Education & learning to build a sustainable future for the youth

9:30am at the SDC: a group of children is heading to the classroom with their individual school pack (notebook, pen and paper). After eating their breakfast, they get ready to participate into the educational program proposed within the frame of the Alternative Learning System (ALS), launched last January at the SDC.

Three half-days a week, the children taken in care by the SDC over a long period of time, have access to specific learning modules: language (Tagalog), mathematics, history, etc. Two teachers assigned by the Department of Education (DepEd), Jayson and Carlito, are preparing the children to take an exam next October. The objective is to ensure the continuity of education for every child, in order to facilitate his/her reintegration into the formal education system upon exiting the SDC, and to ensure his/her future professional success. Some of the young participants will soon be transferred to the Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth (RRCY), located on Guimaras Island, and run by the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD). They will be able to continue the educational program at the RRCY, and enhance the knowledge gained at the SDC.

In order to maximize their chance to pass the future exam, the SDC local team is organizing study time sessions, three times a week, to complete the ALS program. The house parents are responsible to help the children reviewing the topics taught by the teachers from DepEd. “There are only 14 weeks left before the exam”, Jayson told the children this week, raising their concern on the upcoming challenge. Building a sustainable future is a tricky process for our young beneficiaries, who are now on the way to becoming active and responsible citizens, thanks to the Alternative Learning System at the SDC!

Bacolod City’s legal authorities to care for SDC’s children

Last June, the SDC welcomed Hon. Judge Anita Chua and her staff for a short visit. Judge Chua is one of the three judges who are in charge of handling the court cases of the children in conflict with the law (CICL) at Bacolod City’s Hall of Justice. Since juvenile detention was separated from adult detention a few years ago, Judge Chua has been witnessing the evolution and progress done at the SDC as well as the difficulties encountered. This visit was the opportunity to assess the living conditions of the kids on a daily basis, and the range of services and activities offered to them by the center and by our partners.

Children in conflict with the law usually face the Court every two months for judicial proceedings related to petty crimes. Judge Chua’s initiative to meet with them in their current living environment shows her will to consider them in the early stage of becoming individuals who need guidance, follow-up and support, definitely not a life sentence. Judge Chua acknowledged there the efforts generated by the center to provide the children with activities promoting education and individual development, i.e. a critical prerequisite to the success of their future rehabilitation.

To celebrate her visit, the children organized a welcoming show with the creative support of the three current social worker trainees from UNO-R, one of our main partners. The ‘Music Day’ atmosphere was re-created by the children who entertained the Judge and her staff with a joyful choreographed dance, and who were warmly thanked by the audience for this sweet attention.

There are currently around 10 children in conflict with the law who are waiting for the proceeding of their court case in order to be enrolled into a rehabilitation program. One of our main objectives is to provide these kids with services aiming at starting their rehabilitation process via education, training, listening and guidance, as well as empowerment, right upon their admission at the SDC.

Learning good hygiene & sanitation at SDC

Within the frame of our rehabilitation project conducted at the Social Development Center (SDC) in Bacolod, our team has been devoting increasing time and energy to help the local staff building a safer and healthier environment and a particular focus has been set on nutrition and sanitation. In partnership with the City of Bacolod, toilets and shower rooms are now under construction at the center. Thanks to the support of Fondation Ensemble and HOST-NGO’s fundraising campaigns, the dorms will also soon be renovated and the kitchen should follow. As part of our waste and water management program implemented at the SDC, Annie D., HOST-NGO volunteer specialized in education and childcare, has been conducting a mission of two weeks in June, which emphasized on addressing the children’s hygiene issues and offering training support to the local team around four topics: hygiene & sanitation awareness, education & social development, waste management, as well as team building and training.

 Related to hygiene and sanitation, the overall objective was to encourage a healthy daily behaviour to prevent common diseases (such as food-borne and water-borne diseases). Several activities were organized by our volunteer along with the three UNO-R social workers trainees and the SDC team on that topic. The design of posters, games, drawings, and other recreational activities helped raising the children’s awareness on the importance of personal hygiene and sanitizing. 

To complement this thematic, another set of activities was proposed to the children on issues related to waste management and recycling: what are the different types of waste, how can we collect and dispose of waste, how can we reuse waste, etc. The children designed posters representing the different forms of organic and non-organic waste and the processing and sorting of these waste items. For instance, the children learnt what kind of waste can be transformed as fertilizer and can be used in the garden.

Finally, our HOST-NGO volunteer focused on providing the street children, who are SDC’s most vulnerable children in terms of lack of education and childcare, with educational activities dedicated to promote their individual development. Activities such as origami, drawing and writing, collective games aimed at enhancing their knowledge and social skills while opening their mind and curiosity.

It was overall a great success especially for the street children, often the youngest of the center, who really enjoyed Annie’s daily visits over these past two weeks. She devoted great energy and positive attitude, which was much appreciated by SDC’s staff and our own team!

HOST-NGO wishes to welcome many more committed volunteers, who can involve with us on their own time, sharing their own skills. Feel free to contact our team if you wish to participate into this exciting adventure! contact@host-ngo.org

What’s new at the SDC?

Thanks to ALL OF YOU, our amazing friends and supporters, we raised over US$6,000 during Global Giving Open Challenge last April. However our fundraising campaign is not over yet as our final goal is to reach US$20,000 in order to successfully support the street children in Bacolod City, Philippines.

Since the beginning of the year, we have been able to design and conduct educational and recreational activities, which are vital for the individual development of these kids. At the Social Development Center (SDC), we have facilitated the launching of the Alternative Learning System (ALS). It aims at providing out-of-school children with basic education in order to enable their future reintegration into the formal education system. Besides, tutoring sessions, film and documentary showing are completing the ALS program. A comprehensive vocational training & lifeskills program has also been designed and offers the children various activities such as: macramé, cooking/food processing, organic gardening, mats making, etc. Art, music and dance therapy, aikido and other sports activities have been introduced and/or reinforced to specifically promote the individual physical and emotional development of the kids. In addition, psychology support is provided to enhance the children's creativity, cooperation and thinking skills, helping on their social and emotional concerns, regaining their self-esteem and facilitating their social integration, teaching them about their social roles and responsibilities, and developing coping skills.

Our team has been devoting time and energy to help the local staff building a safer and healthier environment and a particular focus has been set on nutrition and sanitation. In collaboration with the city authorities, toilets and shower rooms are under construction at the SDC, while the dorms will soon be renovated, along with the kitchen. A waste and water management program is being designed to allow better sanitation conditions and prevent the common diseases affecting the children in the Philippines. An activity room has also been renovated at the center and it is a perfect match for aikido practice as it requires a calm and remote setting.

As part of our specific program to help the street children, a new HOST-NGO volunteer will be conducting this month a mission of two weeks emphasizing on answering these kids’ needs and offering training and support to the team on-field. The mission objectives will include four thematics: hygiene & sanitation awareness, education & social development, waste management, as well as team building and training.

June 12^th, 2013: Global Giving Bonus Day

Global Giving is launching a Partner Rewards Bonus Day this Wednesday, June 12^th. Online donations of up to $1,000 per donor, made to our project “Remove 500 Filipino children from the streets”, will be matched 30% starting at 9:00 am EDT (3:00 pm in France) on June 12^th and ending at 11:59 pm on the same day (5:00 am on June, 13^th in France).

If you wish to support our project dedicated to the street children, you can donate via the following link: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/remove-500-children-from-the-streets-in-philippines

Global Giving will be matching $0.30 each and every dollar donated online during that timeframe. For instance, a donation of $100 will be raised to $130 by Global Giving… So do not hesitate to take advantage of this Bonus Day to help the disadvantaged children in the Philippines!

HOST-NGO team and beneficiaries would like to warmly thank you in advance for your generous and loyal support!

Bringing good vibes to the SDC!

Our friend and artist, Kalayo (“fire” in Hiligaynon, one of the local dialects spoken in the Philippines), offered to share his positive energy to help the children to express themselves at the SDC. His goal was to awake their self-consciousness via various therapy methods: dancing on percussions, freestyle dancing, group dance games and relaxing inner dance.

Every activity session held by Kalayo starts with a speech to discuss on who we are and how to try to find the answers to our questions, which are hidden inside our own mind. Then on the beat of the drum the children start to release their stress, feeling more comfortable with themselves as well as with the others. Some dance games were quite appreciated by our young participants, especially whenever they had to partner to participate into mirror dancing, or whenever they were asked to imitate animals.

Kalayo is using his energy flow to introduce the children to the concept of “inner dance”, which aims at leading to an intuitive exploration of the true self through increased self-awareness of the body, the mind and the emotions, which are transformed as energy. The three workshops already held had an amazing positive impact as the children expressed one by one their feelings following the various sessions: “I feel relieved”, “I think I understood something today about my situation, how can I know more?”, “I want to keep this positive feeling!”, “It was an unexpected experience, can we do it again?”.

The good vibes were definitely spread throughout the SDC. The children even showed their deep appreciation of Kalayo’s involvement at the SDC with a warm group hug when the latter was about to leave the premises. We are sincerely hoping that Kalayo will be able to come back for further sessions at the SDC according to his busy schedule.

A success story: UNO-R students supporting SDC kids

The summer holidays have started as it is getting increasingly hot in the Philippines. The first batch of UNO-R students have now completed their volunteering mission at the SDC. Over the last six months, two social worker students, two psychology students, and a group of criminology students have put a lot of energy in supporting the SDC.

The psychology trainees spent time and devotion for the SDC children within a comprehensive support program, which included various objectives: enhancing the children's creativity, cooperation and thinking skills, helping on their social and emotional concerns, regaining their self-esteem and facilitating their social integration, teaching them about their social roles and responsibilities, and building coping skills. The skilled and passionate young social workers offered their dedicated and tailored support to the children. They worked on developing their physical and creative skills, assisting the children’s concerns regarding the status of their legal cases, helping them to reconcile with their families, and also emphasizing on the importance of education. Also, the criminology students effectively helped to improve the children's awareness on legal enforcement and childrights, to develop the children’s physical skills through sports activities, as well as to ensure the children's safety and security within the center.

A 'despedida' (local dialect for 'farewell') was organized at the end of their placement at the SDC last month. The Peace Corps volunteer, deployed at the center, along with Virlanie and HOST-NGO team, awarded the students with certificates of appreciation. This farewell party was quite emotional as the kids thanked them for their involvement and gave them plenty of hugs! The University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R) also organized a recognition ceremony for their partners, which include the SDC. As a fully involved organization at the SDC, our team was requested to share with the audience the importance of the students' resources dedicated to this public center, and to explain how the People-Private-Public Partnership (PPPP) concept could benefit to every stakeholder.

Our team is now looking forward to welcome the next batch of UNO-R students in June to share new knowledge and experiences with the children and staff at the SDC.

Aikido at SDC: a healthy mind in a healthy body

Since the launching of aikido activities at SDC last August, the interest of the children has been growing despite the initial doubts raising from the local staff and some neighbouring communities. Indeed a few people have been worried that this new program would actually promote the use of violence for these young teenagers who are already invoved into a violent environment. However it rapidly proved that there would not be any negative outcome generated by this activity. Mostly used to practicing basketball, the children really appreciate this new way of getting conscious of their body while stimulating their mind. Mind setting is a major factor in the practice of this martial art which was created in the 1950's aside to ju-jitsu, kenjutsu (art of saber) and aikijujitsu (art of harmonizing energies). A healthy mind in a healthy body: these are two inseparable and complementary entities!

Week after week, around 15 children have been initiated to the various self-defense techniques taught by the team of volunteers from Warriors For Peace (http://bacolod-partners.blogspot.com/2012/08/conflict-management-prevention-with.html). The latter made sure that the children were mature enough to adopt a non-violent approach in order to prevent any risk of incident between the young people and also toward the staff.

The 12 matresses required for the practice have been funded by HOST-NGO, thanks to our generous donors. In order to educate the children on the importance to preserve the equipment at the SDC, and also as a way of reducing the costs, they have been involved into the making of the matresses. Kenneth L. Materum, volunteer from Warriors For Peace, and one of our volunteer from HOST-NGO, have run the workshops teaching to the children how to assemble the plywood slabs with the layers made of rubber and styrofoam, which were then wrapped with vinyl plastic.

The frequency of the sessions has been increased to twice a week at the SDC. The practice room has become an actual Dojo with this new equipment, which enabled to set-up the same routines as the ones to be found all over Asia and throughout the world. The practice has also been enhanced with the viewing of documentaries on aikido. This program is already successful as some of the young participants are willing to enter a Dojo when they will leave the center. Warriors For Peace is committed to help them achieve that goal. This will be an amazing reward considering the patient and passionate contribution from Warriors For Peace, which has been striving for years to promote peace and dialogue between the communities on the Negros Island.