Amid all work (text, video and images) with the Philippines, I today went through some photos for another project.
I was in Ghana for the second time in my life 2008. We went up to the district of Bolgatanga as Star of Hope has worked there in a disaster since a number of years before. I visited thirteen kindergartens in four days. It was tough tempo as tough roads. But at the same time very interesting and rewarding. The support we gave to these pre-schools was vital in many cases. I met many children these days. It is impossible to remember all of course. But I remember the boy below. He just stood there in the semi-dark room built of clay. A simple pre-school, but he got his a, b??, c, and 1, 2, 3. He said nothing, but his eyes, I remember forever.
I was reading the other day about the difference between values and beliefs. I do believe that people who hold values in common can and do work together to accomplish certain things, even if their beliefs are different.
Christians, Jews and Mormans all hold a basic set of values that come from the 10 commandments. This is a reason that often it is seen where the three groups work well in a disaster situation. The shared value is the worth of human life.
Star of Hope attempts to build partnerships and programs that bring the best resources possible to see children grow in all areas of their life. In education, health and social development we can and do work with a broad base of resources and groups.
As a Christian organization, in matters of faith (beliefs) we seek to partner with like minded people.
I invite your comments.
Barry Borror
President & CEO
march 28, 2012: Dano school that has been destroyed by the earthquake in Haiti has been rebuilt with support of donors through star of hope. Today was the inauguration day of the new school buildings. Many people that have been invited was present in the inaugural ceremony to thank all donors that have given money to rebuild Dano school for 600 kids that are enrolled in this school
Tony
We woke up at 6 in the morning to go to the village of Ilog, Infanta. It is located on the island of Luzon, which is the same island as Manila but on the East coast. To get there we had to go over two mountain ranges. There are so many squatters who have built houses along the roadside that we had to drive very slowly. It was a 4 hour trip one way.
In November/December 2004 when four Typhoons hit the area it looked a lot different. Much of the vegetation was gone because of mudslides and all the logging, both legal and illegal, the trees and mud ran down the mountains devastated the plains and stopped at the Philippine Sea. It was a true catastrophe. Now it looks totally different, all green and lush. There is no indication of the big disaster. We were there just a few days after the tragedy and I will never forget how it looked and how many people who suffered. Over 100,000 homes were lost and at least 5,000 people died. This disaster lead to Star of Hope building over 300 houses and delivering emergency aid such as food, water, blankets etc. to thousands of families. Ine hundred and twenty five (125) houses were built in Ilog village and we had the pleasure to have the Swedish Ambassador at that time, Annika Markovik, to inaugurate the “village”. Today we also have a school in the same location as the row houses for first to fifth grade (next year there will also be a sixth grade). Those school children were the reason for our visit.
When we arrived, we were met by the students and teachers. Every time I visit a Star of Hope school it is the happiness and curiosity of the children that excites me the most. When the children come up to me and asks questions it makes me happy. The strangest question I think I have ever gotten is “How do you bury your dead when your ground is frozen?” after explaining snow and cold weather. I actually did not know the answer so I had to look it up. For you curious people it is a special machine which heats the ground.
As is very common in the Philippines the children were dancing and singing for us. Song and music is a big part of the Filipino life and it impresses me so much when I see the children, especially the boys, (my boys would have to be threatened to sing and dance in front of an audience) sing loud and proud.
There are still needs at the school but most of them are simple things like basketballs, volley balls, chess boards and scrabble boards. We also have to put up a wall/fence. Not as big as the one in Argentina but still a good size. There must be a wall there so that squatters do not enter and assume ownership of the land, thieves do not enter and destroy property and steal equipment and so that animals don’t enter and eat the newly planted mango and other trees.
I also walked around the row houses. You could tell there was some wear and tear but everyone we met was happy with the opportunity to live in their own home. While walking around I saw a Sari Sari store, a small general store where you can buy most everything you would need from shampoo to food items.
The lady running the store Marife Ly said it does really well. On a good day she sold between 500-600 pesos (14 dollars ) worth of merchandise. Her biggest seller was biscuits, detergent bars and soap. A detergent bar cost 6 pesos (15 cent) and is used for hand washing clothes. She worked long hours from 5 am to 8 pm and was telling me how happy she was her two children John Marc and Maria was able to go to the Star of Hope School. “It means I can let them walk there themselves and I don’t need to spend money on transportation to the public school so far away.”
The teachers at the Star of Hope Christian School in Ilog were very proud to show the pictures from a volleyball tournament in which the children had participated. It was a regional tournament for 26 elementary schools. Eight teams from the area played in this event. The tournament took place at the Infanta town plaza about 20 minutes away from the school on the 21 of March. The boys from Star of Hope Christian School won 2nd place and everyone was extremely proud. They received medals, a diploma and a really nice trophy. Next year they will expand and also include girls. To continue preparing for next year’s tournament they are in need of new volleyball nets and volleyballs.
Tuesday 27 of march Graduation Crame
My last day in the Philippines and now I am surrounded by wonderful children with big smiles. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the graduation of the children in Star of Hope Preschool in Crame. At the end of the week there will also be graduation in Taytay for the elementary and high school children and in the beginning of next week the children in Ilog, Infanta will have the very first class of children to graduate as that school is new.
When the big event started here in Crame they played happy yet celebratory music while the children walked in all in a long row. There were 70 graduates between 4 and 6 years old, oh so cute they were in their white miniature graduation gowns and white hats. All the girls were wearing corsages and a flower necklace with pink ribbon while the boys wore flower necklaces with blue ribbon. It was so cute!
In the Philippines the children even graduate from Preschool and then from elementary school and finally high school. It is a very big deal and a big celebration. The parents are so proud of their children and that they have finished the first part of their education. Other big celebrations in the Philippines are the two special birthdays, when the children turn one and seven. This has to do with that the child has survived their first and the seventh birthdays. The celebration when they finished preschool is because they are now starting another milestone on their way.
The ceremony started with the Philippines national anthem “Bayang Magilius” and everyone stood up holding their hand on their heart while they sang. Directly after a six year old girl Jasmine Joy Ureta held the opening prayer as; her proud parents had tears in their eyes. We also were proud to have as special guests such as the vice Mayer of San Juan Francis Zamora and other councilmen. In their speeches they were talking about the children as “Little big stars” and one of the councilmen said to the children to “aim for the stars, the clouds is not a bad place to be”. The Vice Mayor also said to all of us “we are all partners in education”. They also gave out ribbons and medals to the children and I saw how proud the parents were to shake the Vice Mayors hand when their children received their medals for outstanding School achievements.
All the children got a least one ribbon and it was everything from most active to the neatest, most thoughtful to the most generous, most kind to most behaved, it was a lot of medals . The medals were in different “levels”; bronze, silver and gold was given for school achievements like math, reading, writing, art etc. I would not mind having my own medal as they were really nice looking.
In between the giving out ribbons and medals some of the children were dancing in white clothes to the Christian song “Above all” with the chorus “crucified laid behind a stone”. The girls did a great job and I couldn’t help but sing along. The last thing on the agenda was to give out the diplomas and then all the children sang “Diyos nang salinlahi”, my absolute favorite Filipino song. It means The God of all generations and our father is so good.
What a great ending to my trip to the Philippines yet I will blog some more when I get back to the states I have still so much to write about.
Maria
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