Pinagalaan Adopt-a-School Project

The local Water District in the mountain area where I work is trying to establish an Adopt-a-School Project.  The school they want to help is Pinagalaan Elementary School, which is in a remote mountain area known as the Northern Interior. 

The school has 220 pupils and seven teachers, but no library, play equipment, sports equipment or even books.  Many of the children can not afford pens, pencils or writing pads for use in their lessons.  

The parents of the children are labourers, vendors and flower planters whose income is insufficient for their basic family needs, including food. 

As a result the children are malnourished, underachieve at school, and drop out before reaching the higher grades in order to help their parents earn money by selling flowers in nearby market towns.

75% of pupils in Pinagalaan are malnourished and are therefore slow learners.

A third of the children are from the Manobo tribe.  Indigenous peoples tend to be amongst the poorest and most disadvantaged of the area's inhabitants.

The environment has been severely damaged by activities such as illegal logging as people struggle to find any way they can to feed their family. Part of the project therefore aims to educate children about the need to protect the environment. 

The area is very remote and is accessed by an abandoned logging road.  The state of the road is so bad that much of the barangay (village) is only acessible by foot, horse and motorbike (during the dry season !).  On average the children walk 3 km to get to school (6 km round trip). There is no electricity in Pinagalaan, so no TV or electric light !

The project has a range of different objectives, including :

* to improve the level of educational achievement trough a feeding and deworming programme in school for malnourished children and the provision of vitamins

* to encourage the poorest children, especially Manobo children, to complete 6 years of elementary education by providing them with school supplies such as pencils, paper, etc.

*to encourage environmental awareness in children through activites such as tree planting, in order to reduce environmental destruction

* to provide books, shelves, tables and chairs for a school library

* to provide basic laboratory equipment to set up a school science lab

* to provide play equipment for a 'physical fitness park' (slide, swings, see saw etc)

* to provide the basic supplies needed to set up a school clinic (bandages, plasters, sterilising alcohol, and basic medicines) 

* to help parents support their children through school by providing low-income parents with training in new skills such as mushroom culture, duck raising, tailoring and food preservation which will enable them to increase their incomes.  

Although the Water District is providing staff effort to try and set up the project, the materials needed - such as school supplies, medicines, equipment, etc. – all need to be obtained through sponsorship and donations. There is no money currently available for this.  Hence the reason for the project title – Adopt-a-School.

The more money we can raise to support this project the more we can make a real difference to the lives of these children. This project is something which can change their whole future by enabling them to achieve the education and skills to make a better life for themselves.

I plan to use £100 donated by Mearns Parish Kirk, and some of the pencils, paper and books they donated, to support this project.  When I learnt about this project I told my husband Bill about it, and he has already managed to raise a further £200 in donations.  He has also committed himself to trying to raise more.  So a really big thanks to all of you – this gives the project a really good flying start. Your money will really make a difference. 

But let's not stop there – let's all make this project a huge success for the sake of all the children in the school, who don't have even the most basic of things which children in the UK can take for granted. 

Its a big task, with a lot of equipment and supplies needed. A large number of children and families are involved, so we still need more support.  Things which will help are :

* Money, of course, to buy things such as supplementary feeding, worming tablets, vitamins, medical supplies for the clinic, tables and chairs, etc.  

* pencils, pens and writing pads

* children's books, especially school books, educational books or books which teach children about caring for the environment    

* educational toys and equipment

For updates on what is happening with this project go to the "Updates on the Pinagalaan Adopt-a-School Project" category which you will find listed on the right hand side of my homepage. 

Thanks to all those who have helped with this project so far.  If you would like to become involved just contact me through the comments option at the foot of each article. 

The Children of Pinagala-an need your help !