M’lang, North Cotabato, Philippines --- Arnel is one of nine siblings. He lives with his father who is a farmer. His mother died several years ago. At 16, he should have already graduated from high school but he is still in the sixth grade and trying to finish elementary school. When not in school, Arnel works in the market doing odd jobs. In many poor areas in the Philippines, if children drop out of school and are old enough, they begin working to augment the family income, no matter how small their contribution may be.
“If not for the educational support, I will still be working in the farm or in the market because my father can’t afford to send me to school. This has changed with the educational support,” Arnel said after hearing that he was chosen by Wimler and the school as one of the scholars.
According to the Asian Development Bank, one out of five children in the Philippines never gets to attend primary school because of financial constraints while three out of every 10 drop out before finishing their elementary education. Not having an education would mean they will have a slim chance to get out of poverty.
Providing education is of the government. However, in a country where more than one million children are out of school, the Philippine government is presently not in a position to help all these children especially those living in far-flung areas.How to support these needy children continues to be a big challenge. Fortunately, WIMLER found sponsors who are willing to support 20 most needy children in M’lang Pilot Elementary School. An agreement was also reached that while WIMLER works on sponsorship, the parents will also actively support the school, in cooperation with the teachers, in finding ways to help the children.
For instance, some children go to school without eating breakfast. To help them, the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) started a school-based vegetable garden to support the school feeding program. The school also sells some of the harvests to earn some money to buy things the school needs.
Aside from the vegetable garden, the PTA members also started a poultry project as another potential source of income. Proceeds of the project will be used to support poor students. The project will also serve as a field school for the students and the parents.
“The students and the parents will have a chance to learn how to raise family-based poultry farm. They can sell the eggs or chickens and so they will have some money to buy their school supplies” Cyrel Defensor, the school principal of M’lang Pilot elementary School, explained. Moreover, “many of the children enrolled in the elementary grades stop going to school beyond sixth grade. When they go out of school, they will have a little know-how in raising chickens and earn money” Defensor added.
PTA members made a request for an initial investment fund covering 6-8 months until the chickens lay eggs. WIMLER was able to secure a small grant in the amount of Php 380,000 from Society of Worldwide Inter-bank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) through its Asia-Pacific office under their corporate social responsibility program. “WIMLER needs to figure out how the project can be introduced to the families especially as source of income for women. But this will be another intervention in the future,” Leila Rispens-Noel, president and co-founder of WIMLER said.
The first building block is laid. The construction of the poultry started on the first week of September. Teachers, parents, the local government unit, students, SWIFT, and WIMLER work together in M’lang to ensure that poor children have a place in the classroom.
About WIMLER: The WIMLER Partnership for Social Progress, Inc. is a small non-profit and non-governmental organisation. Our mission is to share, serve, stimulate, facilitate, and build partnership for sustainable development. We contribute to the development and advancement of grassroots communities through alternative approaches to socio-economic development, education, capacity building of communities and building partnership with like-minded organizations locally and internationally.
Website: www.wimler.org
About SWIFT:
The well-being of the communities we live and work in is engrained in SWIFT’s corporate values and we strive to demonstrate them beyond the confines of the company. SWIFT is committed to improving social and educational circumstances wherever possible; we seek to engage our employees and have established partnerships with One Laptop per Child, the International Polar Foundation, United Way, the American Cancer Society and the United Fund for Belgium. Our programme is co-created with the input of our employees and stakeholders, co-deployed with the help of volunteers, engaging by enabling our staff to personally participate, focused on where our support makes a difference glocal with major umbrella initiatives whilst fostering regional/local autonomy.
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Photos: Harvest Time, October 2010
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