noise from outside was loud, and nobody slept very well. Gorka was part of the karaoke party which sang until the early hours, and the military team stayed up on shifts to make sure nobody tried to break in. The 7-person military escort to Bokaw feels strange and unnecessary, but we are told that it is necessary for foreigners travelling here, as people can be desperate.

The next morning was our teaching and talent show day, which we were looking forward to. Unfortunately, cyclone warnings in the area meant that school was cancelled! Luckily a lot of the children, who knew we were there, made the long journey anyway and we still got to do workshops. There aren’t any covered courts or large indoor spaces at Bokaw, so we taught in classrooms and on the stage in the yard, which was windy but partly covered. With the rain continuing, there was a mobile gazebo that was brought over for the audience to sit under facing the stage. We did big bubbles in the meantime, and there were some boys who managed to find pieces of string to copy Poppy’s big bubble sticks and make their own, which was really heart-warming and impressive.

Thankfully the rain started to ease off just in time for the show! We had a particularly hilarious run of the balloon act, as we were down to our last 8 balloons, so the team had to improvise and try desperately not to pop them. The show went down well, as usual, and again it felt too soon to leave, but a storm was still incoming, and we needed to get back down the mountain before it hit in full force. So we set off again in the cobra, this time joined by some of the teachers on their way home. The school kids were on their way home too, walking beside the muddy tracks, clinging onto sugar canes to try to stay out of the dirt and running along behind the cobra. We got stuck in the mud, and they all overtook us at one point early on. Gorka got out and helped the military men to dig the mud out from under the tyres and get us moving again. We knew what we were in for, but the teachers who had never been in the cobra before were in the same state of shock that we had been on the way there. Some of those roads and rocks and corners meant the whole vehicle tilted sideways to about 45 degrees, and you really had to hold on tight to avoid falling out. We also broke down on the way home, but somehow they managed to get it going again.

Ex-PWBer Sai’s words from last year keep echoing in our heads: “The Cobra, what a device!”

We were all incredibly impressed with the Cobra driver’s skills, and we made it back to Mandu-ao safely. The team was exhausted, but the day wasn’t over yet. We drove the long but much more comfortable journey back to Julsams in the pick-up, where we hastily gathered the rest of our belongings and got collected for our next and final leg of the tour – Basay.