BACOLOD CITY – Renowned movie director Pegue Gallaga was deeply moved by the experience.

“I think education is very powerful when it goes beyond traditional boundaries,” he said after reading to 46 children, many of them seriously ill, at Carmel Cottage, a school in Talisay City in Negros Occidental.
Gallaga was the celebrity reader at the launching of the Inquirer Read Along sessions in the Visayas on Nov. 22.

The storytelling mission broke down “walls” and brought smiles to the faces of even the most withdrawn children.

Wheelchair-bound John Michael Serenio appeared aloof at the start as if he had built a thick wall around himself, Gallaga observed. “But I think something touched him,” he said, noting that the boy’s body language softened as the session ran.

Children with cancer

Many of the youngsters are members of the Suntown Camp, a foundation that brings joy to children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, or have parents who are gravely ill, and teach them how to cope. The foundation helped organize the Read-Along.

“I thought I was just doing a community reading. I wasn’t aware how deep and important it was,” Gallaga said. “It was an honor to be part of the experience.”

“I was so strongly affected, I’m glad I did not know I was reading to children with cancer or I would not have been able to read,” he said.

Gallaga read the book “Windows in the Sky” by Maria Milagros Garcia and illustrated by Fran Ng, a story about a grandmother who got sick, punched a hole in the sky, and became a star.

“When I learned that many of the children I was reading to were sick, I realized why I was asked to read a book about coping with death,” he said.

“The Inquirer Read Along showed us another vehicle of delivering even the most difficult messages about illness and death to our Suntown Camp kids to whom both situations are and will be grim realities,” Suntown Camp president Millie Kilayko said.

“I felt both happy and sad as Joel, a kid with leukemia, stood up to answer a question about the hospitalization and eventual death of the storybook’s character in a very straightforward manner. Should he come face to face with that situation, I am sure the happy way he learned about illness and death in a read along will help him find peace,” Kilayko said.

The Inquirer had flown in professional reader Richell Rodriguez, and his high-energy and very entertaining style transported the children into another world through “Apolakus,” written by Alice Mallari and illustrated by Leo Agtuca.

He also kept the children laughing as he read “Three Billy Goats Gruff,” a famous Norwegian fairy tale about three goats crossing a bridge, under which was a fearsome troll who wanted to eat them.

Junior Inquirer editor Ruth Navarra hosted the Read Along in the Visayas and kept the children smiling.

Suntown will be organizing a training session for its volunteers so they could learn to read stories to the children like Rodriguez, Kilayko said. “If we have a pool of readers, we can tap them for Read-Alongs during our support group sessions and schedule them to read for children in hospitals,” she added.

Dr. Alvin Parreno, Suntown Camp director, said: “The kids really loved the Inquirer Read Along session. They want to have it on a regular basis. They adore Kuya Rich and they wish there will be another read along this Christmas.”

“Some of the kids have never experienced someone reading a story to them at home so it was a new experience for them,” Parreno said.

It is something we can do during our support group sessions, he said.

Dr. Ada Jayme, a Suntown volunteer, said the Inquirer Read Along was the first of its kind in Bacolod. “It was a blast. We should start making it a regular activity. Education is still the way to go,” she said.

Natalie Lacson, who offered her Carmel Cottage as venue, said she wanted to cry when she saw the children. “I saw in their faces how happy they were at the Read Along. They were completely enthralled.”

And the children were likewise enthralled with her school. It was built like a gingerbread house filled with murals of scenes from storybooks and sculptures of fairytale characters scattered about in an English garden.

Tina Orbecido said her two daughters enjoyed the activity. “It further stirred their love for reading. The activity awakened my passion to once again be involved in outreach work,” she said.

Ma. Ester Espina, who came to cover the event for a local cable channel, called it an “enriching experience.” She added: “You forget all your problems when you see the joy on the faces of the children.”

“The children had fun while learning,” said another mother, Avelyn Marañon.

“We were happy to see the children happy,” said Levi Trio of Teleperformance, a call center company that gave out books and goodies to the children after the read along. Several other donors gave toys and food.