Inquirer Read-along cheers up poor kids

Inquirer Read-along in Pangasinan

Lalaine Nieves, 46, a Grade II teacher at Dacap Sur Elementary School in the coastal town of Bani in Pangasinan, is often moved to tears whenever she recounts how she trekked through mountains each day just to attend classes as a child.

“It was through sheer perseverance that I finished my schooling,” said Nieves, who lives in the fishing village of Olanen in Bani.

“The pupils are in a better situation now as there is already a paved road. But still, there is no public transportation for them to take,” she said.

The path to learning is still arduous for the children of Bani, but it changed at least for a day on December 21 when the Inquirer Read-Along program reached one of their villages, particularly a place called Borobor ni Ayat (Mountain of Love), a resettlement area for fishermen whose houses were destroyed by Typhoon “Emong” in 2009.

The session in Pangasinan was one of the storytelling activities held in northern Luzon in the days leading to Christmas.

Two days earlier, on December 19, the newspaper’s award-winning project also reached out to youngsters in the neighboring province of Tarlac, particularly to the children of Hacienda Luisita farmers who were recently awarded a share of the land in the controversial plantation.

On December 22, the Inquirer Read-Along team held a session in Anao town also in Tarlac, gathering 76 kids from Amor Village, including some special children.

The Anao session was held in partnership with Tarlac State University’s College of Law and the employees of the Regional Trial Court Branch 67 of Paniqui, Tarlac.

Tent session

The session at Hacienda Luisita was organized with the help of the Don Bosco community in the province.

In Bani, the Olanen schoolchildren live in homes located between the blue sea and green rolling hills, some 2 kilometers away from their school.

They often hitch a ride on fish delivery vans to reach the campus, which was probably how some 120 pupils and their mothers also traveled that Wednesday—this time to the Borobor ni Ayat relocation site, where the residents pitched a large tent for the read-along session.

Many of the mothers sat quietly around the tent, nursing their babies, when Dr. Elizabeth Navarro, wife of Bani Mayor Marcelo Navarro Jr., read the book, “Ang Huling Puno (The Last Tree),” written by Richard Reynante and illustrated by Arnold Nuestro.

The story relates how the last mango tree in the city was saved from the ax man by a group of children, who slipped into a monster’s suit to scare away the logger.

Navarro urged the children to love the trees around them and replace the trees that the town lost during Emong’s onslaught in May 2009.

Pig in heaven

Percy Gapas and Dea Cajape of Alitaptap Storytellers followed up the environmental tale with two stories about friendship and cleanliness.

The children shrieked with glee as an animated Gapas read the story, “Ang Unang Baboy sa Langit (The First Pig in Heaven)” written by Rene Villanueva and illustrated by Ibarra Crisostomo.

The award-winning book is about a pig named Butsekik who, unlike other pigs, strove to be clean, enabling her to reach heaven and become the patroness of her species.

Gapas and Cajape also read the story about the lasting bond between a dove and an ant, titled “Ang Magkaibigan (The Friends),” by Angelita Aragon.

The story was inspired by one of Aesop’s classic fables, illustrating how the dove saved the ant from drowning in a stream by plucking a leaf and dropping it into the water to serve as the ant’s life raft. The ant later repaid this act of kindness by biting the foot of a hunter who was about to shoot the dove.

Bani was the fourth town in Pangasinan to be visited by the Inquirer Read-Along team, according to Mayor Navarro.

‘David and Goliath’

Dacap Sur Elementary School still has no library, according to its principal, Leo Ocupio, and only a few families can afford to buy storybooks. Hence, at the end of the Dec. 19 session, the schoolchildren were given not only snacks but also books to keep them company at home.

At Hacienda Luisita, the farmers’ children revisited the biblical story of David and Goliath, which was included in the read-along session in keeping with the Christmas season.

“It is in having faith that the small boy David conquered the big giant Goliath,” said a third grade pupil at Central Azucarera de Tarlac Elementary School, one of the hundred children in attendance.

Apparently aware of how their parents had waged their own “David and Goliath” battle for land ownership, the children listened attentively to Fr. John Manalo, who told the timeless tale of a shepherd boy who defeated a behemoth warrior with a mere slingshot.

The children also listened to Dr. Jose Rizal’s fable, “Ang Pagong at ang Matsing,” which was read by Dr. Vivian Meneses, and the story “Ang Patsotsay na Iisa ang Pakpak,” which was read by Julie Mamawal.

Aside from the books and toys handed out by Inquirer sponsors, the children also received assorted goods, candies and dental hygiene kits from the Don Bosco community and its partners.

In Amor village, Meneses returned and joined storytellers Iris Valencia, an accountant and Tarlac State University law student, and former Antique Provincial Board Member Alfonso Pombong III. They again read the story of David and Goliath and the book, “Emang Engkantada at Ang Tatlong Haragang,” by Rene Villanueva.