A Huge Parting Gift to the Children from Mearns Kirk

 

Bill outside my apartment with a huge pile of boxes of school supplies about to be delivered to Pinagalaan school

Just a couple of weeks before I left Mindanao we revcieved a huge final donation from the people of Mearns Kirk who had raised money from a coffee morning which was donated to the work here with the schools up in the mountains.

As I had very little time left before I was due to leave Mindanao for the final time, we immediately sprang into action.  We contacted the school to see what supplies were most needed by the teachers and pupils, and got to work to source all the items requested.  The list of things each teacher and pupil needed was quite long, and we could never have done it if the donation from Mearns Kirk had not been such a generous one !

Bill handing out school supplies to the children .

I give a pack of jotters, pens, pencils etc to a young pupil as others que up to recieve a pack.  There was so much to give out that the pupils had to go along a line of 3 or 4 “hander-outers” to get it all !

The final list of what each pupil recieved was based on what the teachers told us they needed and was a mighty impressive donation ! Here is the list !

Supplied to each pupil:

Grades 1 & 2

1 plastic envelope

2 Grade pads (writing)

1 writing pad

1 spiral book (grade 2 only)

2 pencils

Various assorted other items (sharpener, ruler etc.)

1 pack of crayons

Pencil case

Eraser

Grades 3 – 6

1 plastic envelope

2 grade pads

7 spiral note books (one per subject)

1 Maths spiral book (graph paper)

1 Formal theme (essay) book (English language)

1 Formal theme book (Visayan language)

1 pack of crayons

2 ball point pens

1 pencil case

1 expanding cardboard folder

For General Use

94 sets of watercolour paints

50 metres cellophane for covering wall posters made by the teachers

Ball point pens

Supplied to each teacher:

2 boxes of Venus chalk

1 box coloured chalk

1 stapler and staples

1 pot glue

5 Marker pens

3 bottles ink

40 sheets graph paper

60 large sheets coloured paper

Crepe paper (assorted colours)

2 reams (1000 sheets) of ‘bond’ paper

Assorted cartolina (large poster-sized sheets of coloured card for making classroom wall posters)

Pencil sharpeners (grades 1 & 2)

Correction fluid

We also left a budget of 2,000 pesos (just over £20) for each teacher to draw down for future needs.

The expressions on the children’s faces said better than any words what it meant to them to get these school supplies !

Teachers and pupils hold a sing-song in our honour  as a thank-you……and …

…….a display of traditional tribal dancing balanced on top of two bamboo poles ! 

At the end of it all we had to get up on a stage in the playground for a formal thank-you speech and to be presented with flowers grown – which are grown locally by the childrens families.

Bill on the stage with some of the children.

The children were soon all sitting everywhere across the playground excitedly examining the contents of their packs. 

 

However, you can be sure the teachers and the pupils knew that the Mearns Kirk had donated the money that made it all possible, and they had prepared a banner to show their appreciation !

The banner the teachers had prepared thanking the Mearns Kirk for their help in making it all possible.

A New Classroom for Valley View School, Berseba

A teacher shows Bill the new classroom built with money raised by our family and supporters in Scotland

Well, a lot of time has passed since my last update of the Blog, and in the meantime a lot has happened.  The main reason for the delay in updating the blog was that my time in Mindanao was coming to an end and there was a lot to do before I left. However, I still have a few items to post to finalise the information about my time there and update you on the last things we did before I left.

Probably the largest single thing we have done is to raise funding to provide a new classroom for a small school in Berseba, high up in the mountains of the Andanan watershed.  The purpose of the school was to provide facilities to enable two additional years of secondary education at the school, which is used by the communities from Mount Ararat and Berseba.  Previously the school had only provided two years of secondary education and wanted to increase this to four years, as the nearest alternative secondary school is a long way away.

Pupils, teachers, us (and the dog!) gather for a programme of singing and speeches to mark the official opening of the new classroom. 

 The whole project took a couple of months to complete, and cost approximately £500. The whole school were delighted with the result and we were treated to songs, and a speech of thanks for our help in enabling them to do this ! They even wove our names into the “thank you” songs !

A pupil reads a speech of thanks for our help in enabling them to build the classroom.

Of course, Bill and I had to respond to the thank-you speeches and I happened to mention it was my ambition to ride a Carabao (a water buffalo) before I left the Philippines.  Carabao are commonly used as “work horses” by Philippine farmers.  To our surprise a Carabao was immediately “requisitioned” from its work where it had been busily ploughing a nearby field and pressed into service to give us a shot riding it !   

The farmer was very concerned that it was muddy and started trying to “polish” it with a sack, but we reassured him that we didn’t mind a bit of mud, and leapt on its back !

 It was a very memorable way to end another enjoyable and rewarding day with the local people in the mountains of Andanan.

Berseba Elementary School Enters the Computer Age

When we arrived at Berseba Elementary School the children were playing with the badminton sets we gave them on an earlier visit

Good news from Berseba Elementary School in the mountains of Bayugan in Mindanao.

On a recent visit to the school the head teacher had appealed to us to help them get a computer, as they had no IT equipment at all for the children despite having over 200 children enrolled there. Well, we were recently able to return to Berseba Elementary School to deliver the computer which we had bought with donations from people back in Britain.

 

Whose idea was it to tell the shop we would take the computer table flatpacked ?  Bill, the teachers and I puzzle over the assembly instructions. 

There was tremendous excitement at the school when we arrived as they were not expecting us.  Communications in the mountain areas are very poor and we had been unable to get word to them that we were coming as there are no landlines and very few mobile phones in the area. When they realised we had brought them a computer they were just astounded and very excited.  

We had received the money for the base unit, monitor, surge protector and computer desk from a kind friend of my mother’s in Newton Mearns near Glasgow. When we told the teachers that all those items were the gift of just one man back in Scotland they were amazed. 

“Just one man ?” they asked, surprised.  “Not a Foundation ?” ”Is he a very rich man ?”

“No” I said, ”Just a very kind man” 

  

Children begin crowd into the room to watch Bill and the teachers assembling the computer table.

We had bought a high quality reconditioned computer which was of a very good specification, with Windows NT, Powerpoint, Excel, a CD drive,  and a Pentium 4 processor, 17 inch monitor - basically it has the works.  It will do everything the school could require and probably a lot more besides. 

Eventually after a lot of humming and hawing, checking of instructions, and sending for tools the computer table was assembled and ready for its precious load.  Two teachers start to put the computer together.

In addition to the computer itself, we were able to buy a printer using donations from my cousin John, Mearns Kirk, and a lady in Kilcreggan.   That was a more complicated procedure than you might think.  We could not buy them the same kind of computer as I have for myself since the ink cartridges for my printer cost about £10 each. The school would never be able to afford to buy an ink cartridges at that kind of cost.  We therefore had to buy a different type of  printer which - although it is much more expensive to buy – uses a typewriter ribbon type cartridge similar to those used on electric typewriter.  The repalcement cartridge for this type of printer is only £1 (a tenth of the price).  Even better – you can just buy the ribbon iteslf and replace it within the old cartridge case for only 35 pence per ribbon.  Much more affordable, and within the reach of the schools limited financial resources to replace the ribbon.  

Now let me see…..where does this bit go ? 

Before long the village officals, parents and just about the entire village were tying to see this great event take place.

By the time we were ready to finally switch on the computer for the first time you could hardly move in the room, as it was packed with the entire community as well as loads of the children.  It was obvioulsy seen as a major event for the village and nobody wanted to miss seeing it happen.

Success ! All connected up, working perfectly and ready to roll !

I am sure the computer will be very well used and will be a great help to the teachers in educating the children.  In the modern age learning to use computers is a great advantage for children.  Also, in the Philippines many families have relatives or family members working overseas to try and help support the family, and if they can use computers it is much easier for families to keep in touch with each other.   

Mission accomplished!

 Meanwhile, a couple of the parents had also found some books, a pop-up play tent, and some crayons which were also brought out from Scotland on Bill’s most recent trip.  They seemed very facinated and pleased with these as well, and promptly took them for the teachers of the pre-school group to use. 

 

Bill and a couple of Mums check out the playtent, books and crayons for the pre-school group.

All in all, another happy and satisfying day. 

A big thank-you to all those back home who made it possible with their donations. 

“Children Are Special People”

 

A sign on the wall of the Pre-School Class at Berseba Elementary

When we are working in the different areas of the mountain it is always nice to think that perhaps we can do a little to help the communities we are working in whilst we are there.  I know there is only a little we can do during our short time there, and with limited funds available (after all, this is not the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation !) , but maybe it can make some small difference to the people inolved. 

Grade 5 students with new jotters.

 During our time working at Berseba and Mount Ararat I therefore approached the local school and asked if there were some small things we could to to help.  I tried to explaining that although I was a foreigner I was not rich (all foreigners are assumed to be rich !) so we could not offer very big expensive things, just small items to help the children with their education or simply to bring a little pleasure to the children. 

A number of things were mentioned, where they would be very grateful of some assistance.  For a start, the headmaster called in the teacher in charge of the pre-schoolers (age six and under).  The pre-school teacher said she really needed some interactive and educational toys, especially ones which would help the youngsters improve their manual and co-ordination skills.  As a result I made a trip to Guisano, a shopping mall about 2 hours away from where I live, and raided the toy department for toys that seemed to fit the bill. 

 

The Children of the Pre-Scool Class with their teacher (right), Headmaster (left), and me (centre !)  showing off new the toys we provided for them.

Another teacher approached me as I crossed the playground and told me how the school used to do well in the inter-school badminton competitions but lacked rackets and shuttlecocks to practice with.  He was their ‘coach’.  Could I please help ? No big deal – a pair of badminton rackets can be bought for under a pound here, so it wasn’t a lot to ask for.  So on another trip we took them half a dozen rackets and a pack of a dozen shuttlecocks. 

Next, a teacher told me how they really wanted to do more music with the children, but lacked instruments.  Any chance of maybe getting a guitar or a ukelele, or some other instruments so they could form a small school band…. ? Please …..?  I managed to rustle up some money to give them two ukeleles (about £3 each) and a guitar (about £10). 

Not to lose sight of the academic side of things, all the children also got new Grade Pads (jotters) and pens or pencils. 

 

The Grade 3 children with their new Grade Pads (jotters)

Needless to say, when a school is desperately short of resources and someone offers to help (even a little) they can’t resist the need to tell you about the bigger, more expensive things they desperately need too, even if you have explained that there are not big pots of cash available!  Foremost among these was the fact that they did not have any computer – not even one – although the Berseba schools do have electricity which in theory would enable them to run a computer.  They did have teachers who are capable of teaching the children how to use a computer, but no hardware was available.

Sadly, at the time I thought we had not enough money for this to be possible, and explained this to them. They accepted this explanation, and were incredibly appreciative of all we had been able to do.  

However I reckoned without the incredible generosity of the folk back home. During my recent trip home I was given several more donations, including generous donations from a neighbour in Kilcreggan, my cousin John, and – amazingly – a cheque from a Mr D of Newton Mearns who donated enough to cover the whole cost of a computer for the school ! 

But more of that in my next blog, as I have now bought the computer and will be delivering it to the school this week so I will give you all the details once I have the photos of the school receiving it ! 

Thanks to all the kind people who have helped in supporting the schoolchildren of the Andanan mountains in Mindanao !