Merry Christmas 2013

2013 was a busy year for Balay ni Charie. More than 750 children were given school supplies in Tapaz, Cuartero, Duyoc, and Culasi Day Care Center plus 20 football players from the Football Academy in Dao, Capiz.  

Culasi Day Care Center, Roxas City

Shortly after our distribution in Duyoc, Dao last October, super typhoon Haiyan made landfall on Panay island and left devastation in its wake. Most schools in Capiz were damaged and the kids need to go back to school but on top of losing their classrooms, they've also lost their school supplies which were either swept away or soaked by torrential rains and a flooded countryside. 

We're preparing to distribute more school supplies in late January 2014 to 1,500 grade school students in Capiz. Wish we could reach out to more kids and we could with your help. Please email travelswithcharie@gmail.com if you would like to help.

Many thanks to the following for their generous contributions for the 2014 distribution in Capiz: Terri Smith, Nieva Burdick, Rose Driscoll and Leda Albar. 

Have a Merry Christmas! 

*   *   *

Post Typhoon Haiyan Report

Many schools in Capiz were ravaged recently by super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). More than 150,000 families were displaced, particularly those living in the coastal areas.  The children are just now returning to school after nearly three weeks since Haiyan made landfall in Capiz on November 8th. Quite a few schools were leveled or lost their roofs and textbooks were either waterlogged or swept by floodwaters.

Don Nicanor Escutin Elementary School students

I was in Duyoc, Dao last October where I distributed school supplies to 350 children at the Don Nicanor Escutin Memorial School which is in the middle of rice fields. Dao was inundated after heavy rainfall which followed 195mph winds. Ilas Norte Elementary School, also in Dao, where I gave school supplies in 2009 and 2011, was devastated. The picture below is reposted from Capiz Press Bureau and shows the extent of damage to classrooms and other buildings. 

Ilas Norte Elementary School

Photo by the Social Doctor @DocBIENevolent

As posted by Capiz Press Bureau on Facebook

There's a great need for school supplies to help the kids go back to school. If you would like to help, please contact balaynicharie@gmail.com.  Or you may donate to World Food Program at https://www.wfp.org/donate/typhoon-philippines-b.

Here's an account of the state of schools in Capiz. The title of this article says it all - Empty School Chairs Sign of Tragedy.  http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/530607/empty-school-chairs-sign-of-tragedy

*  *  *

Garcia Elementary School and San Antonio Elementary School

Garcia Elementary School students in Tapaz, Capiz

Balay ni Charie Foundation is a grassroots organization I created in 2006 that provides school supplies to children in Capiz, Philippines. On its first year, 20 children from Conrado Barrios Elementary School in Roxas City received school supplies. With the support of family, friends, and another charitable group, Balay ni Charie now distributes school provisions to several hundred grade school children in various towns in Capiz.

Students at San Antonio Elementary School in Cuartero, Capiz

This year, we visited the schools of Garcia Elementary in Tapaz, Capiz where 146 children received notebooks, pens and pencils. We also gave school supplies to 220 students at San Antonio Elementary School in Cuartero, Capiz.

 The road to San Antonio Elementary School

It is not easy to get to some of these schools. We needed a 4 x 4 to take us to the hinterlands of Cuartero because the roads were deeply potholed and impassable from recent rains. Two years ago, we had to wait several days before we could distribute at a school in Dao because the roads were flooded. These are some of the conditions we face when going to these schools but the big smile on a child’s face when he or she receives the school supplies is the most satisfying reward.

Thank you Esther and Bing Arceño for lending me your car and Bing for driving me to these schools so I can reach out to the children in Capiz. And many thanks to Fr. Boy Distura for rescuing us from the rut and mud and for feeding us.  In Tapaz, I wish to thank Kitty Gadian who arranged our visit to Garcia Elementary and to Jacque Conlu who made me aware of the great need for school materials at Garcia.

Balay ni Charie is planning more school supply distributions in 2013.

*  *  *

Images by Charie