School Started!

Daghan Salamat Kaayo. Visayan for, Really big thank you very much!

School started Monday! We wished you could have been here to hear all of the thank you's from children, teachers, parents picking up their children, and anyone else who happened to be there. We felt that you were a little cheated that we heard all the thank you's and expressions of gratitude and you didn't. So we will try to pass it along with pictures. Children, parents, and teachers would shake our hands, give thumbs up, or high 5, knowing that's American style, but others took our right hand and put it to their forehead, Filipino style: A blessing.

Managing funds and accountability are of the highest priority here. Just to make a deposit all of the signers on the account need to be present. So Mary Anne and I went to the bank with the PTA president, the school treasurer and the school principal to make the deposit. We had been to the pawn shop a couple of times ( yes, "pawn shop", see an earlier post for that explanation) and had 88,000 pesos in a money pouch. The PTA president and I were sitting at the bank president's desk in the bank and when I pulled the money out of the pouch and laid it on the desk, he looked at the pile of cash and his eyes and face melted with gratitude. I was a bit surprised at how much he was taken back with the amount of cash that had been raised for his school. I wish I could have taken a picture at that moment so you could see the deep level of gratitude he showed. That was real. This is a big rough man who works as a security guard at night. To see that softness on his face was so different from what is usual. The PTA president is the guy in the middle in the long sleeved gray shirt. The principal is next to Mary Anne and the treasurer next to me.
Note there is a computer monitor in the foreground, but the bank pres. is at a typewriter with a big calculator next to him. Another typewriter, is in the very front of the picture. And Christmas is still everywhere. So fun.

School was back in session. About 60% of the students showed up the first day. Not quite all in uniforms yet either but that will happen soon. Everyone is just happy the school doors are open.









Like in the states, every student has a back pack. Look, their shoes are clean, as is the walkway












This little boy was so proud of his new pencil. He was just walking around carrying it. And he kept lifting it up for me to see.












This classroom was one of the worst hit. I really can't believe it got put back together so that classes could start. These people are such hard workers and so many of them showed up that a lot of work got done that we didn't expect could happen.







The boy in the middle is giving the sign for "quapo". That means handsome. I am not sure whether he was saying he was handsome or he was giving me a compliment. I think the former.











New book and new pencil. This boy was so into writing he wouldn't even look up.













So embarrassed to have their picture taken.














The steps are broken up asphalt. A few days earlier the asphalt was part of the national highway that is under construction about 1 mile from the school. On the work day, men hauled it off the roadside where it had been dug up, and missionaries and others helped place it here to make this path passable.








This is the classroom of the teacher we made original contact with when considering the cleanup and help. She teaches 2nd grade. My camera was a bit of a distraction in her class. I am happy I didn't get a ruler over my knuckles










A clean walkway.









School is out and off some of the students go home.....through the lapok (mud) outside the school grounds.















The schools are so underfunded that when there is a disaster like this the teachers are required to replace all of the tools like maps, globes, chalkboards, etc. out of their own funds. They can get a loan from the district emergency fund but then have to repay it. so, some of your donations went directly to teachers. These teachers are tearfully happy about the 2000 pesos ($38) that they received to replace their "devices" with no pay back. Money is so tight here. An average teacher salary is 20,000 pesos per month. That is about $350/month. The good news is that the $38.00 will go a long way in replacing what they lost.
They kept saying thank you and in this picture, a few of them said it to you, together. "Please tell the people from our hearts how much thank you we feel to them."

In addition to the funds already spent, and that given to teachers, there is a chunk still in the PTA account. It will be used for carpenters, plumbers and materials to repair toilets and wood framing and to build shelves up high out of flood range. There is still more we have not distributed, and lots and lots more work that needs doing. They need an engineer to design and build a wall to divert the river in the next flood. They have one started, but it's not complete. They need a new sound system so they can sing and pray together in the mornings. There is a second school in the district, not as badly damaged, but still with lots of loss, that we will visit and see if we can divert some funds to them too. So, all will be well and directly used.
We can not thank you enough. Your generosity and love for God's children whom you have never seen is humbling
Many have said how wonderful we are to be organizing this and doing some of the dirty work, but honestly we feel almost inanimate in the whole process, like we are just being used as tools to connect people who care with people who need, and to allow people who could feel forgotten to feel that there really is a God and he has not forgotten them. It is a very gratifying work, and the thanks and praise feel really great, but they also feel ill-aimed. At the risk of sounding biblical, Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Our thanks go out, with those of every member of the Bio-os community, to you and to God.