When Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) struck Central Philippines last year, one sector that became very vulnerable was education. Schools were either partly damaged or totally destroyed. The children stopped schooling for more than two months because the classrooms were deemed unsafe.
Lemery is one of the Northern Iloilo towns where Goducate deployed Goducate Tent Schools (GTS) teams to help restore classrooms. In Milan National High School (MHS), however, the classrooms were quickly rehabilitated by the Local Government Unit, so there was no need for tents or for tarpaulin-covered classrooms. But when the GTS community development workers offered to hold English Corners at MHS, the principal responded positively.
I interviewed some of the students and they shared very poignant stories. Ailyn, a grade 8 student, mentioned that before the typhoon came, her family had already transferred to the concrete-built house of her grandmother. “It was very traumatic”, she said, “especially when we saw that the flood water from the heavy rains carried away the house of my aunt. Fortunately”, she added, “the entire members of her household had abandoned the house few minutes earlier”.
For Sandy John, his parents initially ignored the warning to transfer to a secure shelter. But when the wind started to blow away their galvanized iron sheet roofing, they decided to move to their neighbor’s house. “Together with my three other siblings and parents, we made it safely to the next house by crawling on the ground, otherwise we would have been blown down by the wind”, said Sandy John.
“Our dwelling suffered slight damage but I was not psychologically prepared for the incessant shaking of the house and the terrible helicopter-like noise generated by the extremely strong wind which lasted for three hours” ,Michaela related. “We have never prayed as hard as before for the typhoon to stop”.
According to Christine Joy ,whose mother works as a domestic helper in Singapore, “The English Corner topics on friendship, self esteem, love, courage, dreams, and impressions oftentimes shared through poetry, songs, games, and film showing have done so much to heal me from my emotional turmoil”.
Each of the three English Corners at MHS takes 10-15 students, who meet once a week, and the session is moderated by a CDW. “During our initial sessions, some students would cry whenever the discussions became sensitive. We would then switch to other lively topics” ,said Paul, one of the CDWs. “But the upside is that the students are getting fluent in English since this is the required medium of communication.”
“On behalf of our school, I thank Goducate for its significantly positive impact upon the lives of our 498 students”, said Abe, MHS principal. “I hope that the English Corners can continue way beyond our recovery period.”
