Clean-up project grows big

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—In March 2012, members of  Girl Scouts of  the Philippines Troop No. 228 in Sta. Teresa Elementary School in Barangay Magnaga in Pantukan town, Compostela Valley, started a cleanup project in their area.

The girl scouts cut grass, repaired and painted the community hall with barely any tools but with an effort that has drawn the attention of a big company.

“It started with a simple beautification project,” said Brenlyn Bano, teacher and the school’s scout troop leader.

Officials of the mining firm King-king Copper-Gold Project took notice and offered financial support for a bigger undertaking.

“We saw that it  was no longer a mere girl scouting activity but more of a reformation within the community,” Jonathan Bañez, community development manager of the company, said in a statement.

With the financial support, Bano said parents helped their  daughters turn a half-hectare lot beside the community hall into a vegetable farm.

Aside from vegetable farming, they  also ventured into vermiculture. Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao