Catching Waves, Helping Kids

George G. Plaza, known as Jun to family and friends, grew up near Dahican Beach, a seven-kilometre stretch of white sand facing the Pacific Ocean in the Philippine province of Davao Oriental, but as a young man he showed no interest in surfing.

That changed in 2002 when several Davao City skimboarders visited the beach. Amazed at how their simple wooden boards carried the surfers along, Jun, then in his early 30s, built a plywood skimboard and began practising.

His interest was further kindled when another group of surfers from Davao City arrived the following year. Jun and some local children were mesmerised as they watched the surfers riding their boards atop the three-metre waves. The visitors gave one of their boards to the local boys, and Jun borrowed it regularly to hone his surfing skills.

Despite suffering injuries, including a badly twisted wrist, he never gave up. “No pain can stop me from doing what I have started,” Jun says. “Why should only people from other places enjoy what we have right on our shores?”

Since some local boys were also having fun in the waves, Jun decided to help them develop their skimboarding and surfing skills. And he had another goal: to lead these youngsters away from the temptations of smoking, drinking and petty crime.

Jun did not want them to repeat his mistakes. Growing up in poverty, he was forced to leave school at 15 after his father died. As the eldest of 12 children, Jun had to support the family, and before long he had taken up the illegal and environmentally destructive practice of dynamite fishing. He was caught three times, but was let go because there was no direct evidence against him.

Fortunately, Jun was led away from a life of crime by Father Patricio Alo, who hired him to run errands for the local church. “I really didn’t want to be a fisherman like my father,” he explains. “So when Father Alo provided work for me, it was a big chance.” He now works in a coconut farm.

In 2004 Jun founded the Amihan Surf and Skim Team, named after the northeasterly winds that blow through the area from November to March. Initially he recruited four boys who had helped him with the coconut harvest. Using his own money, he bought materials and the group made their own skimboards.

Jun imposed strict rules and training. The group, which now includes 20 boys aged nine to 16, meets every morning at 5 am to go jogging. Skimboard and surf lessons are held after school and on weekends. The Amihan Boys, as they are known, are also forbidden to smoke, drink or take drugs. Anyone breaking the rules is either barred from practice or kicked out of the team.

The group also spends time keeping the beach clean and, thanks to lobbying by Jun, the local government has declared a hectare of the Dahican waters a marine sanctuary.

The Amihan Boys are starting to make their presence felt in the world of competitive surfing. For instance, 16-year-old Sonny “Boy” Aporbo recently took the P10,000 ($220) top prize at the Mindanao Open Skimboarding Competition. Some of the money went to the team to cover expenses, and the rest went to Aporbo’s family, who used it to buy an outrigger.

Jun, who is married and has two daughters, does all this work without pay or any support from external agencies. The team funds travel and equipment costs by offering surfing and skimboarding lessons, as well as making and selling skimboards.

“This reformed man has shown us that poverty and lack of education is not a hindrance to helping others,” Mati Town’s tourism officer Dashiel Inedible, Jr, says of Jun.

To the Amihan Boys, Jun is something of a father. “He doesn’t teach us only how to surf, he also keeps us safe from vices,” says 15-year-old Rodel Patawi, who used to smoke and drink. “He gives us confidence and encourages us to become successful in [our] endeavours.”

Comments like this inspire Jun. “I may not be rich but somehow I have made a difference in the lives of these kids,” he remarks. “They are my treasure.”