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 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.

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. 

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 !  

Bones sitting outside my apartment

Sad news. 

Tragedy struck this past week when on Thursday 22nd of March poor Bones was struck by a car on the road outside my apartment and killed instantly.   

My neighbour came to my door talking rapidly in an agitated manner.  Although my Visayan is poor I heard the words “iro” (dog) and “patay” (dead) featuring frequently in what she was saying as she pointed towards the road. 

I ran up to where she was pointing and poor Bones was lyiing at the side of the road, completely dead.  A small crowd of people had gathered. He must have been killed instantly as I had seen him just five or ten minutes earlier frolicking with a little brown dog.  At least he never suffered. 

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Bones when he first arrived at my apartment. No hair, and just skin and bone.  He could barely stand up. He was so scared of people I couldn’t get near him.  It took several days of feeding to win his trust.

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Longer term readers of my blog will remember that Bones was an askal (street dog) that arrived at my door on the point of starvation and with no hair on his body at all. 

That was not long after I moved into the apartment about 18 months ago.  I took pity on him and started to feed him and he went from strength to strength, taking a new lease on life.

He was a good companion, and I enjoyed having him around, even if he didn’t take his duties as a guard and pest controller very seriously. 

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One day I arrived home to find him at outside my door, sitting happily on my porch side by side with a very large rat.  They looked like the best of friends.  He only decided that maybe he ought to be chasing the rat once I started to shoo it away. Even then, his efforts were more of a half-hearted bouncing along (in a Tigger-ish manner) than a serious chase. 

Similarly, he was inclined to carry on sleeping even when people came into the yard of my house – especially if it was a hot day.  It was, after all, much too much trouble to be bothered to wake up and bark at strangers in the midday tropical heat.

That is siesta time, after all !  Be reasonable !

Sadly he has now gone.  But at least for the last 18 months of his life he was happy, healthy and well fed.

I still keep looking for him when I get home.  He will be sadly missed.

Rest in peace my little friend.

One of the pack horses is loaded for the journey into the forest. the horses here are small (ponies really) but are very stong.  They also appear well cared for, with healthy coats and none of the harness sores you see in some other countries.

The first step in starting the suvey of the wildlife of the forests was to set up a camp within the jungle.  We were looking ideally for old growth forest, but due to timber poaching the best we could find was secondary forest – areas where tree had been cut in the past but where the forest had re-grown. 

Because the area is not accessible by vehicles we hired three pack horses to carry the equipment into the forest – a distance of about three kilometers from the dirt road, across steeply sloping terrain.

The pack horses fording the river.  The water came up to the top of our legs as we crossed, and was flowing strongly. We crossed this river at about five different points during the trek to locate a site for the base camp, as it meandered across our line of travel !

On the walk in we found out first species – a snake lying at the edge of the river! Eventually, an area of rainforest at a place called Tagapunan was selected as being the most suitable area for the researchers to base their camp, and we set about the work of unloading the equipment.   

With the group of researchers, guides, porters and provincial government staff, I arrive at the site of the Berseba jungle camp.  

We had hired five local people – four men as guides and for security, and one young girl as cook, general assistant and companion for Weng, the young female research assistant from Mindanao State University. A respectable Filipina girl will not enter a house with a man unless there is a ‘chaperone’ present, so we could hardly ask Weng to camp in the forest with a group of men without a female companion present !

The local guides set about clearing a small patch of flat ground for the camp, and constructing tables and benches from forest materials – branches lashed together with vines.

Lunch is prepared by Airene over a brushwood fire.

The camp takes shape.  After lunch we sit on benches made from thin logs.

Later that day the researchers started setting up mist nets to capture the forest birds by day and bats by night, drop traps to catch lizards, and live cage traps for capturing small mammals.  Very soon, they started getting results. 

From left to right – MSU researchers Alrey and Weng, Salome (from the provincial environment and natural resources office) and me, holding a white throated kingfisher – one of the first birds caught.

All captured animals are weighed, measured, identified. Red nail-polish is used to mark the animals before release, so that the resarchers can tell if an animal has been caught before, or is a new individual.

Me holding a Philippine frogmouth – named after its large wide beak.

Finally, it as time for us to leave the researchers and guides and head back to the car for the journey home.  Since the journey back was mostly up a very steep mountain, and the horses now had no load to carry, I decided to ride one of the horses back up the mountain to where we had left the car. 

A horse stands cooling its legs in the water in the shade of the riverbank trees while it waits to carry me back the long trek to the car.

All in all, very enjoyable day !

A Greater Flameback Woodpecker. The mountains of the Andanan Watershed are full of rare and beautiful wildlife which has never been researched or documented.

One source of funding VSO is able to access for its projects here in the Philippines comes from the EU under a development programme on sharing and promoting of regional knowledge.  I recently put in a project proposal to get help from Mindanao State University (MSU) to carry out species identification in the Andanan watershed area.  Peviously no real information has been available on what species of birds, bats, snakes et cetera are present in the area, and what is in danger of being lost if the defeorestation of the area continues. We were lucky and funding for the proposal was approved - 255,800 Pisos or around 2,800 pounds.

However, that was only the start of things.  There were still lots of hurdles to jump and hoops to leap through before we could start the work.  One of the most important of these was obtaining the consent of the indigenous peoples who live in the area.  This involved meetings with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, then with the Datus (Tribal Chieftans), and finally we had to hold community meetings. 

Datus (tribal chiefans) and Barangay (village) officials sit around the table at the pre-project meeting.  The community members listen from behind. Manobo Datus traditionally wear red jackets or have red banding on their clothes. It is also traditional for food to provided at meetings, so we had to feed about 200 people !

MSU had tried to go through this process last november, but unfortunately they were unaware of the best way to explain the project to the indigenous people of the area.  As a result, the way the project was explained to the indigenous people (IPs) didn’t make it clear why they should give their permission, and what the benefits to them would be from the project.  Since the IPs are very protective of their rights and access to their lands, they therefore refused permission in November. 

In January I approached the Provincial Officer for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, who is based at the Provincial Capitol where I work.  He gave us good advice on the correct process to follow, and put us in touch with the Regional NCIP Office in Butuan.  Together they guided us through the procedures for meeting the legal requirement for obtaining the Free Prior Informed Consent of the IPs before carrying out research in thie tribal lands.  The Provincial Officer even facilitated a new set of meetings with the datus, Barangay (village) officials, and the communities to explain why the project was needed. 

During these meetings, he explained the project to the tribal groups in their own language (Manobo) as well as Visayan, and clearly explained how the project on biodiversity would help the IPs to prepare their Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development Plan – an important requirement of the process of getting their ancestral lands recognised in a Certificate of Ancestal Domain Title. 

The end result as that the indigenous people agreed to the project going ahead, and agreed to offer their protction to the researchers from Mindanao State University while they were carrying out the work.  This was formalised by all the Datus and Barangay officials signing a document agreeing to the researchers entering their area to conduct the research.  However, educational facilities in the remote mountain areas are limited both by physical distance from schools and lack of money for families to pay for their children to be educated, and were even more limited when the current Datus were of school age.  As a result, many of the Datus’ ’signatures’ were in the form of a thumbprint.   

‘Signing’ the agreement.  An elderly Datu appends his thumbprint. 

The agreement of the datus, officials and communities to guarantee the safety of the researchers was of particular importance, as the researchers would have to camp in the forest overnight in order to catch and identify nocturnal species such as bats, some bird species, frogs, etc.   As there are members of the New Peoples Army (communist insurgents) in the mountains of Mindanao, it was necessary that the researchers be under the protection of the community, especially while staying overnight in the mountain forests.

So, with their safety assured and the ‘red tape’ complied with, we were able at last to begin the research to identify the biodiversity of the mountain forests of the Andanan Watershed. 

A warning sign on the access road into the watershed, at a site subject to major landslides during every rainy season.

Only the natural hazards such as snakes and landslides remained to be negotiated !

A large rat snake.  One of the many species of snake present in the forests.

The third week of January is the Sinulog Festival in Cebu.  

This year our Provincical Governor in Agusan del Sur, Governor ”Eddiebong” Plaza, took a group of about 65 staff and politicians to Cebu for the festival.  

It is a major event in the southern Philippines, and involves lots of street dancing, elaborate costumes, and basically having fun ! 

Amongst those invited to attend were the six VSO volunteers working in the province. 

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The festival revolves around a statue of the “Santo Nino” which was brought to the Philippines by the Spanish Queen early in the time of the Spanish colonisation. 

The statue is still held in a church in Cebu, and is much revered.  One a year it forms the centrepiece of a big parade at the Sinulog Festival.

There are a huge number of different performers, and the Festival lasts for about a week. 

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The climax of the celebrations happens on the Sunday, when there are river parades, a large open-air Mass, and the street processions of dancers.

In the Philippines you’re never too young to enjoy a fiesta ! While the woman on the left holds up the Santo Nino (Holy Child) statue, the man on the right carries a real baby ! 

Most of the dance groups carry a copy of the Santo Nino statue - which is wearing a crown and a wide red cape – and everywhere there are signs saying “Viva Santo Nino!”, and “Pit Senjor!”  The Santo Nino is commonly referred to as “Senjor”, and apparently “Pit Senjor” means something like “invoke the Senjor Santo Nino”.

Its a great festival.  Certainly worth seeing if you are in the Philippines in the month of January.

Travelling into Agusan marsh to deliver Christmas goodies !

Christmas time has arrived !

Time to spread a little Christmas cheer as we go along our way!

So, in that spirit this week began with a group of my VSO colleagues, the Save Mindanao Volunteers and me travelling into the Agusan marsh to deliver Christmas gifts to the people there.  

We are greeted by the children all singing welcome songs to us at the new Literacy Centre built by the Save Mindanao Volunteers. 

Our destination was a Sitio (small settlement) called Kilobeaden where the Save Mindanao Volunteers (SMV) have been doing a lot f work to help the community. 

Kilobeaden.  The house in the foreground is typical of the houses there, each of which can be home to ten or more people. 

Amongst the things that SMV have been doing is constructing a Literacy Centre for the teaching of children and adults alike.  

We arrived late afternoon, since it is a long journey to get there, first by car, then by big boat, then by little canoe !  As a result by the time we laid out our sleeping mats etc. it was dark.  Nevertheless, we were given a tour of the village and told who lived in each house (and how many !). 

A Kilobeaden household at dusk. 

There were seventeen houses in all.  Amongst the occupants was a 42 year old woman who had a 5-day old baby – her tenth child.  She wasn’t the only one with a big family either. 

We planned to stay overnight, so in some ways it would have made sense to distribute the gifts in the morning once we had daylight again, but the intended recipients were too excited to wait that long.  Consequently we battered on by the light of a single gas-lamp and the odd improvised kerosene lamp made from an old bottle and a rag (there is no electricity here !).

Families wait barefoot in the mud for the distribution of gifts to begin.

So in spite of the darkness and some very heavy rain showers I donned my Santa Hat and we got on with it !

It was all very organised as the Save Mindanao Volunteers produced a list of all the households, along with details of how many children each family had and any other special circumstances (such as “this lady is a widow with six children”).  We were therefore able to adjust the size of the pack each family got to the number in the household etc.

A happy lady receives a bag of children’s clothes and toys

The gifts included a load of soft toys donated by folk in Newton Mearns, and transported out from Glasgow on Bill’s last trip out here.  As the bags were carried away into the darkness we all retired to bed – sleeping on the floor of the Literacy Centre.  The following morning we woke to find the various new toys being played with and the new clothes being worn aleady by some of the children.

Amongst the toys were little “tooting party horns”, so that following morning we woke to the sound not of birdsong but of children running around going “toot toot”.  I could just hear my sister’s voice from back in Scotland saying “that’s the kind of thing Aunties give, not parents !” 

Ah well. 

I have done my bit for the peace and tranquility of the marsh !

Left : Nice new t-shirt, nice new kite… but something missing.

Above : The boy in the centre is wearing his new t-shirt and shorts.

The final items distributed the following morning were some chinese kites.  I had been unsure if these would work as there is limited space to run about to get the kite launched, but they seemed to manage and had a really good time with them. As did the adults !

Even during Christmas celebrations normal life goes on, and a little person still needs to wash behind their ears ! I hope they don’t wring her out like the laundry !

The following day at dawn we went for a trip round a nearby lake, and got some fresh fish straight from the fisherman’s net, which was then cooked for our breakast.  Delicious !

It was then time to be on our way, so we took to the canoes once again, and headed out of the marsh. 

However, a Santa’s work is never done, so more tasks lay ahead.  On returning to San Franz (where I live) I had to immediately head out to the shops to finish shopping for the Pinagalaan School Party the following day.

Pinagala-an Elementary School Christmas Party ! 

Pinagala-an School’s Christmas programme started at 10 am with all of the classes taking it in turns to give a little performance ( a song, dance, or both !).  I arrived just in time for the start of this, and was treated like a guest of honour !  I also had to join in the dancing to Christmas songs, much to the amusement of the kids who were in fits of laughter at this funny white woman doing all the actions to the songs !

At lunchtime we had a mass feeding again, with a few extras like cakes and sweeties since it was the Christmas party ! I then started distibuting gifts to the schoolchildren with the help of the teachers.

Toy cars are handed out to the Grade 1 and Grade 2 boys. 

The toys handed out included soft toys collected by the people of Newton Mearns. In all, over 60 soft toys from Glasgow were distibuted at the school, and that was not counting the ones distributed in the marsh the day before.  There were also a load of balloons which came out from Scotland, too!

Two young girs display their new soft toys.  In the background of the left hand picture, bags of donated clothing from Newton Mearns await distribution.

I had also bought a load more toys out here including lots of toy cars, word games, puzzles, spiderman toys, power rangers, yoyos, water pistols and ….you guessed it… .. more tooting horns and kites ! 

Happy faces as the children of Pinagala-an Elementary School receive their gifts !

Once again the process was very orderly thanks to the help of the teachers who called the pupils up one class at a time. 

Having handed out a Christmas present to every child in the school, we then turned our attention to handing out the donated clothes which had been brought from Scotland.  There weren’t quite enough to kit out all 209 pupils in the school, so the teachers decided the indigenous students (those from the Manobo tribe) should have priority as these families tend to be the poorest and most disadvantaged.  

A Manobo boy gets fitted out with a new ‘St Cadoc’s’ polo shirt and a pair of shorts by the teachers.

Once again the teachers set to, checking all the clothes against the pupils to make sure they fitted okay.  They really worked hard.  However I had bought a great big gooey chocolate cake for the teachers to share as a thanks for all their hard work over the previous year !

Left : A Manobo boy gets fitted with a Mearns Primary School polo shirt.  Right : A boy in desparate need of a new t-shirt (wearing a t-shirt full of holes) clutches his new Mearns Primary polo shirt.

Having completed our task it was time to return to the Barangay (village) Hall for the  afternoon part of the programme. 

However, I may have contributed to things degenerating into chaos, as the floor of the hall was by this time covered with kids playing with their new toy cars and there were balloons bouncing about everywhere !

Playing with the new toy cars !

Nonetheless, the programme eventually got under way again with community singing and dancing.  I was dragged up to sit on the stage, but had a constant stream of children bringing me the baloons out their gift packs for me to blow up for them. 

All in alll, a good time as had by all, and all the goodies and presents really seemed to make the day for the children. Indeed one or two of them couldn’t wait to put on their new clothes and appeared at the afternoon session sporting new t-shirts !

A Manobo boy sports his new St Cadoc’s polo shirt 

A final thought at Christmas time ……

It occurred to me that the money I spent on cakes sweets and toys for the whole school was similar to what could be easily spent on one festive meal back in the UK over this Christmas period. 

And for that you can make a whole school happy !

No contest really, is it ?

So thanks again to all those who donated money, toys and clothes.  You all helped make it a very special day for the children.

May your own Christmas be as happy as you made the children and their families that day.  

Birthday presents for Pinagala-an ! The head teacher Ferdinand Buque and volunteer teacher  Mr Tambili with some maps, watercolour paints, and educational posters we donated to the school.

This year on my birthday (6th December) Bill and I went to Pinagala-an to deliver some science equipment and other goodies to the children.  Bill and I had spent the previous weekend in Davao, which is about six hours away down in the south of Mindanao, in order to source and buy the more specialist items the school teachers had requested. 

One of the tougher things to find was a microscope.  The school’s existing microscope had been unusable for at least two years, a source of great concern to the head teacher as he is also the science teacher for the school.

An excited head teacher assembles the new school microscope. 

We are really keen to promote the teaching of science as you will probably have seen on the TV the devastating effects that deforestation are having in the Philippines, with whole villages being swept away by landslides and all the ocupants of those villages being killed.  Even in the area where I work there are regular landslips.  So quite apart from the environmental reasons, there is an urgent need to raise children’s awareness of the importance of managing thier environment in a more sustainable (and safer) way to prevent loss of life as well as destruction of the environment. 

Anyway, after a lot of hunting we eventually sourced a suitable microscope from a medical supplies shop within the Davao Doctor’s Hospital.  To this we added a pack of glass microscope slides, a box of coverplates and half a dozen magnets (another request from the teachers !) – including bar magnets and horseshoe magnets.  Not sure why magnets are available in a medical supplies shop, but they were ! Later on we even found educational posters about microscopes and about magnetism, to create a complete set !  The head teacher Mr Burqe was really impressed by that, and kept saying how complete it all was !

Bill and Head teacher Mr Buque with the microscope, magnets and posters. 

These were not the only educational posters we bought – there were a whole heap of them, as well as which every classroom got a world map and a map of the Philippines. 

Finally, we added loads of trays of watercolour paints since this is something the school has trouble affording to buy for themselves, and there is no way the individual children could provide their own – they just couldn’t afford to do so.   So or the time being art classes can take on a new lease of life !

We handed over the stuff and were about to leave for Butuan (as Bill had to fly home the next day) when all  the children appeared in front of me and started singing me really lovely birthday tunes. 

The children singing birthday songs to me !

It was not just a simple ”Happy Birthday to You” but several lovely and quite complicated birthday songs which were obviously well rehearsed, and all about ‘ your can hear all your sons and daughters are singing to you’ and ‘ today must be so much happier than yesterday since its your birthday‘  and ‘we are so happy god has given you one more year’.    Lovely, and very touching !

I am suddenly innundated by flowers – which are locally grown by the parents of the children for sale in local markets.

During the singing I noticed some of the children holding flowers, and was a bit suspicious about this, and sure enough at the end of the singing I was swamped in flowers.  Cut flowers are one of the major things grown by local farmers (but in a very subsistence-farming type way), so although the local people are so poor they have very little which they can give, they gave me the one thing they had – flowers.  And they gave them in abundance – a veritable tidal wave of flowers ! Very generous and moving. 

I certainly went home with a little tear of emotion in my eye after all their efforts to mark my birthday (and so did Bill – he was about to tease me when he realised he also had a tear in his eye !). 

A truly memorable birthday indeed.