School for 30 Disabled Kids Affected by Haiyan

Thanks to your generous donations the Aram Learning Studio in Tacloban is now well on the road to recovery after being devastated by typhoon Haiyan.

In the first few months after Haiyan your support allowed us to repair the damage caused by the typhoon, and enabled us to re-equip the school with all the learning materials it needed to re-open.

Since then we’ve been continuing to support the Aram Learning Studio by helping to pay teachers’ salaries and other running costs, like electricity to keep the lights on!

Thanks to you this support is allowing the school to provide education and therapy to some of Tacloban’s most of vulnerable kids - those with developmental difficulties. Without you the needs of these kids would have been overlooked in the aftermath of Haiyan.

This month, there’s even more good news from the Aram Learning Studio. With the situation now stabilising in Tacloban many of the kids parents are now able to contribute to the school’s running costs. This means the school is becoming financially sustainable and that we’re able to scale back our own support.

We’ll be staying involved with the Aram Learning Studio and helping where needed, but this is likely to involve further investments in infrastructure rather than supporting running costs.

As a result we’ll now be folding this project into our larger work to Support Education in Tacloban. From now on reports for the Aram Learning Studio will be sent through that project.

As always, if you ever have any queries about how we’re using your donation, please don’t hesitate to email Emma@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you.

First of all, we’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who gave on GlobalGiving’s most recent matching day. With matching, you gave a fantastic $4,280 to support children like Vince.

Vince is 3 and he has autism. His family lost everything when typhoon Haiyan struck and coping with his special needs has been a huge challenge for Vince's parents.

Happily, thanks to you, we've repaired and re-opened Vince's school so that Vince can get the therapy he needs to learn, grow and thrive. Re-opening the Aram Learning Studio was a big job, but we’re not stopping there.

Over the next few months your donations will allow us to help the Aram Learning Studio get back on its feet and work toward self-sufficiency once again. That means investing in their infrastructure, teachers and helping them expand the school.

All of these plans will need your support to become reality. But we’re in lucky – Microsoft is joining our efforts to support kids like Vince. In exactly a month, Microsoft will double your donations through its Youth Spark Programme.

That makes June 25th a very exciting day.

As always, if you every have any questions about how your gifts are changing lives, please don’t hesitate to email Emma@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you!

 Thanks again and very kind regards from our team here at IDV! 

First of all, thanks so much to everyone who gave on February 12th! Your donations have inspired hope in the Philippines and allowed us to continue supporting the Aram Learning Studio.

We’d also like to apologise for the long delay between our updates. Although Typhoon Haiyan struck over four months ago, communications are still very difficult. Our team doesn’t have power much of the time, and getting information out is a challenge. We’re actively seeking solutions so that we can update you more regularly, but until then we hope you’ll bear with us!

Our work with Aram is rapidly expanding. The school’s founder, Charina, wrote this letter expressing her gratitude for re-opening the school. She’s thanking our organisation – IDV – but we wouldn’t have been able to help Charina without you.

“Teacher Firie and I started this school with one classroom and an office space borrowed from my mother in law. As more parents have approached us, the school has grown.

The typhoon dealt us a new set of challenges. Even with our own personal challenges, we recognized the school's special role in helping the community. [I left right after the storm, but] I soon went back to Tacloban to help clean the school. It was the Universe's way of answering us when [IDV staff] Dave and Dagmara…found out about the school.

Firie and I were getting ready to start, once again, with just a single classroom. IDV gave us the chance to reopen as a fully functioning school. Because of this, we can hope to move ahead with the children.”

Charina has big plans for the future. Working with a larger organisation called “The Center of Blended Learning” she wants to expand the school and start holding seminars to help main-stream schools manage students with special needs.

But Charina also has concerns about the future. “Many first response aid will be removed soon. Stability of livelihood is a challenge of many.”

With your support, we’ll keep the Aram Learning Studio’s teachers employed and expand the school. These ambitious plans have the power to change children’s lives in Tacloban – but they won’t be possible without you.

Today, and today only, your gifts to the Aram learning studio will be matched by 50%. Your gifts will fund teacher’s salaries, construction to expand the school, more school supplies and enriching therapy for kids with special needs.

Please give what you can so that Charina can keep supporting the community’s most vulnerable kids.

Thanks so much, and – as always – if you have any questions about how we’re using your donations please don’t hesitate to email Emma@IDVolunteers.org.

Fantastic news! Thanks to your generosity, repairs on the school are complete and 17 children are back in class.

Your gifts funded a whole new electrical system for the school, new furniture, books, new doors and windows, mold removal, and repainting. Thanks so much for re-opening the Aaram Learning Studio and getting kids like Shane back to school.

In recognition of the school’s fantastic work and the increased need of families like Shane’s, we’re also now also committed to helping pay teacher salaries and contributing to the school’s costs for the coming months.

Prior to the storm, Aram received no government support and therefore had to charge parents school fees. Where parents struggled to pay, the school was able to offer scholarships or other forms of support. But now, parents can’t pay and the school has no income.

Over the next six months to a year, we’ll work with the school to meet its costs and enroll more kids while also looking at ways that the school can generate income.

With the support of donors like you, Aram will be able to not only provide school and therapy for Shane and his classmates, but will also re-open courses for older children with disabilities to develop job skills, restart parenting classes, and hold many more psycho-social sessions for Haiyan affected children.

We currently have funds in hand to support the school for the next three months – but beyond that we need your support. This Valentines day, we hope you’ll show the kids at Aram a little love by giving what you on February 12th. Why the 12th and not the 14th you ask? Because on the 12th, GlobalGiving will add 30% to your gift!

Your gift of just $10 can fund an enriching art class for three kids or a counseling session for an older child. Please give what you can on the 12th.

Thanks so much for all you’ve given, and if you have any questions about our work please don’t hesitate to email Emma@IDVolunteers.org

We’d like to extend a warm thank you for your generosity! Together, you’ve given a fantastic $2,850 this holiday season.

Your generosity has allowed repairs to begin at the Aram learning studio! We now expect the school to permanently re-open soon, and it has already run several short-term therapy sessions for affected children.

Given the long-term needs of the children who attend school at Aram, parents’ lack of ability to pay school fees, and local government’s inability to help the school, we’re also now committing to supporting the school over the next few months and possibly much longer. 

That means that, with your support, we’ll ensure that the community’s most vulnerable kids have their needs met by funding teacher’s salaries, meals for children, and much more. We’ll publicise details of our long-term plans at Aram as they develop – so keep checking back!

None of these exciting developments would be possible without you – thanks so much!

As always, if you ever have any questions about how we’re using your donation please don’t hesitate to email Emma@IDVolunteers.org. I would love to hear from you!

Thanks again, and very kind regards!