PHOTO CREDIT: PAUL RANDEE KIMAYONG (TEAM INJURY)
Pusong Pinoy believes that no child should be left behind and advocates literacy for every child. It takes a clear stand, when it comes to its support for the Millennium Development Goal 2 (MDG 2) which states the universal importance of primary education. It strongly supports the international initiative, launched in 1990 in Thailand, on Education for All, by making an effort to reach remote communities which have children of indigenous origin.
The Aeta community in Sitio Dueg, Maasin, San Clemente in Tarlac, is one of the many resettlement areas created by the Philippine government to accommodate the Aeta tribes which were left homeless after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. The people have lived in the mountains of Sitio Dueg since then. Dueg Resettlement Elementary School was built to cater to the education of the Aeta children in the community.
On December 15, 2012, as part of Pusong Pinoy’s Christmas project, Pamasko ng Pusong Pinoy 4, Pusong Pinoy Pasig Team Leader JENNY OLIVA, together with volunteers from TEAM INJURY, a Manila-based mountaineering group, turned over 500 storybooks and 198 pairs of slippers to the teachers and school children of this community.
To reach the site, the group traveled three hours from Manila to the San Clemente Municipal Hall and another one and a half hours in a dump truck to the eastern slope of Zambales mountain which is a part of Maasin, San Clemente. The teachers either walk for hours or ride the same dump truck to the school every Monday. These teachers also contribute a portion of their meager salary to provide a feeding program for the pupils. Apparently, many of the children come to school hungry and weak.
Team Injury, likewise, prepared gift packages for the teachers and children. The teachers received packs of manila paper, 8 boxes of chalk, 3 dozen permanent markers and 1 Webster’s Dictionary. The children, on the other hand, received the following: 250 apples and 189 gift packs containing school supplies (pad paper, pencils, sharpener, eraser, crayons, pens, pencil case, ruler); toiletries (face towel, toothbrush, shampoo, toothpaste, bath soap); and snack items (juice, cupcake, chocolates).
To the Dueg Resettlement Elementary School principal, teachers and pupils, it was a Christmas day on December 15!
Thank you to all the HEROES who supported this activity! Special thanks to USA Newport Beach Team Leader CARL BERNARDO for donating 198 pairs of slippers and to TEAM INJURY for all the Christmas surprises provided to the kids. You have brought tears of joy and wide smiles on their faces!
Thank you to all the HEROES who supported this activity! Special thanks to USA Newport Beach Team Leader CARL BERNARDO for donating 198 pairs of slippers and to TEAM INJURY for all the Christmas surprises provided to the kids. You have brought tears of joy and wide smiles on their faces!
