I Spent A Day With Kids Who Walk 5 Hours To School

I'm about to spend a day in the life of these elementary kids who hike five hours a day over these mountains just to get to school. I look straight down, it goes down like 50 feet. They have to avoid lethal cobras and poisonous insects that could be hiding under their feet. That is, ugh. Their journey includes a 90 degree vertical climb and when it's pouring rain, one slip could mean death. Today, I'm joining these kids on their hike to school to see just how challenging it is. This is just actually crazy, guys. And they have no idea that our YouTube community raised money for a gift that's about to change their lives forever. Kyrie here is getting ready. This is his bedroom. He's got his clothes on and he's packing his bag tight. That's a cool backpack. You like cars? Yes. That's a lot of books, man. Your bag looks like it's a little bit heavy. Yes, it's heavy. Is it difficult to carry the bag when you walk? No. Ready to go? Ready to go. So Kyrie is about to go to school and he's going to walk all the way up the mountain. I'm scared because it's dangerous to climb that. Sometimes, if the rain is so heavy, he's not going to school. Holy ----. All of a sudden, as we're sitting here, a massive rainstorm has come. We're just kind of stuck inside the house right now. After a few minutes, the rain finally lets up and we start the journey before Kyrie is late for school. On the way, we stop to pick up his best friend, and then the real hike begins. All right, we've just started the hike here. We have Kyrie and Januel, and this is the longest way to school. They start walking on the street here before cutting in this mountain and taking a shortcut all the way up to school. That's a very high. How high is it? I don't know. And even if it's raining, you're still walking? No, if it's raining, slippery. Slippery. We've picked up another school kid, Jian. Hi, Jian. How are you? I'm fine. What grade are you in? Grade nine. Grade nine, and you're taking this walk all the time? Every day? Every day. Wow. We're walking here, we're happy because we're seeing funny stories and what we do every day. Is this your friend here? Yes. How are you? Nice to meet you. You're walking to school? I'm gonna join you guys today. Is that what we're climbing? Really? Yes. Holy, what? Seriously? Yes. We're going over that? Yes. It's literally like 90 degrees steep. Some of the high school kids have joined for the walk. The hike is now getting steeper. See how we're walking like this up the mountain? I noticed some kids are using tricycle. How come you don't use a tricycle? Because we can't afford it. So this is the way up. We are now detouring from the road and we're starting to walk up the mountain. The real trek begins now. I noticed there's a really nice view here when you walk up. We stop here, we feel tired, and we watch the view. Oh, it's honestly an amazing view. It's just open ocean. We've only walked about 20 meters up the hill and I'm already dripping in sweat. It's super, super humid outside. All right, we've got all the kids here, ranging from elementary to high school. We're just staring at the Mammoth Mountain right in front of us. It is literally like a 90 degree angle. Holy crap. It's so intimidating. I'm taking a lot of breaks, but these kids do not take breaks when they walk. Are we there yet? It's a long hike, man. Kid just said he walks five hours every day just to get to school. All these kids are your friends? Yes. At school? Yes. As we keep going deeper and deeper into the jungle, it gets more and more beautiful. It's just like complete, untouched, pristine nature here in the Philippines. What kind of animals do you have here? We have cobras. That is... Aren't you scared that if you're walking, it's gonna hit you in the face? Never happened before? What if he bites you? That's good. There's literally ants everywhere. You don't have ant bites on your feet? No. Never? You're strong, man. For just a little kid, you have a lot of strength. It's incredible how these kids have such a way with nature. They're just calling for the birds. I am surrounded in a jungle. There's huge bamboo trees, massive coconut trees, even taller. The rain has been coming and going. I'm on a full-on nature walk right now. And these kids are here going to school every day. All you guys watching this, especially if you're in the US, you most likely took a school bus to school. And now just imagine if you had to do this walk, which tests every single part of your physical capabilities to walk, balance, and basically not die. Look at this. Look how slippery this is. Oh my God, so slippery. Do you still have a school bus? Yeah, we do. Do you want a school bus? Want a school bus, but we not have some money to buy it. Thanks to you guys in this community, you raised $7,500. I'm going to surprise all the kids in the school with a vehicle of transportation to take them to and from school so they don't have to do this hike anymore. I've never done anything like this before. Philanthropy has been something I want to do more and more of. So I've opened up a nonprofit and I'm going to do more of these things to help communities that I'm visiting. So we really appreciate your donations and stay tuned for more. I'm hopping and popping. These kids are just going, no stopping. Gets a little bit slippery because it's been off and on raining. So the whole terrain is like muddy. It's not slippery because the rain is flowing down. I noticed these guys took off their shoes here. They're completely barefoot. They put the shoes around the arm because they say that they get a better grip onto the earth's soil without shoes. Does your feet have pain? No. No pain? So where do you try to put your foot? Like what's not painful? There. There is no chance I could do this barefoot. I'm already feeling tired, but we aren't even halfway there yet. And everyone warned us about this next part of the hike. We have now reached this 90 degree cliff, which they call Pang Pang. And we are going to use our hands and knees and toes and every limb to climb. How old were you when you started climbing? Grade two? And now you're grade five. So three years ago. What's the most difficult thing about the walk? One wrong step and you fall. Have you ever made a wrong step? Yes. I not fall. I hold a branch. You hold a branch. A branch. How many times did that happen for you? Two. And did you get injured? Did you get hurt? No. Oh, hello. How are you? He's really like a villager, like just passing me with bags over him. Like doing this track every single day. It's actually insane. I'm opting to keep my shoes on because I don't think I can hang with these boys. It's really key that you hold onto these tree branches because they're really strong. Otherwise you slip and go straight back and crack your head open and die. It's like a serious risk. It's super slippery on my feet. You really got to hold a tree branch and hope that you don't fall backwards. Oh my God. Man, this is crazy that you do this every day. Hugging trees are your best friend because they keep you sturdy. This is just actually crazy, guys, that these kids do this. I feel so bad for them. Like this is their only option. They can't afford money for a tricycle or a tuk-tuk or a school bus. There actually aren't any school buses. High five. We just successfully hiked. Bang, bang. Man, it's so steep. All right, the kids are strong. This trek is insane, going all the way up the mountain. Thankfully I have my backpack with a bunch of gear like my new Asus computer, which is a sponsor of this video. When you're traveling like me and filming on GoPro, the hardest part isn't just capturing the moment. It's actually turning it into a story when you're on the move. That's why I've been using the Asus ProArt GoPro Edition. And what's cool is that it's part of the Asus ProArt lineup, which is built for creatives who want to tell better stories. What I love about this is that I can literally shoot something on my GoPro and start editing it right away. And the difference from editing on your phone is huge. No more waiting or transferring files across five devices. It just syncs everything automatically and keeps me in the flow. I can work with multiple clips, layer things properly, add real transitions, and actually bring the story to life the way that I envisioned. It also uses AI to organize my footage with Asus StoryCube. This saves me so much time when I'm dealing with hours of clips. I also spend less time stressing about files and more time focusing on the story, which is really what matters. Look, anyone can capture moments, but being able to turn it into something meaningful is what takes it to the next level. If you want to grab yours, you can scan this QR code or click the link in the description down below. Let's continue this hike up the mountain. Are we near or far? Far. We're still far. Are you okay? Are you tired? No. All good? Yes. We've overcome the cliff and now we're in this incredible oasis of coconut trees. Are you okay up there? I'm okay. He just grabbed one down and it almost hit Kairi's head, but he's okay. A little mid-hike snack. That looks amazing. Can I try it? Yes, this. This one? This is my favorite, coconut. The ones in the Philippines are just better. It's unbelievably tasty. It's sweet, hydration. This house caught on fire here. Now it's just left. We are closer. We're getting close. Yes. We are almost there, they're saying, on the home stretch here. This is the point of the walk now where you keep going and you're wondering if it's ever gonna end soon. We're going for a long time and we're still not there yet. Every time we turn a corner, there's another long ways to go. Come on. Almost. Almost there? Yes. Okay, let's keep going. It's been about two hours and we are finally approaching the school. I'm dripping in sweat. The kids are just cruising and yeah, they're probably late for class. We have finally arrived to the school. It was a long walk, guys. It's incredible how they literally do this walk every single morning and afternoon. It's not all the kids that have had to walk this far. A lot of the kids live nearby the school or they have enough money to afford transportation. That's my room. That's your room? Yes, that's my room. Okay, let's go to your room. Let's go check it out. Okay, is everybody set? Help us, dear Lord, to be obedient to our teachers so that we may inherit the blessing of ourself, our school, our beloved country, the Philippines. How many of these kids here had to walk to school? Almost everyone. But not that long? But not that long. So- They take the room. Got it. Can you tell me a little bit about the students here? Pupils here are the learners in our elementary school. They're very good pupils. When you see what have the assignment, they're good. And also the parents, they are very support for the pupils about their studying. Even if it's a bad weather, they're interested to go to school. It's not easy to them. But the weather is good, they're very early going to school. And if the weather is bad and they show up late, do you start school on time or do you wait for them to come? We start our classes, but we give them a review. It's really cool they play baseball here because this is a sport I played as a kid growing up. A European playing baseball. This is the first ever. Oh, damn, bro. That was really good, man. That was like a home run. How long has this school been here? It was started 1948. That's many, many years old now. And when you went here in 1982, did you also walk up the mountain? Not every day. How many kids are in school now that go to the elementary school? One hundred eight pupils. Before there was more kids or? Yes, yes, there were more kids before. How many of those kids have to walk up the mountain? Only pupils who are near the mountain are. Only a few now. The problem is if you prohibit them, but they have to take the long drive. So then it becomes expensive. That is our problem. The school is so remote that it becomes hard for people to get here. And that's why more kids are going to different schools. What can solve the problem for more kids to come here? Is it simply transportation? Is that the main thing? Yes. If we have a transportation, so we can get back our enrollment. So what happens in a rainy season when the kids who are walking up and they can't make it to class? They came late in our coming to school That's really difficult. And in the last 77 years, there was never a school bus? Yes and no. Never a school bus? No school bus at all. And the problem is just the budget? Yes, of course, the budget. You can see the conditions of the school are not great. The roof's falling apart. They need a paint job on the buildings. Look at the windows here. It's just super sad that the school has been running for 77 years, but it's still in really poor shape. Gary, how's your day today? Fine. Did you enjoy? Yes. Did you learn something in school? Yes. What did you learn? Multiplication. Multiplication? Yes. What's your favorite thing about school? Classes. Which classes do you like? I like English. What do you want to be when you grow up? Be an army. You want to be in the army? Yes. And why do you want to be in the army? Protect my country. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to bring you a big surprise. And you're going to be very happy. So please be here tomorrow morning and I'm excited to see you guys then. Thank you so much. After the school day ends, it's time to hike back down the mountain. And it's a lot more dangerous to return home. We're going down the steep part of the mountain now and the rocks are really slippery because of the rain. So I'm actually going to really focus here because I'm actually a little bit scared. Not to mention, there are poisonous cobras out here and the kids all say they've encountered them. Like that's all I'm thinking about right now is not stepping on a freaking snake. Walking out of this is so hard. I like to think I'm decently fit, but this hike is like really tough. Just ruthless. We're walking over a pile of coconuts right now. Wow. Is it dangerous? Yes. Really? It releases water that hits your eyes. You get no eyes. It's so crazy how they have to battle the elements here. They say if you get some of this water juice in your eye, then you can go blind. After two long hours, we finally made it back to the village and I say goodbye to Kairi so I can secretly shop for a school bus. And we managed to find this white one for $10,000 and we are going to buy it right now and bring the van to the school and surprise everybody. It's going to be an amazing moment. This is actually like pretty nice. Like it's comfortable. Yeah, it's a used van, but like it's really good. And you got AC vents in here. Like it's sad to say, but a lot of the kids have never felt AC in their entire life. They don't have it at home. They don't have it at school, but they have it here in the car. All right, we'll take it. We filmed a lot of videos together, but never did something like this. I think it's time to shift the content to do more good. Completely agree. Thank you guys so much. This means a lot. I'm excited to see their reactions when we roll this up to school. I'm extremely grateful to foster a community that has come together to sponsor a bus for these students. It feels incredible knowing that we're actually making a real difference in their lives. Right now, I'm feeling nervous and excited to pull up to the school and surprise them. Oh no, no, my heart's beating really fast. They're all, they're here. Guys, we got you this car. It's going to be your school bus. This is your car for the school. So you don't have to walk anymore. Go. Hello. Are you happy? Yes. I hope it's going to mean a lot for the kids. That's an awesome project. Thank you so much. Of course. Thank you so much. It's a very busy school. What happened? Kairi, talk to me. What's going on? Guys, just let me have a moment with Kairi. How are you feeling? They all pitched in money so we can afford to buy you a car so you don't have to do the walk anymore. They're now tagging the car to claim it as Oro's official elementary school bus. Nice, yay. Everybody in my community, they all put money together to do a fundraiser to help buy the car. Of course. Thank you guys. Kairi, we're so happy to help you, man. No more walking up the hill, okay? I have nothing to say, man. This is incredible. Thank you guys so much for helping raise money. We're definitely going to do this more often in the future. Love you guys. With a school bus, these kids won't have to make that long, dangerous trip anymore. We also sponsored a driver and gasoline so they can get to school safely and on time every day. This story is especially meaningful to me because the Philippines is near and dear to my heart after living here for three years and marrying into the culture. My wife Deanna is my rock and has been super supportive since day one. She also pitched into the fundraiser with her company called Remote Genius, which is a marketplace to hire pre-vetted Filipino freelancers. And they also sponsor students to go to school around the Philippines. It makes me so happy to see how passionate these kids are about learning because I truly believe that education isn't just a path out of poverty. It's the engine that helps an entire country rise.