Send a child to school

Last May 2015, the Dominican Missions launched a Facebook page called “Send A Child To School”. This is to support the education of high school students studying in our mission schools in our mission stations in the Babuyan Islands. This educational assistance program was initiated by a group of teachers from Colegio De San Juan De Letran, Manila in 2009. After their visit to Lyceum of Camiguin on the island of Camiguin Norte, on an educational outreach mission, their boat capsized on their way back to Aparri in mainland Luzon. Luckily, there were no casualties. Having survived their four hour ordeal by swimming to shore with their life vests as their only life savers, they realized that they had a mission to fulfill in the islands of Babuyan.

They found out that not all the children on the islands are able to go to school due to poverty. As a way of giving back on their second chance on life, they thought of doing something to help the young people of Babuyan Islands have a decent education. They came up with posters advocating poverty alleviation through education. They sent those posters to their friends through the Internet. Within a few months, they were able to gather positive responses from their friends. They were able to raise a substantial amount of donations that they were able to help renovate the classrooms, put up a science laboratory and a computer laboratory.

This year, we have intensified the “Send A Child To School” campaign by launching it over the social media — Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. A group of advertising students from Colegio De San Juan De Letran were responsible for the campaign using the social media. They designed the logo of “Send A Child To School” which we used as the profile photo. They also designed a cover photo which gives information on how to donate. A new post is uploaded every day, with pictures and quotations or sayings about education, hope, perseverance or anything positive that may inspire anybody to help in the cause of the education of the youth.

For P1,000.00, a donor can sponsor the education of a high school student for one school year. The beneficiaries of this program are our students from St. Bartholomew Academy in Calayan Island and Lyceum of Camiguin in Camiguin Norte Island, both belonging to the Babuyan group of islands. A donor may sponsor as many students as he or she wants by making a deposit to the bank account indicated on the cover page of “Send A Child To School” on Facebook. As a proof of their donation, the donors are requested to send a photo of the deposit slip to the e-mail address — sendachildtoschoolph@yahoo.com. This confirms that a donation has been made by the donor. Once the donation has been confirmed, a profile of the student being sponsored will be sent to the donor. The students will also get to know their donors. The students are asked to communicate with their donors by writing letters to them, since Internet access is not accessible on the islands.

A business card was also designed by a volunteer artist. The text on the front side reads: Dominican Missions: Send A Child To School. Education is the great equalizer. For the benefit of St. Bartholomew Academy and Lyceum of Camiguin — Babuyan Islands. On the back side is written: 1K, 1Child, 1Schoolyear and the contact numbers. To find out about how you can support this program, please visit the Facebook page of “Send A Child To School.”