Philippines

In 2019, GFF HELPS Philippines Team has worked on Solar Project in two new villages following the success of the first Solar Project in Panipiason in January of the same year. Medina and Mamba are neighbouring villages of Panipiason, located in the furthest mountains of Madalag, Aklan. Both villages have only been connected to the main electrical grid two to three years ago. However, many residents, especially those who live very far away from the village centre and those who cannot afford the labour costs are still using kerosene for light at night.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unemployment in some sectors here in Aklan, Philippines. Some local workers have lost their full-time and part-time jobs since private companies tend to lessen the number of employees to avoid further loss of profits. Self-employed individuals have also been affected since the number of consumers who need products and services has decreased. Loss of jobs will further lead to depression, hunger, sickness and more. Ten participants in our Women’s Empowerment Program (WEP) participants and forty in our Adult Natural Science Learning Program (ANSLP) have suffered from unemployment and are beginning to suffer from hunger, so the GFF HELPS Philippines Team put forward the COVID-19 Help Project in May 2020 to eliminate the food scarcity experienced by these people.

Natural Science is everywhere in today’s world. It is part of our daily lives, from consumption of food, taking care of plants and animals, to salting duck eggs, to gardening, to sprouting of mungbeans, to experimenting, to dyeing of shirts, and to earth’s rotation and sun’s activity. Science are transforming our world at an unbelievable pace, and we should equip to that. There is the need to teach Science because being “science literate” will no longer be just an advantage but an absolute necessity, especially to those young adult students or dropped-out youths who are still striving hard to finish their education.  

Just before the wide spread of COVID-19 and community quarantine took place in the Province of Aklan, Philippines, the GFF HELPS Philippines Team made sure to spread COVID-19 awareness to almost one hundred children ages 6-11 through our existing project, Reading Workshops.   

Developing a love for reading at a young age will set a child’s mind for reading readiness and could be the basis for their success inside, outside and beyond school.

The past year of 2019 had been fruitful for the earlier GFF HELPS Philippines’ Women’s Empowerment Program. It is aimed to benefit the women of Aklan, Philippines, in various objectives such as learning self-defense and computer software skills, initially started by previous GFF HELPS Philippines Representative & Volunteer, Willyn Carrascal and Leisle Betito, respectively.

Elementary school summer holidays begin in April and end at the end of May here in The Philippines. That meant GFF would not be able to call around to schools and continue its workshops, mobile libraries and digital tablet training during these two months. Instead, we created some posters and a summer camp plan and called around to some local barangays (villages) to inquire about potential interest. Out of the 6 villages we asked, 5 of them replied that they would like a summer camp held there, which we are holding in local sports halls or classrooms.

By Willyn Carrascal, GFF Representative, Philippines

In October 2018, GFF HELPS Philippines set out a new venture to bring light to those in need in the form of solar power in Madalag, a predominantly rural municipality in Aklan, Philippines. This area was chosen for the trial of the solar project after a long and careful consideration of necessity, accessibility and safety.

Access to electricity is a basic need in any household and the lack of it may affect an individual’s life in different ways. Families with no electricity will have shorter productivity as they heavily rely on sunlight during the day to do housework. At night, they would typically use kerosene in a glass bottle as light. This may be harmful to their health and a huge fire hazard, especially to houses made of bamboo and nipa (palm leaves). Students also find it difficult to do their homework without adequate lighting. By providing this necessity, we would not only help eliminate these problems but also create a safer place and turn a house into a home.