“Who can tell me the answer…. Marcus?” I hear the voice of my second grade teacher calling on me to answer a question to which I have no answer. The feeling of humiliation that I’d feel still haunts me today. In class I would always sink into my seat when my teacher uttered those dreaded words. At that point of my life, school was stressful for me, and I didn’t like going. My negative experiences regarding school however, pale in comparison to those of the children at Pulang Lupa.

Many of the kids are not lucky enough to attend school because either their families cannot afford it or the children are needed at home or in the fields to help eke out a living. Not that school is expensive. In fact, public education is free. But the books, supplies and uniforms that are needed to attend classes are not. Many students miss semesters and years of school at a time due to their family’s lack of money. This means that if they do return to school, they are often older than their classmates, which makes their situations even more difficult and challenging.

Most of the mothers in Pulang Lupa only have a grade two or grade three education and many of their husbands completed even less schooling. However, despite the lack of formal education, the residents of Pulang Lupa are very smart in many ways. It takes skill and determination to survive on so little education and resources. On many occasions I have wondered if I would be mentally and physically tough enough to survive in Pulang Lupa if I lived there.

After the first few education sessions we conducted with women in Pulang Lupa, we realized we needed something for the kids to do. Not only were they a constant distraction to the moms, but they were all around — we didn’t need to let them know we were coming and sign them up — they were ready and waiting for something to do. Just as we had with Nutritional Support Sessions, we sensed a meaningful opportunity to engage the children.

With this in mind we hired our first part-time teacher, Jane Espiritu to start entertaining and educating the children. While Ami and Lyn-Lyn taught the mothers about pregnancies and contraception, Jane taught the children healthy habits, songs and basic math. As with the mothers, the children received a healthy snack and a drink after the lessons. As time progressed, so did the number of Jane’s students. Soon, the age gap between the kids and the sheer number of them forced us to re-evaluate how we were running the child education sessions.

Due to the increase in students we saw the need to hire another teacher, Evetha Fem Gaton. Evetha was already working for us during every Nutritional Support Program session we held and both children and adults were enthralled by her storytelling abilities. Even with two teachers the age range was not ideal, so we’ve started hiring different individuals to act as a third teacher to help Evetha and Jane out on a day to day basis as they are available. We recently sat down and planned out the structure of the sessions, which now look quite different with three adults in the mix.

During the first part of the session all the kids are together and sing songs and participate in large group activities. The groups then split according to age. Jane takes the little ones, Evetha takes the older kids, and when part timers are available, they take the intermediate aged group. (When no one is available to help out, the large group is split into two.) The teachers then focus on math, English, reading and life skills with the students in their groups.

It will take time to fully develop the attention span needed for academic thinking but for now the children are enjoying the mixture of games, activities, stories, counting and writing. Evetha is currently working on a curriculum that has specific activities, content and goals for each age group. As the new school year approaches we hope to boost the academic performances of those children enrolled in school and to compensate for those unable to. Either way, the sessions are priceless to the children of Pulang Lupa and you only have to see their excitement, enthusiasm, attentive faces and inquiring eyes to realize this bittersweet fact.