On May 23, 2017 ISIS attacked the city of Marawi (in Mindanao, Philippines). Marawi is the largest Muslim city in the Philippines. Four months on, the fighting continues, and large parts of the city are reduced to rubble by daily aerial bombing.
An estimated 400,000 people have fled from the fighting, mostly to the neighbouring city of Iligan (40 minutes by car from Marawi). Of these 400,000, fewer than 10,000 are housed in government evacuee centers. The rest have found refuge among relatives in neighbouring villages. Almost all the evacuees are Muslims.
I went to Iligan with a team from Goducate in August and visited 4 “centers.” The living conditions were appalling, with hundreds living in crowded makeshift “rooms.” All the children were not attending school and were unlikely to return to school for several years (because schools have been destroyed).
In response to requests from the local leaders, we decided to start learning centers for these thousands of children. Since Goducate’s philosophy is “helping Asians help themselves”, we will be teaching the mothers among the evacuees to teach their own children. We have successfully established similar learning centers in Sabah for the past 8 years.
In October our Sabah team of teacher-trainers will start training the refugee mums ,who should then be able to teach their own children with Goducate curriculum and school supplies.
We hope that every child will have a chance to continue learning despite the difficult and dangerous conditions around them.
Goducate believes that every child deserves the chance of a decent education.