Some of the IP children we are helping with their school fees and study materials (IPs = Indigenous Peoples). In the Pinagalaan area they are from the Manobo Tribe.
The children and teachers at Pinagalaan Elementary School say a big thank-you to all those who have been helping them !! On my return home for a holiday this week I will be bringing with me thank-you letters to Newton Mearns Primary School, Rosneath and Craigrownie Churches, and to Mearns Parish Kirk.
On recent fund-raising, a particularly big thank-you to the children of Newton Mearns Primary School, who raised just over £366.00 for Pinagalaan School during a recent “dress-as-you-please” day. Well done to all the children and staff, and to my niece Holly-Beth for suggesting the idea and, with the help of her friends, doing a great deal to publicise and promote it. In addition, people linked to Rosneath St Modans and Craingrownie Churches have contributed a generous £300. Mearns Parish Kirk contributed £170 plus loads and loads of school supplies and clothes which were also worth a great deal of money (and they also gave money and clothes for children at a little coastal village near Barobo). I will be bringing home receipts for all the money spent so far, which everyone is welcome to look at to see how the money is being spent. I will also summarise the accounts on this blog in the near future so everything is very transparent and accountable. I know you trust me but I its your money so I want you to know where every penny (or piso!) goes !
Anyway, the following thank you letters are for all of you kind-hearted children and adults, and for everyone else who has helped.
Here is a transcript of one of the letters from the pupils of Pinagalaan :
“May the power of the Lord be with us always !
As a pupil of Pinagalaan Elementary School me and my schoolmates were very much grateful for having a kind persons and friends like you. The shool supplies that we received a month ago were very much useful since most of our parents cannot afford to buy all the needed equipments in school.
We hope and pray that your valuable and unending support will help us achieve a brighter future.
Thank you very much.
Very truly yours
Ronald J. Limayag (pupil), Rasgie C. Bayo (pupil), Ernie P. Sadiagon (pupil)”
As you can see in this photo, many of the IP children do not wear shoes.
And from the teachers came the following letter :
“May the Holy Spirit be with you always.
Our school is looking forward to have a fruitful and productive pupils. As teachers, we develop pupils not only in academic but also we enculcate moral and spiritual values that somehow we could contribute to their growth as Christians.
In spite of things we did, we found that there are factors that hinders our goals. One of these is malnutrition due to the low incomed parents. Another factor is the lack of school materials such as books, workbooks, and other school supplies which is needed by the pupils to enhance learning.
Thus the children as well as their parents were very glad and thankful that they received some school supplies from your kind hearted support. These little things will be great things if there are people behind us that has a heart of gold to the poor people like us.
Thank you very much and more power !
Your sisters in Christ, Annaliza C Campos (teacher), Arlene M. Gonzaga, (teacher) and Levie R. Pasecio (teacher)
The house of an IP family whose children go to Pinagalaan Elementary School
One of the things that has been happening since my last update is that today I used 2,000 pisos of the money from your donations to pay the school fees of the 20 poorest IP children for the academic year. The names of the children whose school fees you have paid are :
Jessabelle Guyo (Grade 2), Renante Lahat (Grade 1), Johnrey Peling (Grade 1), Sunnyboy Lahat (Grade 4), Jevear Guyo (Grade 2), Jushua Guyo (Grade 2), Angelica Lahat (Grade 2), Jerom Guyo (Grade 3), Mee Ann Peling (Grade 3), Jessica Peling (Grade 3), Gilbert Cahoy (Grade 3), Jennyrose Cahoy (Grade 1), Jerry Guyo (Grade 4), Jeson Guyo (Grade 3), Jessica Talingting (Grade 4), Reneboy Talingting (Grade 1), Renato Talingting (Grade 1), Jerwin Lahat (Grade 4), Jouram Guyo (Grade 4), Jotham Guyo (Grade 4),
Before you ask, despite the limited number of surnames they are not just from one or two very prolific families. In fact, the Guyo children in the list are from 3 families : their mothers are Mrs Jimmy Guyo, Mrs Melicio Guyo and Mrs Johny Guyo. However, because of the tribal nature of Manobo society the Manobo families in the area tend to be related, leading to a few surnames dominating the list of pupils. However, because we are targeting help the poorest families, in some cases more than one child from that family may be getting their fees paid by your generosity.
These children come from the poorest IP families in the area, and have very basic living conditions.
The house of one of the IP families whose children are at Pinagalaan School
We are also planning the feeding programme for the malnourished children in the school. Local advice is that the time when food is in shortest supply amongst the subsistence farming families is from October to March, so for those months we will feed the children in school on thursdays and fridays. The reason for choosing thursdays and fridays is that the teachers have told us that by that point in the week the children’s families have run out of food for the week, leading to the children being absent to try and help their parents get money to feed them. By feeding the children in school those days we hope to encourage them to come to school for the full week and also help them eat on days when they might otherwise have little or no food available to them.
I have now managed to establish the costs of feeding the children in school. It will cost about 20 pisos (£0.18) per child per day or 1,040 pisos (£9.67) per child per for six months (based on 2 days a week for 26 weeks) to give them a good nutritious meal.
So anyone who gives ten pounds to the project will know that they have contributed enough to provide in-school feeding to a malnourished child for a whole six months !
But we have around 220 children in the school, and we would like to be able to help them all, so we still need lots of support !
