Last October 9, a check for PhP 1 million changed hands from our club, represented by VP Louie Aseoche and Sec. Eddie Galvez, to Dianne Jean Cruz of the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation. A project of the Office of the Vice President, it will be undertaken by the Yellow Boat Foundation, a nonprofit organization engaged in projects that improve children’s access to education. The money is earmarked for the construction of a dormitory for female students at the Sumilao National High School-Vista Villa Annex in Sumilao, Bukidnon. The dormitory will be able to accommodate up to 30 girls from poor families who live in three far-flung barangays—Lucasi, Occasion and Licoan—that range in distance from seven to 12 kms from the school. They negotiate this distance every day, hiking for hours in the morning to get to school and hours again in the late afternoon or early evening to get home. Along the way there are bridges to cross, one of which overflows during the rainy season. The situation is such that the students arrive in school too spent and sleepy—and often hungry—to pay attention in class, and get home in the evening too tired for homework. Add to that the fact that they get up early in the morning, sometimes without breakfast, to get to school on time. Clearly, the situation leaves little space for learning. It breeds tardiness and absenteeism, with resultant poor grades that leave the students discouraged and demotivated, sometimes with no recourse but to drop out. The dormitory is expected to deliver a safe and healthy environment that is conducive to learning and bring about greater student participation, a stop to tardiness and absenteeism and a marked decrease in the dropout rate. The students would then be able to concentrate on the very reason they are in school in the first place—to learn.
The project is taking off at once. Groundbreaking is set to start this month, with the structure programmed for delivery in February 2019. This is the second dormitory project to be undertaken by the Yellow Boat Foundation for Angat Buhay. The first, a facility for male students at the Siayan National High School in Zamboanga del Norte, was opened last February.
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