Community is not limited to where we actually live. It is not limited to our immediate neighbors. It is as wide as we could ever imagine--- and its reach goes beyond what we would allow it to be. Coming from this kind of perspective, we then should care beyond regions and borders. We can help each other, regardless of where we come, our status and our backgrounds. We can be truly like brothers and sisters and be like family. We all can work together to build a happier and safer place for our children, and in that way, we are also working for the world’s brighter future.
This vision of oneness is what ‘Kwaderno’ aims to promote. We should be one with the children in their journey towards reaching their dreams. Such we do through little initiatives--- initiatives which become possible with the help from our circles and the circles of our circles, initiatives which will have greater impact when shared in communities and then replicated. We all believe that the true meaning of empowerment comes from the people and thus, we value relationships, interaction and communication. We can work with different leadership styles and with different target groups, but the concept where we are all rooted should remain the same: that after all, we are still one community. We can work at different paces, numbers, areas, and strategies but we are guided with the same principle of service, accountability, peace and love.
Kwaderno’s main project is the notebook distribution. We are a small group of private citizens who dream of a better Philippines and better world, by helping poor children reach their own simple dreams, too. When we were young, we too struggled with just a few pieces of notebooks just so we could attend school. Some of us had to walk many kilometers to school, on barefoot, under the heat of the sun, or get wet in the rain. There is so much promise each child brings. We know that a simple act of kindness could make them reach miles and miles in their journey. During our last trip to a far-flung village to distribute some 300 notebooks, the children received them, held on to them like their life depended on these eight pieces of notebooks. You can't help but be moved and inspired to do something so much more for them and the rest of them who still haven't received anything. Last May 25, 2014, after two-week campaign in face book, we were able to distribute eight notebooks each for the pre-school to high school students of Barangay Sanke, Hinobaan, Negros Occidental. We were able to raise 4,516 notebooks, a number that intimidated us first but with the help of such caring and diverse community from here and there, we were able to reach our target.
For the Kwaderno team, this project is deeply-rooted in our hearts because we too can identify with the struggles and limitations and then passion of these children. We experienced poverty first hand and so just like how we did, we wish these children to discover the many possibilities there are by first believing in what they can do and giving them support even in the little ways that we can. Kwaderno believes that if we are able to provide notebooks for these children, it can be an epitome of change. Kwaderno is not just about doling out notebooks. It is about helping these children find their dreams and reach for it.
This project came from the desire to help others continue their schooling and give them some support to improve their situation. With our own financial status, we know that this could not be possible, but we know that with some organizing skills, strong network, and a big heart for the children, this could become possible--- not in the future, but starting this school year!
The target beneficiaries are children workers who despite their poor economic status still do their best to be in school. High academic performance is not necessary for them to qualify to the project because we believe that opportunities and access to education should be for all. However, as they go along, progress in their academic grades will be encouraged and neglect of their studies will be grounds for their termination to the program. This is open to elementary and secondary level, and if sustainability will be achieved by the project, the beneficiaries will be supported until college.
Children will be interviewed to know them better and once they agreed to be part of the program and to commit in written form that they will do their best in their studies, they will be officially admitted as beneficiaries.
The type of support to be given and the number of children beneficiaries will vary as to the capability of the group or organization or individual who will be taking leadership in replicating this initiative. But at the minimum, the following main types of support should be given to the children:
· Back to School Support- At the beginning of the school year, the organization should find means or raise funds among their circles, or think of other ways to provide school supplies to the children, including school bag and their uniforms.
· Monthly Allowance and Rice Subsidy – As these are children workers because of financial difficulties, giving monthly allowance and rice subsidy will help ensure that they can continue their schooling and their ‘burdens’ will also somehow be lessened.
· Regular Monitoring of the Children’s Well-being and School Performance- If we truly want to help the children, provision of material things is not enough. We have to regularly communicate and interact with them, be updated with what they are doing, help them to think creatively and continually motivate them to work hard for their dreams.
· Enjoin them in outreach program or Kwaderno initiative at least once a year to develop their sense of social responsibility and to share with them the experience of giving back to others and to the community.
Presently, the Kwaderno team has four children beneficiaries from Negros Occidental, three in secondary level and one in elementary. All of them are enrolled in public school. This ‘How far will your 30 pesos a month go?’ is a strategy that the Kwaderno team has adapted to raise funds for the monthly allowance and rice subsidy for the children. This is open to any individual, couple or group who would want to share their 30 pesos each month.
Those who pledged their support shall be referred to us our ‘partners’ and they will be remitting their donations starting June 15, 2014. Reports and updates will be regularly posted to our blog site. Thus, to ensure transparency and to foster unity of efforts, those who wish to replicate this strategy should also agree to post reports, updates, pictures and all other types of communication related to this initiative in our blog site.
Partners can also create their group composed of five members if they are located in the same areas. They can choose their team leader to facilitate collection and sending of their donation.
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His Children's Hero
The journey from the hinterlands of barangay Sanke, Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental, to the village proper by the sea, was like a Sunday get-together for the Layan family. Tatay Hermenio was with five of his five children, his wife, pregnant with their seventh child staying at home. Our Kwaderno team was set to have notebook distribution at 9 am that 25th day of May but Tatay Hermenio was already there before 7am. To get there, the Layans had to pass by several mountains, cross a river and then walk about an hour.
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