Unite Inter-Faith Children via Education and Water

Asia America Initiative believes that becoming active readers empowers children to be future leaders. Our sponsored schools in each major region of the Philippines receive books from AAI quarterly throughout the year for supplemrntal reading and to build their school libraries."The Asia America Initiative's provision of books and classroom guides for teachers has greatly improved our literacy performance to close to 100 percent of our pupils," says Dr. Merhama, principal of Salih Yusah Elementary School in Jolo, Sulu, which has been recognized as one of the leading education centers in the region by the Department of Education.

Books are donated to AAI from our loyal partners in the United States. We review them for quality and subject matter and then ship them to the schools in the Philippines where they are needed most. We receive story booksand text books -- including adult literacy --  in all subject matter. We provide books from Pre School to Post Grad nursing and medical schools. "The blessing of AAI's contribution to our Graduate School and Nursing School," says Dr. Anissa at Mindanao State University in Jolo, "has enabled our university to become a center of excellence in professional development."

The joy of learning on a child's face cannot be underestimated. Some AAI schools allow students to arrive early to read and look through books.  Students stand in line waiting for the library to open. Fathers and uncles of students build bookshelves and book trees for their libraries. Parent involvement is the key to success in any school. When parents and teachers work together, students benefit by being part of a safe environment with their educational needs adequaely addressed.

Religious conflict and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children. Our programs empowers elementary schools in regions where children are victims of natural and man-made disasters. Inter-faith education teaches students the value of cooperation and diversity. In addition to books, we also provide school supplies, clean water, and hygiene materials. We also support fresh water wells and school gardens to provide fresh vegetables for daily lunches cooked by volunteer parents.  The holistic nature of our programs enhance community-based progress and peace among diverse populations.

"The long-term positive impact of AAI's programs,"says Dr. Merhama," is that they empower Christian and Muslim communities to learn from each other through their respective best practices."  AAI serves as a communication bridge for action. Our social media facilitates transparent communication and dispels fear and myths that alienate communities who feel alone and abandoned. Starting in elementary schools, our positive interaction and equal treatment of various cultural groups facilitates mutual respect.

We could not achieve such positive results without the loyal support of our GlobalGiving donors. We ask you to please remember this program during the GlobalGiving "LIttle by Little" campaign betweem March 23 to March 28, when all donations between $10 and $50 will be matched by GlobalGiving at 50 percent.

Links:

• Asia America Initiative Website

A new AAI sponsored school' Salih Ututalum has begun construction on a new well for their school. Parents gathered and mapped out a plan for construction and labor. Through your contributions, AAI was able to provide materials to help build the well so that students will have access to clean water daily. 

Asia America Initiative prioritizes teachers and parents at our elementary schools to build clean water systems. With WASH facilities at each school, we promote adequate nutrition through school lunches cooked by volunteer mothers. School-based gardens provide fresh vegetables for lunch using drip irrigation from clean water tanks. Soaps and other hygiene products improve children's overall health for better classroom performance and fewer days absent due to sanitation deficiencies. This new well is a great step forward in providing the clean water needed.  

In the Philippines, religious conflict and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children. This program empowers elementary schools in regions where children are victims of natural and man-made disasters. Inter-faith education teaches students the value of cooperation and diversity. We provide books, school supplies, clean water, and hygiene. We support literacy, livelihood, school gardening for school lunches-cooked by volunteer parents to enhance progress and peace.

If you would like to keep making a difference to this community in 2020, please click through the project report and select the orange Donate Now button. With your help, we can continue to expand water projects like this one which is so important for a family's day-to-day living. (If you are interested in a monthly donation, GlobalGiving is even offering a 100% match!)

Unite Inter-Faith Children via Education and Water

Thank you so much for your past contribution. 

I wish you peace throughout the holiday season and in the new year.

Albert Santoli

Asia America Initiative

Links:

• Asia America Initiative Website

In the Philippines, religious conflict and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children. This program empowers elementary schools in regions where children are victims of natural and man-made disasters. Inter-faith education equity and building school communities as "one family" teaches students and parents the value of cooperation and diversity. We provide books, school supplies, garden tools, clean water, and hygiene soaps. We structure each school as a "Peace Zone" by supporting literacy, livelihood, gardening, and school lunches cooked by volunteer parents to enhance progress and cooperation between all members of a village or neighborhood with the elementary schools serving as mediation centers.

Our "One School/One Family" partnership program assists children in Asia America Initiative supported elementary schools in Sulu and Visayas regions. They are overcoming extreme poverty and communal violence through integrated literacy, livelihood skills, and health support. We have created a social media network for Muslim and Christian educators and children to share their new skills, hopes, and dreams. Mothers and fathers of pupils assist teachers to plant gardens, repair classrooms and cook daily meals at the schools. In turn, Asia America Initiative provides thousands of books, school supplies, garden tools, and clean water systems supported by ordinary people in the US, the Philippines and around the world through Global Giving. Rather than dependency on government officials, who are often not involved, we structure our programs with local and global humanitarian organizations, inter-faith religious groups and coordinate through educational institutions such as Mindanao State University in Jolo and Notre Dame College of Jolo. The results of these efforts builds community resiliency, independent enterprise and human progress step-by-step.

At Manilop Elementary School in rural Indanan District on Jolo island, school principal Zarr, states: "With our school gardens, in addition to improving children's nutrition, we also create a small agribusiness to purchase needed school supplies.  As schools try to have the best gardens, that creates peaceful competition between schools as well. Some pupils who were irresponsible in taking care their plants became motivated to do their tasks by seeing other children grow beautiful and healthy plants.

"This is very nice!!  Many kids may not go to college or high school. So our gardening teachers are their life mentors too. Between student government and school-based agribusiness is a positive direction for community development.  We sell at the market and re-invest 10 percent in seeds so the kids get the idea about budget and business investment without debt."

Principal Merhama of Salih Yusah, an urban elementary school, speaks for most of the school heads, "We are very grateful for the support from outside donors. We are also thankful for having supportive stakeholders who providing us fence wire for the school perimeter. With that our plants won't be eaten by the animals in the surrounding forests."

Thank you, thank you very much to everyone! Hopefully we can continue all of these efforts into the future."

Links:

• Asia America Initiative website

Students across the Phillippines are returning to school in June. AAI supported school children are given supplies in both Visayas and Sulu. Shipping of supplies began in April and arrived in time for the new school year.

AAI's program assists 20,000 children in elementary schools in Sulu and Visayas, Philippines. AAI with assistance from school teachers, staff, the local fire department and volunteers gather to unbox and distribute supplies and books to schools. Those schools will then, in turn, schedule distribution days for children to receive the items as the school year begins. Students who can not afford supplies are often embarrassed to go to school without them and our program provides a festive atmosphere in which all children can participate. Everyone involved feels a sense of pride and community. We thank you for your donations which help to make these events such a success. 

The program empowers elementary schools in regions where children are victims of natural and man-made disasters. Families are often Internally Displaced due to these factors and children will then attend neighboring schools if they are able. Having supplies on hand is welcoming and the school can give without burden on their resources.

Inter-faith education equity teaches students the value of cooperation and diversity. We have created a social media network for Muslim and Christian educators and children to share their new skills, hopes, and dreams. AAI provides books, school supplies, clean water and hygiene. We support literacy, livelihood, gardening, and school lunches cooked by volunteer parents to enhance progress and peace.

If you would like to continue your support with our long term project, monthly contributions are a great way to budget. GlobalGiving is giving a 100% match for new recurring donations - you can double your impact!  Follow the link and select the Donate Now button. Be sure to toggle to "monthly" if you are interested in a recurring donation. 

Unite Inter-Faith Children via Education and Water 

Thank you for your help in providing to these children and communities. Asia America Initiative serves as a communication bridge for action. 

Links:

• Asia America Initiative website

"One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world," says Catig-Lacadon Elementary School Principal Mrs. Rowena... explaining how her small mountain-top school became a finalist for the most productive educational facility in Iloilo Province in the Visayas Region of the Philippines.  "It has taken years of consistent partnership effort and love shown to our pupils by Professor Santoli and Asia America Initiative and their kind donors from the United States and around the world," she states. "The beauty of AAI's programs is that they show equal consideration and respect to Christian, Muslim and Mountain Tribe Filipinos without any type of discrimination."

During the five years Asia America Initiative has been involved with schools like Catig-Lacadon, following  the most destructive typhoon in recorded history which nearly flattened the school's buildings, some amazing developments have occurred. The children of Catig-Lacadon are sons and daughters of impoverished agricultural workers who don't own the land they work, often planting corn used for animal feed straight up mountain sides. They often lack adequate food to feed their children more than one light meal per day. With the help of GlobalGiving donors, AAI has been providing facilities for clean rain water, daily lunches at no charge to students and cooked by mothers, hygiene soaps and dental supplies. In classrooms, more than 500 text books and fun story books have been provided. The academic performance of students has dramatically improved.

"After Super Typhoon Yolanda, our students and their parents are so surprised to to see foreigners such as AAI with their local partners come all the way to the Philippines to make sure we are safe and being taken care of," recalls Principal Rowena.

In the Philippines southernmost province, Sulu, in Muslim Mindanao, AAI has been in the schools since 2002 and has shared the hopes, dreams, fears and laughter of the local Muslim, Christian and sea gypsy [Samar] populations.  When intermittent conflicts end, AAI's mission is to help local communities get back to normal as soon as possible. Learning from our Visayas programs, AAI sponsored schools are provided with lunch to begin to heal wounds following any incident and bring the teachers and students back to school as a neutral "safe space." Christian and Muslim educators are close knit in Sulu and when AAI Muslims visit Visayas, similar bonds between teachers are created.

Teacher Tarhata is a 5th grade lead teacher in Jolo, Sulu, in a classroom of 52 pupils. Her first visit to AAI Visayas programs was in 2017. "When I first visited Visayas, I found the schools welcoming and very peaceful. I felt friendship. The Ilongo people there are really genuine and as fellow school teachers, we could see in their eyes that they are glad to be with us. They are proud to be partners with AAI in building and fulfilling their childrens' future, just as we feel in Sulu."

AAI programs now assist 25,000 children in elementary schools in Sulu and Visayas. These communities are overcoming extreme poverty, harsh climate conditions and communal violence through integrated literacy, livelihood skills, and health support. We have created a social media network between Muslim and Christian educators and children to share their new skills, hopes, and dreams. Mothers and fathers of pupils assist teachers to cook daily meals and improve school facilities. We provide thousands of books, school supplies, garden tools and fresh water systems.

We agree with Principal Rowena that, "Life is better when shared. Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver."

In 2019-20 school year, our goal is to double the number of children and school communities who benefit from these simple acts of shared love. Thank you GlobalGiving family for backing us!!

Links:

• Asia America Initiative website