Articles

The following is a list of articles that have been writing about CERVs activities in the Philippines.

The Worth of a Book: Education in the Philippines. By Nooshin Shabani

Also be sure to check out Malcolm Trevena's full blog here.

The Worth of a Book: Education in the Philippines

By Nooshin Shabani

29 June 2006
This article was first published in Hackwriters.

It's our priceless necessity and weapon of development, some people are deprived of this while others may cherish it. Education is not a privilege it's a need, a need in the Philippines which is not being nurtured.

Malcolm Trevena, 33, New Zealand, decided to help by donating 6 months of his time volunteering in the Philippines teaching English in schools. He volunteered through the Global Volunteer Network. After leaving his IT job behind he prepared himself to ride a rollercoaster of surprises. "I decided to try something completely different and exciting. Making the rich richer and putting the poor out of work started to lose its appeal", said Malcolm. He spent his time in the Philippines working in a village school in the Visayas. When Malcolm first arrived he began to notice the shocking levels of poverty. "I saw little children wandering in and out of cars on the motorway selling flowers. I saw people jumping onto moving buses, five lines of traffic were operating on a three lane motorway."

The levels of poverty in the Philippines are extreme. Street children wander the city streets selling any gadgets they can get their hands on to bring money back to feed their family. It's a problem which is familiar in many third world countries, the economic balance between the people. You're either very rich or very poor, there is no middle. Many of the Filipinos who are fortunate enough to get an education go on to seek work abroad as opportunities are greater overseas. Malcolm stayed with a Filipino family in the village. He witnessed first hand how much the Education system needed to be improved. There was a serious lack of resources.

"Most of the textbooks were falling apart and were out of date and had obviously been written by someone whose first language was not English. I had the only Grade 5 reading book." said Malcolm.

The Philippines is a country which is prone to natural disasters and suffers political instability, as many Filipinos believe the political system is corrupt and that the last election was rigged. As the Philippines has a ballooning amount of debt to repay education is not on the priority list. According to the Philippine Education Sector study (World Bank & Asian Development Bank) 1998-2008 will be a period of limited or zero growth in the public budgetary allocation to education as a whole. "Teachers are the least well paid government employees as the police and the military are paid the most. Some of the schools have one teacher to 80 children. Some classrooms are so overcrowded that students have to peer in from outside the classroom" said Malcolm.

Education is something which is appreciated in the Philippines, it's something which children do not take for granted as it may one day be the key which is needed to open the door to a better life. People have a sense of community and their living conditions have forced locals to make some astonishing choices. One local villager who lost a family member through violence chose not to prosecute the perpetrator as it would mean that their family would suffer as their primary money earner would go to prison and the rest of the family would go hungry. "Between justice and food the people choose food" said Malcolm.

A group of GVN volunteers built a roof on one of the classrooms so the students would not need to scrunch up in one half of the classroom when it rained. Malcolm set up numerous tutorial groups to teach the quieter slower kids who were shy in the class. Volunteers made a tangible difference through donating books and carrying out maintenance work." I think being there had an impact. It let them know that some people cared about them even though the government didn't give a rat's arse about them" said Malcolm. He was overwhelmed just how much the children appreciated being taught English. As the GVN volunteers brought some books with them to the school, the children became excited. "The kids immediately took to the books. They were like dry sponges soaking up the goodness of books. It was great to see." The children continue to bury their heads in the very few books that are available to them.

According to a meeting held by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers based in the Philippines, almost 20% of Filipinos are illiterate and the number of children out of school is on the rise. The poverty that the people endure results in most of the children not having the chance to fully finish school and receive a proper education. As for the street children who wander around working the roads hoping to make money for food, some of them are reduced to committing petty crimes like stealing food so they don't starve. Once they are caught by authorities children over 15 are detained in an adult's prison. According to UNICEF every day another 28 children get arrested and over more than half of the crimes are not serious.

At present Malcolm is volunteering with GVN in a Refugee camp based in Ghana and will then go on to Volunteer with Mukono youth in Uganda for another six months. Malcolm volunteered with the Global Volunteer Network, a non-government organization based in New Zealand, which connects people to communities in need.

What I Miss - Malcolm Trevena

Malcolm Trevena was a volunteer with CERV Philippines for six months. This article first appeared on his site here

21st April 2006

Home
I miss the home I lived in. I miss the people I shared it with.

I miss Jen Jen. Her English was never the best, but she always had a smile for me. I'll miss her giggle as she explained to me who the "Sexy Stars" were on the Big Brother show. I'll miss her kindness. I'll miss her malicious cleaning of my room when I wasn't looking. I miss buying Mountain Dews from her. The memory of her sobbing her eyes out in the Sari Sari store as I left will never leave me.

I miss Reza. I miss her generosity. I will miss receiving unaccepted gifts from her. Necklaces, houses-in-bottles, t-shirts and photos are just a few that spring to mind. I miss her explaining words to me. The way she explained Yudi^* to me can only be described as truly heroic.

I miss Nicole. She is a good kid. I miss her "Tito Malcolm" 's. I miss her infectious grin that will break hearts when she is older. I miss her shyness when she realizes unknown people are looking at her. I miss her silly games. Sometimes with me. Indi si Nicole. Walã bula. Sometimes with her friends, Fafs, Saphire and Ken Ken.

I miss my Filipino Home. I miss the hum of the ceiling fan in my room. I miss, in a strange way, sleeping like a question mark in a too small bed.

I miss waking up in the morning and stepping over the still sleeping people on the floor. I miss wondering just who the people were and whether or not I should know them. Sometimes there were two, sometimes three, sometimes more.

I miss sitting on the floor. The sofas were just too small.

I miss the meals that Jen Jen prepared for me. I miss waking up and having my breakfast just there. I miss the mangoes, I miss the chicken curries and, yes, I even miss the rice that was served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Dumangas Country Village
I miss Dumangas Country Village (D.C.V.).

I miss wandering past Cute's house and hearing her shout "Si Malcolm gwapo gid. Ngaa walã miga?". (Malcolm is very handsome. Why does he have no girlfriend?)

I miss visiting my good friend Eden. I miss her quirky sense of humor that matched my own. I miss joking with her about the buang club. I miss the way she would laugh. I miss her love of family and country. She would do anything for both of them.

I miss Vincent. I miss seeing him corner volunteers and giving them the "Vincent Lecture", where Vincent would explain how much the volunteers were appreciated. He would explain how even if it seemed like we were contributing a little bit, it meant a whole lot to the community. I miss Vincent billing me 10 pesos for a glass of water. I must owe him a sizeable portion of the Philippines national debt by now. Cheque's in the mail Vincenzo.

I miss Amay. I miss the way he could win anyone over with his big grin. I miss his dancing. I miss his generosity.

I miss spending time with the volunteers in all their various incarnations. It is odd looking back and seeing the various groups that I was a part of. One group morphed into another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another and yet another.

I miss Raymund, who only briefly visited D.C.V. Raymund is responsible for setting up a volunteer branch of the Global Volunteer Network in the Philippines. He was heartbroken when G.V.N. left Dumangas. I miss the times I spent with Raymund talking about the radical (and sometimes scary) ideas he had for helping his people. Desperate measures for desperate times... His passion and nobility are to be admired.

The current administration is not fond of Raymund. I'm pretty sure that gma and Raymund would never get together for a few quiet San Migs. The administration recently shut down his opinionated radio show. I'd hate to think what would happen to my mate Raymund if martial law was ever declared in the Philippines again. Check out his blog here. Halong Amigo.

The Place
I miss Dumangas.

I miss taking the shortcut out of D.C.V. and walking down the road into town. I miss the many greetings I got along the way.

Them: Maayoung Hapon Si Malcolm.

Me: Maayoung Hapon man.

Them: Diin Makadto?

Me: Didto. Didto. Makadto ko sa banwa.

Them: Oh! Very good!

I miss the many requests I got for rides to Iloilo from the Filcab drivers.

I miss watching the kids play basketball in the town pavilion.

I miss wandering past the market and the bevy of tricycle drivers outside.

I miss the rides on the tricycles and jeepneys. Nothing makes you feel alive quite like riding on the roof of a tricycle or hanging off the back of a jeepney.

The School
I miss the school that I taught at, Pulao Elementary School.

Teachers
I miss the teachers that I spent my breaks with, taught with and discoed with.

I miss Mam Ivy's attempts at trying to get me a wife and the very single Mam Thercy in particular. I used to say to her that I could tell she was teasing me because her lips were moving. I'll miss her goofiness. Posing for semi-erotic photos with Mam Agnes was the height of good humor for Mam Ivy.

I miss Mam Canque's able support to Mam Ivy's attempts. I miss her jokes (?) about me finding her a new husband in New Zealand. Her preferences were, in order: A good attitude, rich and then ugly. She felt that a ugly husband would be better as he wouldn't fool around...

I miss Sir Jolo. I miss the rides he gave me on his very dodgy motorbike. I miss the talks we had about the history of the Philippines.

I miss my good friend, Mam Thercy. I miss visiting her humble home that I was too embarrassed to take a photo of. I miss her appreciation of the things I did for the school. I miss her nobleness in working as a teacher and sharing her measly income ($6.25 a day) with struggling relatives. I miss her kindness. I miss her friendship.

Student Teachers
I miss the student teachers.

I miss Ricky. I miss his humbleness and generosity. He invited me to his house for lunch as a way of saying thank you. His family was dirt poor but still open their house and fed me until the rice oozed from my eyes.

I miss Remia, or Rems. I miss her desire to make her country a better place by teaching the children. I miss the text message conversations we had. I miss the flirty ones and I miss the nice ones:

Same wid us sad 2 say gudbye.. dnt 4get we alwyz remember u wrever u r n dz world. thanx 4 evrytng dat uv done 2 me and all of us

I miss Sherlyn. I miss sharing a classroom with her as she looked upon my zany teaching techniques. I miss the chats we had. I miss getting her name confused with her sisters Sherla and Sheila. I miss the hospitality she displayed in inviting me to her home for lunch. Like most Filipinos, her family does not have a lot but were prepared to share what little they had with me.

I miss Emily, or Beauty. I miss the way she hit me when I teased her. I miss the way she called me Sir Coolio. I miss her kindness and her generosity. I'm sure the t-shirt she gave me was a financial strain for her.

Pupils
Most of all, I miss the pupils of Pulao Elementary School.

I miss Jamaica's stomp when she didn't get her way.

I miss Joseph's nobleness and desire to do the right thing.

I miss Pamela saying "I know the answer sir. It's so easy".

I miss the way Renalyn's eyes would sparkle when she knew she had the answer figured out.

I miss seeing Angelito discover the inner glow that comes from a good education.

I miss Janica. A skinny kid with a heart of gold.

I miss the way Michelle rolled her eyes when she clicked to a idea.

I miss the trust that Joccy had in me. No one else has ever shared their crush with me before...

I miss Regie May's appreciation and the way she called me the most handsomest boy in the world.

I miss the crazy students.   Sherla's in Grade Six, Gilbert in Grade Five and Mary Queen in Grade Four.

I miss the way Arles would cheat. He had no shame.

I miss Angee's sulk.

I miss April Grace's shyness when we passed each other in Dumangas Country Village.

I miss Yolly's responsibility. The teachers trusted her with the keys to the school.

I miss Joy Joy's heart. I met no sweeter kid in the Philippines.

I miss the way Krizel Joy would pinch me to get my attention.

I miss Reegine's grumpiness when I wouldn't give her my undivided attention.

I miss Karen's smile. The smile appeared briefly when I finally got her to learn her one-times table.

I miss Laarni banging the table with her fist when I didn't ask her to answer the question. I will also miss her sweetness.

I miss getting Leo and Anjo confused.

I miss the "small but beautiful" Mae Joy.

I miss telling Lester that smoking is really stoopid.

Man, I just miss the Philippines so much...