The Philippines is said to have over 7,100 islands. In 2006, I journeyed for the first time to one major island, Guimaras, off the province of Iloilo. There, I discovered that they have many needs that perhaps urbanites like us can address. In the course of doing the book drive for the Sta. Teresa National High School, my faith in the goodness of people was restored. Truly, I have discovered many strangers-turned-kindred-spirits and friends who want to help those who need help the most. Most certainly, if we pull together, we can still uplift many lives and make a positive contribution to our world. This site, hopefully, will capture the journey of helping many others, one island at a time! Or as ALS recently said "A journey of a thousand islands, simply begins with one." To those who may want to join me in helping develop Philippine public schools, here's how you definitely can: 1) Libraries.....Help develop Philippine elementary and high school public libraries by sharing/ donating used (but please, not "abused") books, particularly reference books like dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, map books, subject area references, and the like. These will truly be a great start. Story books, novels, arts & craft books, will be wonderful! Brand new books will surely be the best treat for millions of underprivileged children who thirst for knowledge and discovery! Library materials such as catalogue boxes, bells, stamp pads, bulletin boards will totally be a big help too! The long term goal (next 10 years, if not sooner) is to have functional libraries that possibly have automated cataloging and borrowing systems. Hence, yes! Computers in working condition with OS not older the XP or the like will be totally welcome for now. 2) Home Economics Centers...such centers are potentially where high school students can really learn a lot of practical skills that may even help them develop their own sources of livelihood later on. My current, medium term dream, if not goal, is to get at least one working sewing machine in the 17 high schools in Guimaras island, together with small kitchen appliances such as mixers, blenders...and other equipment/tools...like baking pans, measuring cups, utensils, knives, cutting boards, etc. Filipinos are very creative and artistic, but still, even in this modern day and age, the tools they use to help them express this creativity may just be totally outdated. Tools for the Home Economics Centers will be wonderful! 3) Science Laboratories....this is where the dream really gets bigger. Many of the public high schools I've seen in my travels to many provinces of my country, only have entirely theoretical science lessons. Hardly any experiments from the students, and in most cases, not even any demonstrations from the teachers. The dream is to help the students and teachers discover more, learn more, and yes, maybe get to invent more. At the most basic level, hand-held magnifying lenses, and hopefully microscopes, slides, petri dishes would be great. Am not going to wish for chemicals for now...there are enough materials in the natural environment and/or ordinary household materials for the students (and teachers!) to experiment with. 4) Playgrounds....is my way of pushing the dream farther.... of creating fun, exciting, learning environments for the public school students. In this case, I dream of artists, landscape artists, architects, inventors, toy makers, and the like, sharing their creations, even on a temporary basis, with the public schools.... I think I can dream some more but lest I overwhelm you, dear reader, these will be all for now. It is now slightly past the middle of 2010. My journey has gone through quite a number of exciting twists and turns since 2006. I continue to look forward to more happy events, for the sake of our Filipino children, from hereon. Thank you very much for finding time to browse through this site, which really just started from my little story...of when and how the carabao left me in December 2006. =) Hence, my apologies if you find the information and/or stories not too well-organized. Please do feel free to drop me a note for any query or comment. Cheers! Mabuhay! =) 
Guimaras island's public HIGH schools...on my mind again...October 14, 2010 I was finally able to tabulate the results of a short survey I sent out to the 17 public high schools in Guimaras last June. Out of the 17 schools, only 9 have responded so far. I sent out the survey to basically appease... more
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