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GFF Philippines October journey

Reading Workshop & Mobile Library

Projects under the Health Programme is one of the things that we are working hard with. We need to engage with a number of people and organizations involving the medical field like Red Cross Philippines, volunteer nurses and even doctors. As we start to call the attention of the people from the medical field, we initiated the Medical Camp Program where collaboration with the Red Cross Youth Philippines (RCY) was done during their Peer Educators Training: HIV Awareness in Kalibo. After a series of conversation with their President, Mr. Errol Ordines, we were approved to collaborate with them to do the Medical Camp. On October 15th-16th, the Philippines Team went in their venue in Kalibo, bringing our Manual and Automatic Blood Pressure Machine and provided a free Blood Pressure monitoring for the 25 members of the LGBTQ since they are the primary participants of the said training. They were really grateful for such service that they seldom do a Blood Pressure monitor for the few months, and they were glad we have this kind of program. We are planning to continue this Medical Camp: Blood Pressure Monitoring and Blood Sugar Testing in the schools, and the community especially those living in faraway villages, i.e., Madalag Town where villagers won’t able to travel down in the center town or can’t even afford service like the Blood Sugar Monitoring.

We continue to provide reading and arithmetic tutorials to a group of kids living in different towns. The support that we give serves as a refresher class for them. The pandemic made them stationary at home and became stagnant in academic progress. We can see the impact of modular learning when we go to their houses and monitor how they answer their modules. As school reopened and kids have been alternately attending schools by sets, the teachers have a hard time teaching them. The kids that regularly attend our home visit and workshops are noticeably at edge among their classmates in school. The parents thanked us for the worksheets that we provided and the company that we gave to their children. Their emotional and cognitive skills have been improving.

REMEDIAL CLASSES

The Department of Education implemented mandatory remedial classes for students who have low marks and do not manifest academic progress. These enrichment classes are conducted during a specific time agreed by the teachers and parents. The GFF HELPS Philippines Team understood the needs of the learners and offered to be a remedial class teacher. The team is consisting of Licensed Teachers who have expertise in General Education and English. We sent a letter of intent to schools, and there are three of them where we regularly visit and conduct remedial classes. Materials like modules are provided by the school, but we also bring our own resources to reinforce. The support that we give to teachers and students were recognized. Parents have been very supportive of their kids and appreciate our efforts. 

“Assisting students to achieve expected
competencies in core academic skills
such as literacy and numeracy.”

GFF HELPS PHILIPPINES

SCHOOL VISITATION AND SURVEY

School visitation gives us a great understanding of every school’s needs. This October, we began visiting schools where we worked before. Most of them had been a beneficiary of the Digital Learning Program and received tablets to support the learning of their students. As we started the school visitation, we saw the main problem that every teacher tries to mend, the poor comprehension and numeracy of the students. Thus, we provided support by volunteering as remedial class teachers. Some of the schools also reported a lack of teaching facilities, like classrooms, to accommodate students. They are hoping for a makeshift classroom to avoid dividing a single room into two. We are glad to work with teachers and to know the situation on the ground. We will provide support within our capacity.

Medical Camp: Free Blood Pressure Monitoring

Joe FisherGFF Philippines October journey