Teacher chooses to teach, serve scavengers’ children

It’s rare to find a teacher who chose to become a shepherd of education to indigent children and ignore the temptation of moving on to greener pasture.

Rosita Aroma, 62, has stayed on as a full-time stay-in teacher of Bethlehem Day Care Center Foundation, Inc. (BDCCFI) for 20 years now.

She continues to serve and teach children of scavengers, who are mostly her students, at the nearby Inayawan landfill.

The foundation offers nursery to kindergarten 2 education for these students who belong to the low-income bracket in the area.

“Day care service is not a subject in education but okay ra siya if naay experience sa training,” she said while recalling her experiences as a social worker.

She said there were times when she wanted to resign but her commitment to serve the children gave her the courage to stay on.

“This is my commitment and I know nga wala pay mopuli nako,” she said.

“Destined gyud ko para sa mga bata,” said Aroma, who’s committed to serve these indigent children.

Her gratitude to Fr. John Iacono, superior of the day care center, who treated her well at the center, also inspired her to continue being a Bethlehem teacher.

“I’ll render my service without compensation,” said Aroma, who shared that Fr. Iacono gave financial support for her daughter’s college education.

Early years

Aroma recalled her early years at the not-so-accessible center.

She said she had to wake up at 4 a.m. so that she could be at the center at 8 a.m. daily.

Located within the perimeters of Inayawan landfill, the day care center is an outreach project of the Cebu Archdiocesan Prison Apostolate, established in 1992 by Fr. John Iacono.

Aroma at that time was staying in her hometown, Danao City. She said  every day she did not mind travelling for more than two hours, although she admitted that it’s a tedious way to travel.

Lack of personnel

It’s a tough work for Aroma where the center seemingly has unequal ratio—increasing number of students and no change of number for school personnel.

Aside from being a pre-school teacher, she’s also doing all-around work like bathing the children, cooking food, cleaning classrooms and feeding the pre-schoolers.

According to Tawny Tenchavez, school administrator, 197 children from nursery to kindergarten are studying in the center. One hundred twenty-three of them studied in the morning and 75 in the afternoon.

The foundation has only five teachers, four of whom are nuns from Sister of Evangelization and Daughters of St. Teresa de Avila.

According to Aroma, “the lack of human resources is a struggle” since they have a difficulty in keeping up with the needs of the children.

She encouraged parents to volunteer in the day care center like assisting in their regular feeding program and cleaning the windows and corridors.

However, with the parents’ condition who are also busy struggling to earn a living, Aroma explained that this has prevented some of them to serve and work in the center “for at least once or twice a month.”

“Naay uban dili makatrabaho kay nahilantan (and) nasakit,” she said.

Not interested

She also cited the lack of interest of some parents to pay the P8 regular fee, which is “already inclusive of one meal.”

“It’s not really a reason of no money, because they can even afford buying junk foods, gambling, and going on a drinking spree with neighbors,” she lamented.

She also added that “parents don’t understand the importance of education.”

This is one of the reasons why despite her retirement age, she can’t leave the center.

The regular fee was mandated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development Region 7 (DSWD-7) as “participating fee” to compensate the school’s daily expenses.

However, despite the situation of parents, she still managed to understand.

“We even consider some of them who cannot pay the regular fee,” said Aroma, who is also one of the heads of the center.

Education

Aroma is a graduate of Cebu Normal University (CNU) with a degree in Education in 1970.

She had a 13-year experience as day care teacher in Danao Day Care Center before she took the Bethlehem job.

Just like Fr. John, she is also guided by the powerful words of the Bible.

“Miingon ang Ginoo, nga kon adunay nasaag nga karnero, pangitaon,”she said.

Aroma was also inspired by the priest who came all the way from Australia just to serve a small foreign community regardless of risk and danger.

“Nadasig ko nga foreigner gud siya unya grabe kaayo ang iyang pagmahal sa mga bata.; How much more kitang mga Pilipino?” she said.

As “Bethlehem” means “house of bread,” teaching good Christian values and nourishing the students’ spirituality uphold Aroma’s ultimate mission to be the light of the lost sheep. /Correspondent Tweeny Malinao