In the Feb. 6, 2012 LEARNING section, we excerpted from the heart-tugging valedictory addresses of two students of Sisters of Mary in Silang, Cavite. To understand why they spoke that way, you will need the back story...
STRANGE, a graduation in December, I thought, when I got the invitation from the Sisters of Mary, who in my book are the most adorable nuns in the world.
The Sisters of Mary (SOM) Residential schools for high school girls is called Girlstown. It is located in Biga, Silang, Cavite. Its counterpart for the boys is Boystown, which is in nearby Adlas.
SOM students come from the poorest families in the country. All of them would have stopped schooling after sixth grade if not for SOM. The sisters are not exaggerating when they say "our students come from the poorest of the poor families".
Sixth grade students in public schools in the most impoverished areas throughout the country who pass the SOM exams are accepted if their average grade is at least 80. Those who are from towns in Luzon and surrounding small islands are welcomed by SOM in Silang, Cavite. Those who are from the Visayas and from Mindanao go to SOM in Cebu.
Sometimes those who pass end up not coming to SOM because the parents don't want to let them go. There are parents who insist on the child helping out with the farming, the fishing or their particular livelihood. Some parents say they cannot bear the children to live apart from them, yet they have no money to send them to high school. In these cases, the sisters will go to the homes of the children who are serious about receiving a high school education and talk to the parents.
The sisters said they used to allow all the kids to go home at Christmas and for the summer break. But then they observed some of the kids would not return from vacation because their parents needed them to be home to help out with the farm or the household, or for some other reason. Because of this fear of not being permitted to come back to school, the students themselves would refuse to go home on breaks.
So SOM is home to these students for four years. This explains the tears at their commencement rites.
Students of SOM are educated, fed, clothed and housed for FREE. They have basketball courts, taekwando, swimming, and other sports. Plus a huge gym. They have a beautiful auditorium where they put up cultural presentations. They have a wonderful rondalla and a superb choir (everybody can sing in SOM). They have a nice kitchen where they learn how to cook and bake. They have greenhouses where they plant and harvest the vegetables they eat.
Both Girlstown and Boystown have impeccably clean campuses. The facilities are well-maintained. Considering SOM has thousands of students (11,000 including SOM in Cebu), this is amazing!
The students do the cleaning and other chores themselves. Across their classrooms are their living quarters. I've seen how clean and organized those quarters are. (The tables are set for lunch even before classes begin in the morning.)
Both SOM Girlstown and Boystown are our Inquirer in Education partner schools.
The students at both locations received free copies of the Inquirer, compliments of Bench, when we serialized Gilda Cordero-Fernando's story "The Magic Circle" (which was wonderfully staged in UP Diliman recently) in 2009.
Last year, they got free copies of Inquirer again, this time from Citibank, when we serialized a financial literacy module called "You can bank on it: Money matters for teens."
The teachers are dedicated. They have to be, to teach in these out-of-the-way schools. And they are among the brightest teachers I've met.
What is most commendable about the Sisters of Mary is that they don't just teach these kids academics. They make sure their students have livelihood skills so when they leave SOM, they are employable.
SOM Boystown and Girlstown depend on their generous benefactors for upkeep. If you care to make a donation, whether large or small, in kind (shoes, slippers, socks, etc.) or in cash, please call (046) 4140575 or 8652546 or fax (046) 4142575 or 8652830.
Read the speeches in the Inquirer's section Learning of today and post your comments here.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/140111/passionate-dreamers-never-quit
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