Kids in Babuyan Islands need help in going to school, fulfilling their dreams

What do you want to be when you grow up?

 

This is the question we commonly ask children, a question we have once been asked as well ourselves. When I was about 11 years old, my Sibika teacher asked me that question and I immediately answered, "I want to be a journalist."

 

Thankfully, God has been good to me. I was able to fulfill my dream.

 

In doing my personal advocacy for the last seven years now, I have also come across children living in remote areas and have heard their big dreams. Many of them want to be teachers, others want to be doctors, or lawyers. Their status in life never stopped them from dreaming and dreaming really big.

 

But in the northernmost tip of the Philippines, the Babuyan Islands, some kids only have the simplest of dreams. John Robert, for instance, dreams of eating—yes, eating—when he grows up.

 

John Robert's image is one that volunteer and traveler Ann Marie Cunanan will never forget from her recent mission trip in the Babuyan Islands last May 16.

 

 

"Medyo nagdalawang-isip ako if ite-take ko ba answer niya or I'll ask him to change his answer, but I realized it's a simple dream. What he really wants is very simple lang—he just wants to eat. May kids like these people living in the mountains and in Babuyan na basic need such as education madali lang sa atin pero sa kanila, marami 'di nakakapag-aral," shared Ann.

 

 

The mission trip joined by Ann dubbed as Project Aral, Silid-Aklatan was started by Fr. Joemar Sibug, O.P. in 2009 when he was still the parish priest in the islands. Every year, Father Joemar would gather volunteers to join him in Babuyan Islands, carrying loads and boxes of school supplies for the kids.

 

Volunteer groups such as the Black Pencil Project and The Storytelling Project have consistently joined Father Joemar and brought much needed help to the island kids.

 

One volunteer, Dino Dimar who also happens to be one of the survivors of the 2014 Florida bus crash, vividly remembers an encounter with a Grade 4 student in Sitio Morol in Babuyan Islands in one of his trips.

 

"'Yung ibang bata, gusto maging doktor, engineer. 'Yung isang bata, si Ricky, tinanong namin siya, 'Ricky, ano gusto mo?' Simple lang sagot niya: Gusto niya maging grade 4. Natawa kami lahat pati mga students pero na-realize namin (na) tama si Ricky na gusto niya maging grade 4 kasi walang kasiguraduhan na aabot siya ng grade 4 dahil sa hirap ng buhay," Dino said.

 

Babuyan Islands can be reached by boat, five hours from Aparri, Cagayan. The huge waves you encounter on the seas along the way is no joke, said many of the volunteers who have participated in the mission trips.

 

In one instance, Dino said their boat almost sank and the notebooks they were carrying got wet. But the kids patiently dried them all up.

 

Despite the difficulty of reaching Babuyan Islands, Father Joemar said he will never get tired of going back. Currently he has been assigned in General Santos City.

 

"Ang mga tao du'n sa isla ay mga farmers at fishermen. In spite of poverty, ang mga bata araw-araw pumapasok. Hindi nag-a-absent. Gusto makaahon sa kahirapan," he said.

 

In March and May this year, Father Joemar and his volunteers were able to collect 1,500 school supplies for the 1,500 school kids.

 

"About 1,500 kids ang binigyan namin ng school supplies (five elementary schools, two primary schools) sa Camiguin Norte and Babuyan Claro. May mga bata kasi (na) 'pag kulang o walang gamit sa school, hindi na papasok or tinatamad kasi walang gamit. We make sure na papasok sila kasi may gamit sila. May mga pangarap din sila sa buhay—ang makatulong sa kapwa, kaya doktor, sundalo, teacher—mga service careers."

 

However, many of these kids are not able to continue with their high school education because they lack the resources. This is why Father Joemar recently opened a Send a Child to School program.

 

For only P100 a month or P1,000 a year, one can already send a child to high school in the Babuyan Islands. Currently, the program is still in need of donors and sponsors.

 

Personally, I have not been to Babuyan Islands, but seeing and hearing these stories, I look forward to the day I can personally meet these children.

 

In our own little way, maybe, we can help them realize their dreams. —KG, GMA News

 

To help these kids visit the Send A Child To School page on Facebook.