The GFF HELPS Philippines Team continues to extend the reach of the library’s safe learning areas to users who may not get a chance to visit and benefit from them. The small percentage of users who are not covered by fixed libraries are often left behind, and most of them are eager learners. We collaborated with local schools in the town of Banga to make this project feasible, and as of now, we have 90 children who benefitted from it. This program made us reconnect with communities and spark excitement among children and teens whose chances of fun have been severely narrowed due to COVID.
Recently, we conducted another phase of the program. We worked in partnership with five (5) schools in the town of Banga. We delivered 90 books together with school materials to each school. The teachers-in-charge played a vital role for the beneficiaries to receive their books and school materials as well as monitoring the status of books and the users themselves. As schools closed for vacation and there are no teachers who can collaborate with us, we shifted our scope to neighboring kids that are known to us. With this, we can expand the reach of the program and include the random children from different villages. This September, schools reopen and children will be back to the modular learning which is a form of distance learning that uses Self-Learning Modules. The parents will get their modules from schools and bring it to the safety of their houses. We will continue the program and reach more schools and beneficiaries.
“Increasing the reach and visibility of fixed libraries.”
The parents of the kids are grateful of the books that their children received. One mother commented that her kids always have their mobile phones in their hands, and she’s glad that those books will get into the hands of the children. We are also overwhelmed by the continuous feedback that we receive from the parents of the kids and they are happy to share the satisfying moments of their young ones indulging the books.