I'm Back!

Hello, everyone out there in Blog World! I've been absent for quite a while (my laptop died, and updating from my cell phone is ... tedious at best). But now I'm back! Let me get you caught up quick with a summary of my girls:

Anna Marie graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources. We've kept in touch on Facebook--her determination to achieve success is inspiring! Her younger sister is in college now, and Anna is dedicated to supporting her education.

Joyce turned 19 this past August and graduated from CI's program. She's in her final semester for her Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, and she's also doing an internship with an investment company. She's very involved in extracurriculars at her school, including competitive dance and running 5Ks! Because I sponsor her younger sister, I haven't been able to keep in direct contact with her since she graduated from CI.

Jie will be 19 this month. It's hard to believe! I've sponsored her since she was 8. Jie's situation remains challenging. She has finished high school, but college isn't in the cards for her. Making things even more difficult is the fact that her father passed away last year. She works to help support  her family. I sent a final EG for her 19th birthday and graduation--I'll post the follow-up report and photos when I receive them.

Yulieth is mother to a healthy baby girl, who is just over a year old. She lives with her husband and his family, and she has written that she gets along well with them. She has also returned to school after dropping out due to her pregnancy. I'm SO happy that she has the support to be able to go back and complete her education. Yulieth will be 18 in August, so I've got about a year and a half left before she graduates from CI. I hope that by the time her 19th birthday rolls around, CI will be enrolling new children again so that I can sponsor her daughter.

Maria is still reserved and polite in her letters. She is doing well in school. Her birthday is a month after Yulieth's, so I have about a year and a half left with her as well.

Nay-Nay will be 17 next month. She's growing into such a poised, confident young lady! She has a great relationship with her older sister, Erish. She's taking accounting and business management classes in high school--hopefully she will be able to pursue a college degree as well!

Josada is a relatively new sponsorship for me. She lives in India in a home with mud floors (not even dirt -- the report specifically says "mud"). I sent an EG right away and asked for an education report. She struggles academically, according to the reply, but is dedicated to her studies. She was already receiving tutoring, so her family used a portion of the EG for tutoring for her younger brother. She writes very nice letters, asking lots of questions. Josada will be 17 in August.

Dianne will be 15 in July. She participates in activities both at school--where she joined a cheer squad--and at her CI community center, where she teaches.

Jocelyn is Joyce's younger sister. She will be 14 in September. She writes delightful, page-long letters full of information about her family (including updates about Joyce, for which I'm very grateful!). She misses her father a lot--he works in another city and is only home once or twice a week.

Jannati will be 12 next week! Through her, I'm learning a lot about the history and culture of India ... and the sports, too! She always asks if Luke and I have been to a certain site, or played a certain game...none of which I've ever heard of, so I have to go look them up! She really likes books and reading and learning--I'm very hopeful that she will be able to pursue higher education as she gets older.

My little cutie Jasmin isn't so little anymore! Oh, she's still petite (especially by American standards), but she'll be 12 in October--officially old enough to participate in Youth Program activities at her center! I got a special treat over the holidays--CIMAA threw a holiday party for one of the CI centers in Manila, and Jasmin was there! I got to see her in a couple of photos, and (very briefly) in a video!

Sandy is my brand-new sponsorship--I chose her as a replacement for Jie. She sleeps on the floor (not even on a mat, just "the floor") and she's just so darn adorable that I couldn't resist. I just received her first letter. She likes apples and playing hide-and-seek, and she wants to be a teacher. And she signed the letter with "big hugs" -- clearly, this sponsorship was just meant to be!

Spotlight Children of the Week, 5/4/2015

As previously mentioned, I have determined that I will not add any new sponsorships nor take any "replacement" sponsorships until I am down to just five girls. Somehow, though, I still find myself browsing through the list of waiting children. These are the two I currently wish I could take.

Nine-year-old Roshella lives in the Philippines with her parents and two siblings in a concrete and plywood house. She sleeps on that hard, concrete floor with only a mat for cushioning. The family must haul their water from a community pump, and they have tapped their electricity illegally.

How could I *not* want to sponsor two-year-old Brianna?! That's my younger sister's name! Brianna lives with her parents and four siblings in the Philippines in a concrete house with a corrugated metal roof. They are fortunate to have running water in their home, but though electricity is available in their community, they do not have access in their house.

((Blogger's photo tool isn't cooperating at ALL at the moment ... I'll add photos to this post when I can!))

The Passion Returns

I have to admit, my passion for Sponsorship had waned quite a bit over the past year. I don't know why. I still thought about my girls every day, and I knew I *should* be writing to them and connecting with other Sponsors on MSC ... but I didn't. I regret that time that I've lost, and I am SO relieved to feel the passion returning, hovering just beneath my breastbone.

A lot has happened since last I wrote.

Jessica from Ecuador moved, and left the program. I did not take a replacement child for her.

Anna Marie graduated from the CI program. She is still attending college, which is funded until 2017. It's nice to take a break from the constant fundraisers for her! I'll probably start up again next year to fund her senior year of college. Although she has graduated, I am still able to support her through CI because her younger sister is sponsored. Thank goodness! I was not keen on the idea of dealing directly with her college, and I did not want to sponsor her younger brother.

Joyce has finished her first year of college. She is attending a private college in another city. With Anna Marie's schooling funded, I have been able to turn my own resources to supporting Joyce. I've also inquired about sponsoring her younger sister Jocelyn, who I know from one of Joyce's past letters isn't sponsored.

Yojana will graduate from the CI program in a couple of months. I had originally intended to sponsor her youngest sister in her place, but now I don't think I'm going to. Yojana is working in the city to help support her family, and she writes that she likes her coworkers.

I still have my twins Cindy and Sandy in Guatemala, but I'm finding more and more that my heart for sponsorship is in the Philippines.The twins still do not write their own letters, even though they are now nine years old. I hope, once they begin to write on their own, that I will be able to feel more of a connection with them. I do not write to them nearly as often as I should, for which I feel terrible.

I'm waiting for an updated Family Report from Jie to see if she is still in school or not. I think she was just old enough (like Joyce) to graduate high school under the old system at 16, but I don't know if she's gone on to college. I would be surprised if she has--her family is desperately poor and has recently expressed struggles with even feeding themselves.

Piyu's most recent letter speaks of her upcoming exams, for which she is studying hard and expects to do well. I need to find some way to support her if she scores high enough to continue her education--I'm so frustrated by my lack of finances! That pay cut I took when I stepped down from being a supervisor *really* hurt my ability to provide for my girls.

There's not much to report with my young teens and youngest girls--probably because my focus has all been on the struggle of keeping the older girls in school. For this reason, I am *very* glad that the new educational system is in place in the Philippines and all the rest of my girls will be in high school until they are eighteen.

With the exception of taking Jocelyn when Yojana graduates, I have made the decision to not take any "replacement children" when any of mine graduate or leave the program for any other reason ... not until I get down to five sponsorships. As much as I love having so many, I feel like I am doing them a disservice by stretching my resources too thin. So eventually, if they do not leave the program beforehand, I will be down to Ruth, Danise, Anikka, Jasmin, Cindy and Sandy. The twins will graduate at the same time, of course, and at that time I will *finally* take a new child. That'll be ten years from now. That's mind-boggling.

#PovertyChallenge

I had this idea as soon as I heard about Children International's #PovertyChallenge, and though I think the official challenge has ended, I wanted to go ahead and post anyway.

Many impoverished‬ families around the world take to dumps and landfills, seeking scraps of metal and plastic that they might sell for a bit of money. So for my poverty‬ challenge, I decided to see what it was like to feed myself with only the money I gleaned from digging through bags of trash for returnable cans.

It's gross‬. That was my first thought as I tore into that very first trash bag. It's wet and slimy, and it smells awful. I don't know *what* I'm putting my hands into. Moreover, it's dangerous: I encountered broken glass and bees as I dug through bag after bag. The labor isn't very rewarding--a few cans at a time add up slowly. I actually got used to the ‪smell‬ and the wetness after a while--it's only bothersome if something spills all over my clothes or shoes. I stopped caring about the people who ‪stare‬ at me elbow-deep in ‪trash‬, too. Well ... sorta. It bothers me less, anyway.

Most days, I only get half a bag of cans; I consider a single, full bag to be a great day. I become ridiculously excited when I discover new places to glean cans. There is competition for this limited commodity, after all, and certain areas are even "claimed turf" (today, the "senior canners" are not here; I had access to their sources in addition to my own!). So I get disproportionately excited; each can is only worth five cents, but I got to them *first*! I found these five in the trash cans in my break room. It made me think to check the trash cans in each jet bridge, where I found about a dozen more.

After two weeks of can hunting, it seems to have seeped into my subconscious, and I find myself peeking into every receptacle I pass. I have to remind myself not to dig through the trash in the airport terminal ... at least, not while it's full of passengers. The not digging is a special kind of agony, though. How many cans are in there, being wasted?! That could be tomorrow's lunch!

A full trash bag of cans is worth about eight dollars. Today was an exceptionally good day, due to the absence of the aforementioned "senior canners," and I came away with two and a half bags. With luck, the contents of these bags will yield $20. I can have sandwiches and salads for a week on this taking--I can even buy milk and eggs!

Before I can redeem them, I have to rinse them and attempt to un-crush any that were mangled--an endeavor that leads to sore and sometimes sliced fingers. Then I show up at the grocery store with my bag of cans. The machine only takes some of the brands; the rest must be hand-counted. The man at the counter is none too friendly. Even though I rinsed them, he still grumbles about the smell of my cans. People stare as I bring forth the quantity I've gleaned. "She must be homeless," they are thinking, "or a drug addict." They say nothing, but their thoughts are pained on their faces.

After the cans are counted, the man hands me a small slip of paper with the total. "Don't lose it!" I tell myself fiercely as I tuck it safely into a pocket. It's the only proof I have, the only fruit to show for my labor. I can now shop in the grocery store, paying for my carefully-chosen items with this small slip of paper. I may even be lucky enough to get a few cents back in change.

I cannot imagine trying to live every day like this...especially knowing that most days I'd only get three or four dollars. Sure, I could eat on that. But rent? Medical care? Shoes and clothes? And I'm just one person. How can you hope to support a family doing this?

Because I do not actually live in poverty, I am able to wait until I have a substantial collection of cans before I redeem them. This is about two weeks' worth (including tonight's exceptionally good yield). I'll get about $60 for them, I think. That's a lot, sure--it's great, in fact!--but I'm not actually trying to survive on that money. An income of $120 a month ... that's what some of my children's families earn. In some of their cases, it's more. Much, much more.

I would like to acknowledge my fiance Luke, who has been right there with me, elbow-deep in the trash bags, for this endeavor ... and who will be right there with me as I face the grumpy man at the counter with my truckload of cans tomorrow!

Spotlight Child of the Week, 5/28/2014

How could I not feature Princess Shannen?! I would sponsor her myself in a heartbeat, but I absolutely cannot take on any new children at this time. This four-year-old cutie pie lives in the Philippines with her parents and one sibling. The family of four struggles to survive on a monthly income of only $90. Their home is constructed of concrete and corrugated metal. Princess Shannen is already attending school! She enjoys playing outdoors and dancing.

Idealized Poverty

Picture this: toiling parents, working diligently and under-compensated for their hard labor, struggling to put food on the table for their children. The family never indulges in wasteful things like television or soda and potato chips. Our children go to school, do chores, play in the streets, and at all times are mindful of their situation and brimming with gratitude for their sponsors. This makes them work twice as hard as their classmates, so they can one day rise above poverty! Siblings and cousins and grandparents all sacrifice even their meager means to help support this one miracle child, with the hope that the whole family will benefit. Sound familiar?

I think we as Sponsors sometimes have a particular view of what our children and their families are like. However, after years of sponsorship and some Facebook stalking of former sponsored children, I'm pretty sure that the reality is far from that idealized idea. I'm sure there are parents who eat first and feed their kids whatever is leftover. Siblings smoke cigarettes. There are nights our children don't want to complete their homework. They take selfies in bathroom mirrors and listen to music their parents wouldn't approve of. They consider themselves "emo" or "punk" or "prep" and have a clique of friends they pal around with. They kiss boys and, sometimes, things go too far. They are subject to peer pressure, and they aren't infallible. They are real people, and subject to the downfalls of being human just like we are.

Does this mean sponsorship is a waste of time? Of course not! Being human doesn't mean they're unworthy of support and the hope of a better life, and being impoverished doesn't mean they aren't allowed to enjoy frivolous things sometimes. We are sometimes prone to feeling that they should be doing this or that, that they should be grateful to a fault, that they should never waste a crumb or a second that could be spent toiling to improve their situation. But that's not life--that wouldn't be living.

Our children and their families are not robots.

Spotlight Child of the Week, 5/20/2014

Six-year-old Insha lives in India with her parents. They live in a concrete and brick house with illegally-tapped electricity and no running water. The family struggles to survive on an income of only $56 per month. Insha is enrolled in school. She enjoys playing with toys and dolls, and counts drawing among her talents. Insha speaks Urdu.

New Photo of Nay-Nay

Nay-Nay's new annual photo appeared in my account today. It's the first one in which she's worn her hair down. It's gotten so long! She looks so different, and she's really starting to grow up fast. She's thirteen years old now, and beginning eighth grade next month.

Letters from Joyce and Nay-Nay!

After weeks and weeks of waiting (okay, that's probably an exaggeration...), I opened my mailbox yesterday and found a CI envelope! Inside was Cristine's annual photo and two letters!

Joyce wrote,

Dear Ms. Dillon,

Hello!!! How's your day? I hope that you and your family are in a good condition. This last February 28, we celebrated a Sr. Prom in our school. We are so happy on that occasion, we also dance and take a picture. By the way the color of my dress is red. It's simple but it's also beautiful. I choose red because that is one of my favorite colors. Me, my friends and my teacher are dancing together until end of occasion.

On my schooling it's also happy because my grades are high and good. Me, my friends and also my best friend are bonding together if we don't have a lesson and sometimes we have a group study at the house of my friend. This coming March 27, we graduate in our school. I'm so excited to be a college student because I found new friends  and classmates, but I will also miss my high school life when I graduate in our school.

I hope that you would like my letter. Thank you for supporting me. Hoping that you and your family are happy every day. GOD BLESS YOU and I LOVE YOU =)

With care,
Joyce

She always writes such great letters! I wish I could see a photo of her in her prom dress--I bet she looked beautiful! I was excited all over again by the thought of her going to college. I can't wait to hear what she'll be studying and if she got a scholarship for her excellent grades!

Nay-Nay wrote:

Dear Ms. Dillon,

Good day to you!

Last month is my periodic test and distributing our class cards and I've got another top again. Proud to say that to you my sponsor. This coming February I prepare myself for many activities in Music, Arts, Physical Education, Health (MAPEH Club). I also prepare a Valentine letters for our teachers and my family.

Thank you for supporting me and sponsoring me. God bless you and your family. With you my sponsor I was able to study and more active in school. Thank you.

With kisses,
Chris Ann D.

At the bottom, instead of a drawing, she put a quote: "Education is the golden key to success."

I'm so proud of her for achieving top grades! Looks like I have another college student in the making. =)

The Plot Thickens ...

CI replied to yesterday's Very Angry Lady, apologizing and saying they would address the issue. "Good," I thought. "It's all taken care of." But apparently that wasn't enough for her.

Ho-ho! Look, New York! How fortunate we are to have Ms. Sabrina Lamb to speak unsolicited on our behalf!

"Violate our privacy" ... by knocking on your door? Darling, I don't think that word means what you think it means!

I typed up a big, long response, but I didn't hit enter. What's the point? She's not going to come right and apologize for her antics, and it will probably only inflame the situation further.  So I took a screenshot of my answer instead:

Spotlight Children of the Week: 5/9/2014

I turned my focus this week to India. I have been researching educational opportunities and the system in place there, so the country was on my mind as I browsed through the waiting children list. I found three girls who speak minority languages only--not one of them speaks Hindi at all.

Two-year-old Shalini lives with her parents on a monthly income of only $70. Their home is made up of brick walls and a concrete floor with a corrugated tile roof. They are fortunate to have regulated electricity, but must obtain their water from a community pump. Shalini is still too young for school. She enjoys playing with dolls. Shalini speaks Bengali.

Fifteen-year-old Sajiya lives with her parents and three siblings in a home of concrete floors, brick walls and a tile roof. The family of six struggles to survive on a monthly income of only $80. They have illegally-tapped electricity and must get their water from community faucets. Against the odds, Sajiya is still attending school. She speaks Urdu.

Twelve-year-old Firdosh lives with her parents and one sibling on a monthly income of only $66. Their home is entirely concrete: floor, roof and walls. They have illegally-tapped electricity and must get their water from community faucets. Firdosh attends school, and in her free time she enjoys playing indoor games. She speaks Urdu.

I Don't Understand

Why do people get SO angry about Dialogue Direct people talking to them about Children International? All it takes is a polite, "No, I'm not interested. Thank you." They're just doing their job; a thankless, grueling job that I would never want, at that. There's no need to berate them for it.

Someone knocked on your front door? Yes, door-to-door solicitors can be annoying. You can always ignore the knock if you're THAT against someone talking to you (that's my plan of attack; I never open my door if I don't recognize the person on the other side). However, turning up on the CI Facebook page and ranting, "HOW DARE YOUR EMPLOYEES KNOCK ON MY DOOR!" and posting, "Your employees were not invited to our private residences. These two showed up on my doorstep!" accompanied by a photograph of two smiling young women accomplishes nothing aside from making yourself look like an overreacting crazy lady (oh, and by the way: they're Dialogue Direct employees, not Children International employees). Invited to your residence? Funny, they don't look like they're inside your personal residence to me. How dare they knock on your door? Goodness! I thought that's what doors were for!

But seriously, what is there to get offended and all up-in-arms about? Do you get angry at the Girl Scouts selling cookies, too? Or what if World of Money showed up to ask for a donation? Is that different, because it's a cause you actively support? Or how about someone taking collections to help find the missing girls in Nigeria? You've bombarded your Facebook followers with multiple posts a day on THAT subject. Would you react to those solicitors with such venom?

I doubt it.

The DEMONS who DARED to knock on her door!

I wish I knew who these two girls were, so I could apologize to them for the tongue-lashing I'm sure they received from this woman.

A New Sponsorship

As I was writing this week's Spotlight Child blog, I had focused attention on girls in Zambia who speak one of the minority languages. I had selected three girls to feature--one speaks Lozi, the other two speak Tonga.

The youngest, Ruth, is only two years old. As I began to write about her, I happened to glance at her birthday. She will be three years old on May 17th.

Ruth, you may have noticed, is not featured in the aforementioned Spotlight blog. Well, that's because she already has a sponsor!

I've never had a child in Zambia before, so this will be an interesting experience for me. I'll have the opportunity to learn about a whole new country and culture as I help give my birthday twin hope for a bright future!

Spotlight Children of the Week, 5/4/2014

For this week's Spotlight, we turn our attention to Africa. As you have probably heard by now, over 230 girls were abducted while they sat an exam at school in Nigeria. Although Zambia and Nigeria are separated by three thousand miles, it seemed appropriate to focus this week's Spotlight on CI's operation there.

Ronica, age 14.

Fourteen-year-old Ronica lives with her parents and two siblings in a concrete home with a corrugated tile roof. Electricity is not available in her community and she must obtain her water from community faucets. The family of five struggles to survive on a monthly income of only $70. Against all odds, Ronica is still attending school. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her friends. Ronica speaks Lozi in addition to Nyanja.

Fridah, age 13.

Thirteen-year-old Fridah lives with her mother and one sibling in a concrete home with a corrugated metal roof. She is lucky that electricity is available in her community. The family obtains their water from community faucet and struggles to survive on a monthly income of only $80. Fridah sleeps on that hard concrete floor with a mat. She is enrolled in school. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing with her friends, and playing with dolls. Fridah speaks Tonga in addition to Nyanja.

Surprise News from Joyce!

I received a CP from Joyce yesterday. I love her letters--she always answers any questions I have asked her, and she includes lots of details. This one was no different ... and it included some surprising news!

Dear Ms. Dillon,

Good day! I hope you and your family are in a good condition. I am happy that you received my birthday pictures. The outfits that you see is our school uniform. My teacher is good and lovely to us. Daisy is at the back of me in the group picture. She wears the complete uniform. In the group family picture my father was left, because he works in another city. Joseph is also a sponsor child. Jocelyn was not. Joseph's birthday is on September 19 and Jocelyn, September 17. They are the same month. My cake is strawberry flavor and I also like chocolate flavor.

By the way, we're not really affected by the typhoon Yolanda. During that storm all levels were closed, but then again we always praying for the safety of the other persons who suffered that great typhoon. We gave them some relief goods and dress. It would be a big help to them. We pray for their health and life.

This coming vacation we are planning to go outing with family and friends and also we are are going to church this coming Holy Week. Actually, I am graduating this coming March 27th. I am ready to go to college after I am graduated high school.  I am so excited to meet new friends and teachers. You are my inspiration in my study.

Again, thank you for supporting me. Take care and God bless.

Love,
Joyce

She's going to college!!! I thought she had one more year of high school left. Even if she studies in a four-year program, she should finish college before she graduates out of the CI program! She was the top student in her class ... I wonder if she was able to secure a scholarship? Her father wasn't previously listed as working in another city--I wonder if he relocated to take a better job to help pay for her education? I am happy to hear that her brother is also sponsored--double the support for the family! I wonder why Jocelyn was never enrolled?

I think I'll saunter myself on over to My Account and send a special gift to celebrate her graduation and help with some of the college expenses! I have to confess that I feel an immense relief that her family can afford to send her to college, since I am stretched pretty thin with Anna Marie's tuition at the moment! I'll have to ask her what she will be studying in college, and if Daisy will be going too!

Toodling around on the internet, I found Bicol University - Tabaco, the (seemingly) only state-run university in the city and therefore the likely school for Joyce's continued education. As I read about the school, I ran across this gem:

An entrance scholarship consisting of tuition fee discount shall be enjoyed for one semester by high school valedictorians/salutatorians from a public or private of a graduating class of not less than 50 students, except those who graduated from SUCs/laboratory high schools. The overall topnotcher in the BUCET shall also qualify under this scholarship. A student who meets the mentioned qualifications must apply for entrance scholarship upon enrollment by presenting his Form 138 (Fourth Year) and a certification as to the size of the graduating class and honors obtained from the high school principal or head of the secondary school where she/he graduated as valedictorian/salutatorian. Valedictorians and the BUCET overall topnotcher shall enjoy a 100% free tuition, while the salutatorians shall enjoy 50% free tuition. Entrance scholars may become academic scholars upon meeting the qualifying average at the end of the semester.

Joyce, as previously mentioned, WAS at the top of her class. I wonder if there were at least fifty students, though? It would be wonderful if she is qualified for this scholarship! There is a whole list of other scholarships she can qualify for as her college career progresses, too: academic-based, testing-based, and participation-based!

This is also good information to keep in mind for my other girls in Tabaco--as they enter high school, I will have to let them know that their hard work can pay off and grant them access to college and a better future!

Spotlight Children of the Week, 4/21/2014

Sunita, age 5.

Punita, age 4.

This week I'd like to introduce you to a pair of sisters from India! These adorable girls live with their parents and four other siblings. Their family of eight struggles to survive on a monthly income of only $127. Their house is constructed of brick and they are fortunate to have electricity, but they must obtain their water from a community pump. Both girls sleep on the floor on a mattress, and both girls enjoy playing with their friends. Five-year old Sunita is enrolled in school, while four-year-old Punita is still too young.

Let's team up and make a change for these girls and their whole family! If I sponsor Sunita and your sponsor Punita, we could combine forces and really lift them from the clutches of poverty!

Education Changes in the Philippines

I've been reading some more about the in-process changes to the education system in the Philippines, because I was wondering whether Jie and Joyce (both 15 and, under the old system, Seniors in high school in the coming school year) would be graduating and moving on to college or they'd be continuing on into two more years of high school under the new system.

I have read that "current 4th Year students in high school in S.Y. 2014-2015 are exempted in this program." The new 11th grade will be implemented in 2016 and the new 12th grade in 2017. So it seems that they will graduate and, if they choose, go to college.

There are some other interesting changes that are taking effect with the new education system. In the old system, instruction occurred in English. Now, English isn't even begun until the second semester of first grade. "In Kindergarten, the pupils are mandated to learn the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors through games, songs, and dances, but in their mother tongue; thus after Grade 1, every student can read on his/her mother tongue." For the second semester of grade one and throughout second and third grade they study English with an emphasis on oral fluency. From grade four, Filipino and English as a medium of instruction will both be used. There are specific subjects that will be taught in each language; English will be used for English, Science and Technology, Home Economics and Livelihood Education.

Reasoning behind the shift in instructional language use: "Though elementary schooling is compulsory, as of 2010 it was reported that 27.82% of Filipino elementary-aged children either never attend or never complete elementary schooling, usually due to the absence of any school in their area, education being offered in a language that is foreign to them, or financial distress. In July 2009 DepEd moved to overcome the foreign language issue by ordering all elementary schools to move towards initial mother-tongue based instruction (grades 1–3). The order allows two alternative three-year bridging plans. Depending on the bridging plan adopted, the Filipino and English languages are to be phased in as the language of instruction for other subjects beginning in the third and fourth grades."

There's a lot more info to dig through on the Wikipedia article, and there is a chart showing the integration of the new grades in the "2010s and the K-12 program" section.

Spotlight Child of the Week, 4/14/14

Four-year-old Ma. Alliah Nicole Beralde lives with her parents and two siblings in the Philippines. The family of five struggles to survive on an income of only $34 per month. They can barely put food on their table, and have no hope of creating a safe, solid home--their current house is constructed of bamboo, plywood and palm leaf. Ma. Alliah is too young for school. She enjoys playing with her siblings, dancing, and singing. With your help, Ma. Alliah's family will have peace of mind knowing that there will be food on their table and medical attention will be available when she falls ill. Won't you put the smile of hope on this little girl's face?

New Photos!

 Here's twelve-year-old Cristine, our group-sponsored child from Quezon City in the Philippines! Photo taken April 11, 2014.

And here's fifteen-year-old Joyce from Tabaco in the Philippines! Photo taken April 10, 2014.

Spotlight Child of the Week, 4/6/2014

Meet four-year-old Madelyn Andrea! This cutie lives with her parents and a sibling in Guatemala. They live in an adobe home with dirt floors and unregulated electricity access. Madelyn enjoys playing with dolls, cars and other toys. She speaks Cakchiquel. Her fifth birthday is coming up soon on April 17th -- imagine what an amazing birthday present it would be for her to have a caring, supportive Sponsor enter her life!