Kwaderno to Advance to the National Finals of Search for TAYO

Kwaderno is among the top 5 organizations that will advance to the National Finals of the Search for Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO)! Each time I share the story of Kwaderno's A Child Worker No More and Sponsor a Child Project, I am moved by the possibilities that are now waiting to our children whom we first met as pedicab driver, construction worker, farmer, errand boy, nanny and garbage collector and how they now dream of becoming seafarers, engineers, teachers and social worker. I am moved by how they are now inspiring other children in the community and all of our partners and volunteers. Our impact is God's work and there is something special about Kwaderno that beyond words can explain, something that speaks directly to the soul--- the touched lives, the relationships formed, the hope that is filling each page of our journey, and yes, the love that we have found that has made us one community wherever we are...

Sharing about our "A Child Worker No More and Sponsor A Child Project" that gives scholarship to children workers in Negros Occidental and how we use online and offline networking to raise funds for our scholars 

TAYO 12 Team Visayas Finalists

with Kwaderno volunteers Joey and Jessan 

With other organizations that made it to the top 5

We Live to Love

If there is just one thing that the world needs so that it will be at its best, so that there will be peace and understanding, so that a beautiful future is assured to the younger generation, then that would be nothing else but love. This world needs love because the reason why there are people who suffer, who feel lonely, who are poor and helpless is not just an economical thing. There is a hunger of love and such can only be filled by acts of love alone.

True love yields goodness. It yields hope and bigger dreams. It gives a different meaning and feeling even to sacrifices. We experience life the moment we love our neighbors, ourselves, and even our enemies. We live to share our talents and our gifts to others and to the world. We live to love.

May all of us be reminded of this most important commandment and may we find the beauty on it. Though it would require us to do something, to give something or give up something, love should not just be seen as a responsibility. Rather, it should also be seen as a privilege. To be able to know how to love is the best experience ever because it has the power to transform you at your best.

http://notebooksforlife.blogspot.com/

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.

It wasn’t just for the notebooks that his children would be receiving that day. Tatay Hermenio had a deeper purpose, I could sense it in his eyes. I could see that for the education of his children, he would do anything.

The family of Sanke’s barangay captain served breakfast to the Layan Family, knowing that they had had a long and difficult journey. Eleven-year-old Chona, the eldest among them was interviewed by Irene, one of our volunteers. Chona was shy but she responded to the questions politely. There was a certain glow in her eyes when she shared that her happiest moment was when she received a service award in their school this last year. In June this year started in Grade Five. She was excited to start the school year as she has recognized that there are so many things to be learned in school.

Chona at her young age understands that her family is struggling to make ends meet. Her father works as a farmer while her mother is a laundry woman. Chona helps on the farm and in the house the best she can. While other children of her age are holding dolls, Chona is holding a trowel. While others are having summer fun at the beach, she is planting crops under the heat of the sun. In the wet season they plant corn and in the dry season they plant rice.

Chona’s siblings were listening intently to the interview. Though they didn’t say anything, their eyes, hands, skin and feet spoke of the same story.

Chona wants to be a teacher someday.

Irene, a Kwaderno core group member, interviews Mang Hermenio and his children.

While sipping my morning coffee, I decided to engage in an informal chat with Tatay Hermenio. I thanked him for accompanying his children. Though I didn’t put any question to him he started sharing something that almost made me break into tears. He said he regretted not being able to learn how to read and write. He would only place his thumb mark when he needed to sign documents. His own life is a testimony to how difficult life is when one is illiterate. When his children started reading and writing, he couldn’t explain how happy he was. He wants them to have a bright future-- a life beyond what the plantations can offer, a life different from what he has endured.

Despite his lack of education, Tatay Hermenio did something very remarkable in his community. The children had to endure a difficult journey to school having to ford the river and pass through muddy and slippery trails. This was something that he thought could be solved by a hanging bridge. It would make things easier for the students, especially his own children, to reach school. He spoke to the community leaders and discussed the need for such a bridge - one was then constructed.

Tatay Hermenio ever fails to teach his children the value of caring for each other. I observed this in his daughter Chona. When they were invited to the breakfast table, she made sure her younger siblings finished eating first. She has developed the habit of caring for them and prioritizing them at every meal. Unlike other children whom we had difficulty in asking about their dreams, Chona clearly knows what she wants to be. She said that her father would always remind them to dream big. Chona dreams of becoming a teacher someday. This dream was planted in her heart not just for her own self. It is a dream that she has for other children as well, so that they will persevere in their studies and then discover their dreams too.

My own parents did not finish their education and this contributed to our poverty. Hence, at a young age, I promised myself that I would strive hard so that I could finish college. Education for me is something personal and so I am taking it as one of my life advocacies. I believe that everyone should be given access to it and that the children should be properly guided and ushered to reach their dreams. Tatay Hemenio inspired and affirmed me greatly that day as we distributed notebooks to the rest of the children in Barangay Sanke. I never thought that our simple activity would reveal to me something beautiful about the importance of a father’s love and heroism. Tatay Hermenio’s dedication to his children is what makes them believe there is a brighter future waiting to be seized.

This is also published in the July-August 2014 issue of Misyon.

Say Yes to Him

    Saying yes to God is the best decision we can ever have in our life. The moment we allow ourselves to be used by Him, He will be making things and circumstances so that we can be helping hands to others. He will be touching a lot of people so that it would be possible for us to become an initiator, or an enabler or a guide. It is Him who will turn us facilitators, advocates, and mediators. He will make us teachers, social workers, missionaries, doctors, writers, friends, and families. Anything and everything will always be possible through Him and with Him. 

     

     God’s love is a kind of love that will show and lead us to share and then to love others. This is something I experience again with the birth of this simple Kwaderno project done with and made possible with people whom also God has touched so that they will be saying ‘yes’ as well. 

The children and their notebooks, with me, Ms. Anne and the barangay captain 

The Notebooks
Kwaderno means notebook 

      Every start of the school year, a child in a public school in the Philippines would need eight notebooks. In depressed and poor areas in the country, this need is already hard to meet as food and survival would be the priority of parents and guardians. Last May 2, 2014, we were able to provide a set of notebooks to some pupils of Barangay Sanke, Hinobaan, Negros Occidental, with the help of generous sponsors. We will be back to the area this 25th of May again, and after God has touched so many people, we will be bringing enough notebooks for 600 children!

      When my frailties as a human would make me think that reaching out to many children would be an ambitious and unrealistic project, there God was and here now, making it clearer and clearer to me and to us each day, that what we our thinking of is something within reach. There God was and here now, embracing me and all of us, together with these children, so that through this simple act which began with our dreams, we will truly experience Him. And so henceforth, I am welcoming even bigger dreams, and my yes to God will be even louder...