In the Philippines, as in most of world, returning to school after two years of lockdown from the Covid19 Pandemic, has been difficult. Many children and high school/college youths have suffered from depression and have had difficulty focusing on their studies due to isolation and long periods of separation from their teachers and classmates.
As a result, depression, drug use, bullying, and academic failure have become endemic regardless of local cultural norms or the socio/economic stature of communities. In order to address these challenges, Asia America Initiative has partnered with educators at elementary and secondary schools we support to create caring and dynamic counseling at the institutional and peer group levels.
In Mindano, religious conflict and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children. Our counseling program empowers school children and college students who are often the victims, to become enthusiastic partners in their mutual healing. Interfaith and joyful education programs teach students the value of cooperation and diversity. We provide books, school supplies, clean water, and hygiene supplies for at least 20,000 children in the Sulu and Visayas regions.
"Our psychology students created an open-acess Freedom Wall on campus," says Professor Zhea who is Coordinator of the new Psychology program at Notre Dame of Jolo. "The openness and friendly communication between the students allowed our classes to begin with a positive attitude. It's the feeling of acceptance and to express some of one's anxieties and fears that can make a tremedous difference in their academic performance and as human beings."
Students in the region 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 cook daily meals. We provide thousands of books and school supplies in addition to garden tools, packs of seeds and clean water systems.
The long-term positive impact of this program empowers Christian and Muslim communities to learn from each other through their respective best practices. Asia America Initiative serves as a communication bridge for action, dispelling fear and myths that alienate children, families and villages who feel alone and abandoned. Starting in schools, positive interaction, and equal treatment of various cultural groups by AAI facilitate mutual respect and inspiration.
If you would like to add to your support or begin a monthly donation, please click the link below to assist in this worthwhile endeavor.
Unite Inter-Faith Children via Education and Water
Wishing you peace,
Albert Santoli,
Director, Asia America Initiative
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Dear Friends,
In July 2022, Asia America Initiative co-sponsored and contributed substantial reading materials and classroom supplies for a regional model Summer Reading Camp. This program attracted some 500 elementary school aged children and 100 teachers from more than 50 public schools in the Sulu archipelago of Muslim Mindanao, Philippines. In August, children are going back into the classroom for face to face learning sessions after more than two years of quarantine and isolation. The enthusiasm and inspiration of the resulting teamwork gained from the workshops and peer learning sessions were greater than we could have expected.
In the Philippines, Covid-19 caused the closing of hundreds of public and private schools and they have only partially reopened on a limited basis. The resulting social isolation, peer pressures and inconsistent contact with teachers are causing a lack of confidence in students and difficulty in focusing on studies. This has been the situation in most of the world. In areas already facing poverty and instability, the lack of participation has caused many children and their families to give up on education. In addition, the rise in the prices of food, gasoline and other essential basic human needs has created community-wide desperation.
In Mindanao, student attendance has been cut in half, as many youths are having to work for pennies per day to help support their families. The AAI extended teams of principals, teachers, and volunteers know that the best place for the students’ long-term well-being and success is to stay in school. However, the lockdowns and survival challenges have created difficulty for the families to decide now versus later.
We were very pleased when our advisor, Principal Merhama volunteered her school to spearhead the Summer Reading Camp. She felt very strongly that if they could persuade parents to have their children to attend, it could spark a real turnaround in convincing children and their families to engage. She was right! Not only did students from her school attend, but so did neighboring schools and pupils and teachers from neighboring districts. Other schools on nearby islands heard about the program for province education administrators. Parents and teachers boarded ferry boats and brought children to participate in the week-long reading camp. In all, 500 students of all ages attended!
In the Philippines, intensive poverty, social conflicts and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children. This program empowers elementary school children who are the most vulnerable victims. Education, regardless of a family’s religious faith, teaches students the value of cooperation and diversity. AAI, as the only consistently present international NGO in Sulu has pledged to continue providing books, school supplies, clean water, and hygiene supplies. In response to the Covid-19 crisis, we are also providing PPEs, hand-wash supplies, school gardens and nutritional programs for more than 20,000 children.
If you would like to add to your support or begin a monthly donation, please click the link below and GlobalGiving will prepare that for you to assist in this worthwhile endeavor.
Unite Inter-Faith Children via Education and Water
Wishing you peace,
Albert Santoli,
Director, Asia America Initiative
Links:
Dear Friends of AAI,
Students are finally returning to the classroom in the Philippines with careful measures against Covid19 in place. AAI has been sponsoring the Mentoring and Meals program for the teachers to meet in person on a small scale with the students to make sure they are keeping up with their studies and offering guidance and a meal by parent volunteers.
In the Philippines, religious conflict and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children. This program empowers elementary school children who are the victims. Inter-faith education teaches students the value of cooperation and diversity. We provide books, school supplies, clean water, hygiene supplies, and PPEs.
This program assists 20,000 children in elementary schools in Sulu and Visayas. 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 cook daily meals. We provide thousands of books, school supplies, garden tools, and freshwater systems.
AAI donor shipments have been arriving filled with cereal, books, hygiene, and school supplies. The happy faces of the students are such a reward after the long period of separation from their classmates.
Thank you for supporting our wonderful project! If you would like to add to your contribution, please click through this report. You may also be interested in a smaller monthly donation to help support the students as they return to the classroom. Through April 8th, make a donation up to $50 and receive a 50% match from GlobalGiving!
Unite Inter-Faith Children via Education and Water
Wishing you peace,
Albert Santoli,
Director
Asia America Initiative
Links:
Dear Friends,
Food supplies around the world are growing thin in places such as remote areas of the Philippines. AAI has been sending supplies to communities in the Visayas areas, including Cebu Province, and in Sulu, Mindanao located near the sea borders with Malaysia and Indonesia.
Thanks to your support throughout the pandemic, we have been able to keep a continuous flow of essential food and material supplies into many of these areas and are also supplying hygiene and PPE items for teachers and students so they can more safely interact in schools.
In the Philippines, religious conflict and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children. This program provides for elementary school children who are the victims. Inter-faith education teaches students the value of cooperation and diversity.
A school-aged population of more than 65 million children is mostly impoverished and malnourished. Sulu Province with a majority Muslim population remains near the bottom of the UN's worldwide Human Development Index. Christian communities in Visayas are recovering from natural disasters. In both regions, we supply schools with books, clean water, adequate nutrition, and hygiene supplies.
Thank you for supporting this project. We could not achieve this humanitarian success without you. If you would like to add to this project, please click the link below:
Unite Inter-Faith Children via Education and Water
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Schools in the Philippines are to remain closed for the foreseeable future due to the Covid19 epidemic spreading in many regions of the country. . Unfortunately, many of the communities most affected are in the areas of greatest poverty. This is a real concern for the children and families affected. Students feel isolated from their education, teachers, and classmates. Their long-term attitude to have hope for a brighter future is diminished. Asia America Initiative is partnering with innovative and courageous school leaders to overcome this crisis.
In Sulu, Philippines an AAI-sponsored school, Salih Yusah Elementary has created a "House to House" outreach mentoring program. The school principal, Doctor Merhama, and her faculty team of teachers, school nurse and volunteers are actively visiting the neighborhoods where their students reside to provide encouragement and substanative mentorship.
"The emphasis is on reaching out to those students who have no internet connection or electronic devices and live in the poorest areas of the city," Dr Merhama explains. "We want the entire families to know that they are important to us and that there is a future beyond the current hardships caused by the pandemic.".
Sitting together on living room floors, educational assessments are made of student progress since the global pandemic and remote classroom process has kept the students away from school.
The School Nurse is included in the visit to check the general health of the students and to oversee the distribution of face masks and other protective materials. .
Schools are central to a young person's development. Parents trying to teach children at home face many difficulties due to limits caused by their own lack of education.
In the Philippines, social conflicts and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children, even before the pandemic. This program empowers elementary school children who are victims of these natural and man-made disasters to feel connected to society.
Inter-faith education brings communities together and teaches students the value of cooperation and diversity. AAI programs provide books, school supplies, clean water, and hygiene supplies. In response to the Covid19 crisis, we are providing PPE protective gear, hand-wash facilities and nutrition programs for more than 5,000 children.
Unite Inter-Faith Children via Education and Water
Wishing you peace,
Albert Santoli,
Director
Asia America Initiative
Links:
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