A soapy tale: Kids lend a hand to typhoon relief efforts

It was a different show-and-tell on this particular Friday for students in Martha Guzman Santos’ Casa-A class.

Normally, her pupils would showcase items that they own — a book, a travel souvenir, a vinyl record, learning tools and, though discouraged, a favorite toy —and talk to their friends about it.

This time, however, the children talked about one thing: soap.

“I had fun because I was making [soap with] coffee,” 5-year-old Aston Basinillo told his classmates via video chat.

Basinillo is one of the Casa-A (kindergarten) students from The Abba’s Orchard Montessori who participated in a soap-making project—one which took a deeper meaning for a reason: Santos wanted to help victims of Typhoon Ulysses, (international name: Vamco) which caused destructive flooding in Metro Manila, the Bicol region and northern Luzon two weeks ago.

But the 26-year-old teacher wanted to extend aid in a different way.

“I was thinking of a way to help while allowing the children, my students, to participate,” said Santos, a Psychology graduate from Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City.

LEARNING BY GIVING Martha Guzman Santos (top) listens to her students talk about their soap-making activity during an online class. The kids, age 4 and 5, produced handmade soaps for a cause, taking part in every step of the process: 4-year-old Klaymund Jose dices the soap base, while Anika Ochoa neatly wraps the finished product.

Production process

The plan was for the kids to make soap bars and sell them, with the proceeds to be used as donations.

And it was a joy for the parents to watch their kids participate, taking every step in the production process—slicing the soap base, melting the pieces, mixing colors and essential oils, pouring the thick paste into plastic molds, and cooling the molds until the mixture hardens into soap bars.

Along the way, the parents made sure their kids understood why they were doing the project in the first place.

Klaymund Jose, 4, took the lesson to heart with a typical child’s innocence.

“I had to show Klay photos of the typhoon victims for context. Most people [in the photos] were wading through mud in the aftermath. He said we’re making soaps for them so they can shower and get clean again,” said mom Aggy Rafiñan.

When 5-year-old Sophia Cadungan learned about the project, she, too, thought “that we’ll give soap to the typhoon victims for them to clean up,” mom Shiela said.

The kids even took postproduction seriously.

Yosef Tungpalan, 5, created “special edition” drawings on his soap wrappers so his buyers “would feel better this Christmas and feel Jesus’ love,” said dad Guj.

Marketing

The children were hands-on in the selling too.

Five-year-old Adiel Magat would slip on her mask and face shield and bring a portable air purifier with her as she knocked on neighbors’ doors to sell her soaps.

Basinillo and Anika Ochoa made videos to help market their bars. Ochoa also made a painting and had replicas laminated as a freebie for buyers.

Throughout the project, the kids never lost track of their mission.

“Our neighbors bought most of Adiel’s soap because she keeps on repeating that this is for a fundraising activity and that they will be able to help the typhoon victims,” said mom Karen Magat.

Basinillo would prod mom Lourdes every day: “Let’s start making soaps, mom. And start selling to help the typhoon victims.”

In her YouTube post, Ochoa urged people to buy her products because “We want to help [typhoon victims] have a Merry Christmas also.”

‘Good citizenship’

The class initially aimed for a modest P10,000—but by the end of the fundraising, they hit close to P17,000. Small, maybe. But oh-so-meaningful.

And the class hit an even more important target. Whenever any of the children leads prayers, there is a noticeable mention of typhoon victims and an awareness of what they went through.

“I think it’s never too early to demonstrate compassion and empathy,” Santos said.

“[It is a] laudable and admirable task that will stay with them as they form the character of kindness and understand the ideals of good citizenship,” said Chris Barrameda, the school’s founding director.

It happens that November is national children’s month. And on one Friday this month, a group of kids spent show and tell excitedly sharing stories about making a difference in their own little way.