#SULOngSULU: Supplies for schools in Patikul, Sulu Year 2

More than that war between the rebels and the government in Patikul, Sulu, an even more frustrating battle of not defense but deferral; Over the stinking air and garbage, dirt roads and poor pavements, well water that runs only a certain hours of certain days, traffic of no rules after a random parade of army tanks, over beggars who are on every street and corner, over the telecommunication service that is anyway OFF most of the time because of an ongoing military operation, over lighting that is nowhere in the roads, over the curfews; A war that cripples its citizen who may lean into rebellion and onto the cycle for generations; And looking at the kids and the situation, without any intervention, it is clear and regretful to see that they will end up to be the same.

The SULOngSULU is citizen-action drive to provide support for the school supply needs of children through new and/or used (but worthy) school supplies.

Last year, with the support from a few schools (because it was almost the last month of classes when this was conceptualized, where some schools are already done with their classes), the drive collected used school supplies (e.g. notebooks, crayons, pencils, pad papers, water colors, poster paints) from 4 private schools and later distributed it to some schools in SULU.

With what has been collected and some donations from a few people, the drive was able to supply bags and school supplies for 2 schools (The Tandu Dagmay primary school and the Tandu Bagua Elementary School).

This year, the drive is trying to approach even more schools, individuals, and organizations as possible so as to extend  to as many schools as possible in Sulu.

The following are the target goods for provision:

Per Student:

Bag

Box of Crayons (either 8 colors or 16)

4 pencils

1 sharpener

1 eraser

1 Small Ruler

Pencil Case

2 Pad Papers

5 Notebooks

Photocopy of the workbook (for grades 1-2)

Per Classroom of 25-40 students:

Art papers of 25 pcs of each of the 8 Colors (Black Included)

10 Small Scissors

10 Watercolors with brushes

1 Wall Clock with Battery

Class Record

2 pcs Erasers

2 Boxes of Chalk; 1 colored and 1 white

Ledger for Teacher

Posters of:

Philippine Presidents

Map of the Philippines

National Symbols

National Heroes

With the prices of goods as per last year's distribution, this provision for a student mean P160 in primary school, and P283 for elementary school, with difference based on the (size of) bag.

This Year, while our priority will be the primary schools, we are looking to extend the provisions to the elementary schools too, though we will be working on the primary schools first before heading onto the Elementary schools. 

The schools with their number of students this school year (2015-2016) are:

PATIKUL, SULU

Primary School	#			Elementary School	#
Ahajani PS	89			Sahipa Elementary School	41
Bunbun PS	106			Tugas ES	89
Sahipa Elementary School	41			Amman Elementary School	101
Tandu Bagua PS	37			Liang Elementary school	153
Tandu Dagmay PS	84			Igasan ES	265
Usaw Primary School	79
Wanni PS annex II	22			TOTAL	649
TOTAL	458			TOTAL (PRIMARY & ELEMENTARY)	1107

Thus far, after the benefit concert and some goods from friends, here is what we have and still looking for:

PRIMARY SCHOOLS:

Material Qty per Sdt Total Qty On Hand Need Price per item TOTAL per item Bag 1 500 0 500 35 17500 Crayons 1 500 166 334 8 2672 Pencils/Ballpen 4 2000 1609 391 4 1564 Sharpener 1 500 360 140 3 420 Eraser 1 500 147 353 2 706 Ruler 1 500 200 300 7 2100 Pencil Case 1 500 5 495 5 2475 Pad paper 2 1000 194 806 7 5642 Notebooks 5 2500 499 2001 14 28014 61093

Some cash donations as follows:

CASH Amount To Fund TOTAL 10500 50593 Sinag Basir 3500 #SULOngSULU Benefit Concert 6500 Mara Balayan Workshop 5000+ Rackys Colleagues 500 April Tomas Ruby (Mami Weng)

At the moment, yes, we are still very far from the Target for even 500 students, whilst I am looking into providing for 1000 students; a little bit hilarious for how much my network can provide, but that has been what I have always told myself. I can't expect them to wish, they haven't known what it is perhaps. They probably even think that's all there is in life. But, If they can't put up a dream, i'll be the one to dream for them.

So, yes, something i haven't done until I got into this outreach work is begging. But true enough, travelling has taught me to humility. And if the kind of humility I need to put up, is the upliftment of some, so be it. 

For Donations:

Via Bank of thePhilippine Islands

Bank Code: 010040018

Account Number: 3119 2301 35

Name on Account: Raquel Bernardo

Via Paypal 

 

Email Address: jibmaxatnewroad@gmail.com

Suggested in PHP currency to minimize devaluations. In third world, every cent counts J. Otherwise, USD will be fine.