Teach him to fish

Traffic came to a halt, the cue for a young girl to rush towards a sports van, tap on its tinted windows and raise garlands of fresh sampaguita buds above her eyes.  “Please, sir,” she pleaded, “Buy my sampaguita.” 

Anton Vera watched the young girl from the car window.  “Mom, why is she not in school?” Ruthy, his mom, explained,  “Her family is poor so she’s compelled to put food on the table by selling flowers.  Studying is not a priority when the stomach is growling from hunger.” 

Anton crossed his brows and asked again, “Aren’t public schools free?”  “Yes,” Ruthy replied.  “But our government does not have enough funds to open more schools for impoverished children like her.”

Anton paused.  “Who was it who said that ‘give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime’?  The key word is teach.”

That first encounter with the sampaguita vendor stirred something in the young Anton.  He took pity, but “it should not stop there,” he thought.  He knew he needed to do something concrete. 

On his 12th year at The British School Manila (BSM), Anton saw a window of opportunity.  Part of the school’s activities for the graduating class was to perform community service to the surrounding neighborhood, composed mostly of destitute families.  Anton and his classmates were sent to an NGO, Makabata Foundation, in Pasig City, to mingle and interact with the younger set. 

He saw a young boy in the basketball court and joined him for a game of intense dribbling and shooting.  “Wow!” Anton exclaimed, “You’re a genius with the hoops.”  The young boy laughed and kept Anton panting with his fancy court maneuvers.  “So!  Are you back in school tomorrow?” queried Anton.  The young boy shook his head, “I don’t go to school.”

Anton froze.  The image of the sampaguita girl came flooding back.

An idea crystallized in Anton’s head.  “Our school has never entered into any formal ties with any institution or NGO with an endowment to financing education needs.  Why not try?”

Brimming with possibilities, he rushed home and blurted out, “Mom, Dad, do you remember that young sampaguita girl we saw on the street?  Can we put her in school and other children like her?” 

“Huh?” mumbled Ruthy and Bobet.  Their initial response was stunned disbelief.

 â€œHow will you do it, son?” asked Bobet.

Anton pulled out a pad and showed his action plan.  Before his parents could respond, he began to jot down numbers.  “I know that this is something you never envisioned for me, but if I can improve the lives of hapless children through education  not actually teaching them  but building classrooms and libraries in the poorest areas and equipping the teachers with sustainable curriculum, why can’t I?  We can pull out children from the streets, out of the quagmire that ignorance has entrapped them in.”

Anton’s voice turned serious.  “I know that it takes money to get things moving.  Charity must begin from our home turf.  Will you advance the seed money until I can generate outside funds to sustain this project?” 

“The initial shock was replaced by wonderment,” said Ruthy.  “We found ourselves agreeing to Anton’s proposal without the usual due diligence.  In the privacy of our bedroom, I told Bobet, ‘I hope Anton understands the hardships attached to fulfilling this brave and bold ideal.’  In the end, we realized that our bigger contribution was to champion, encourage, and support Anton.”

Bobet and Ruthy took charge of the voluminous paperwork and complying with the requirements of the Securities Exchange in registering a non-profit organization.  Thus, the Empowering Brilliant Minds Foundation (EBM) was established.

Anton hit the ground running.  “His drive and determination to make EBM relevant completely bowled us over,” said Ruthy.

Anton first broached the objectives of EBM to his peer group.  “Bro,” said one classmate.  “I have doubts whether we can really build quality classrooms for pre-schoolers.”  Anton disagreed,  “Not if we set the standard and follow it strictly.”

Anton’s next hurdle was the head master of the Senior School, Dinah Hawtree.  After presenting a plausible plan, he convinced her of the advantages of putting a school stamp (of approval) on this noble cause.

“Ms. Hawtree, if British School partners with EBM, I give you my assurance that you are not grasping at straws.  The Foundation has a personality.  We have a cornerstone and ready money from which to literally build a dream on.  Think of the bigger picture, of giving a hand in the early formation of young and fertile minds; social depravity must not doom these children,” Anton said.

To make it even more attainable, EBM allied with another foundation, AGAPP Aklat, Gabay, Aruga Tungo sa Pag-angat at Pag-asa, loosely translated as Books, Guidance and Care towards Progress and Hope, founded by Pinky Aquino-Abellada, sister of the incumbent president of the Philippines.  AGAPP has a classroom model that is already used for every location with exact established cost.  They also identify where to build the classroom that is approved by the Department of Education.  Teachers are likewise trained by AGAPP. 

Anton’s enthusiasm snowballed.

But then came the crunch.  “How do I fulfill my side of the agreement with my parents?”  Looking around his school, “I got it!  Booths.”  He will set up booths and sell tickets to a “captured” milieu  relatives and family friends, the usual pool of generous givers.  Soon, EBM had enough money to build three pilot classrooms:  In Aniban, Bacoor, Cavite; in Tayabas, Quezon; and in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte.  They also constructed a basketball court in Tagaytay City.

“Nothing can compare to standing at the site and finally breaking grounds,” Anton enthused.  “When someone yelled, ‘Move’, raw energy surged forth that drove a bunch of gawky, stiff, unskillful, and first-time builders to get down on their knees and inhale dirt,” he mused.

The boys, like part of the construction crew, lifted bricks, mixed pebbles and cement, and poured the mixture into steel pillars.  The girls took charge of painting the walls, installing curtains, and setting up the books and teaching materials inside the classroom.  Everyone only stopped when the skies grew dark.  Despite aching muscles and weary bones, every one was filled with a sense of accomplishment and gratitude.

It is said that if one is moved by a generosity of spirit, it is love that is in the heart of it. 

“In one turnover ceremony,” Anton observed, “the kids sang and danced in praise of all those involved in the project.  They were funny, smart, and very energetic.  However, one three-year-old kid was so shy that he fidgeted and kept his gaze down.  I suddenly saw myself in this little boy; at that age, I was also painfully shy.  When he drew a deep sigh and finished reciting a poem, we all clapped thunderously.  My heart swelled with pride.”

The business of raising funds is a daunting task that Anton learned soon enough.  The question stared him in the face: “How does one inspire and move the same sponsors and donors to dig deeper into their pockets without inflicting them with donor fatigue?”

Enter  the Broadway musical The King and I.  Anton saw it as another opportunity to tap funds.  First, he watched the show and tracked down the producers.  He convinced them to donate one night’s performance  dinner and show  at an “advocacy rate,” within the affordable reach of EBMs limited resources.

The money generated from The King and I couldn’t have come at a better time.  When typhoon Pablo destroyed everything in its path, the schools, particularly in the Campostela Valley in the Davao region, were totally destroyed.  As a consequence, thousands of school children were displaced.  EBM saw the urgency of rebuilding new classrooms so that the children could return to school.  Isn’t this a fortunate stroke of serendipity to gather funds from a musical that had for its theme young children and their first learning experience from a British teacher?

Other EBM projects have been lined up:  a fun run jointly sponsored by The British School Manila and the Makabata Foundation and Tagaytay City Central School; radio commercial spots that sponsors can book at reduced rates, another brainchild of Anton.   

There is one particular project that I wait with bated breath:  The British School will launch a pilot project on January 17, effective until May 2013, which will allow 40 to 60 street children to study at The British School.

Every Thursday, they will be taught Math, English, Music and Art by  get a hold of this  the student body.  The ratio will be 1:4 (one BSM student for every four street children).  EBM will take care of the logistics, like hiring the bus and driver to transport the children to and from the campus site, feeding the children, and supplying basic school materials, etc.

For the first time in the school annals, the administration, the faculty, and the student body will witness kids teaching kids.

When I took my grandson Gabriel to the public library in Alexandria, Virginia, he immediately scampered off to the Adventure Section.  There was a poem that I saw on the wall:  “The more you read, the more you know.  The more you know, the smarter you become. The smarter you become, the stronger your voice, when speaking your mind or making a choice.”

“The key word is teach,” said Anton.

* * *

Contact Empowering Brilliant Minds Foundation (EBM), 5th floor, Corporate Business Center, 151 Paseo de Roxas, Makati City, Philippines, at (632)869-7505/3848; fax  (632)519-0574. E-mail ebmfoundation@gmail.com;  visit empoweringbrilliantminds.com.