■ MOBILE SCHOOLS SET UP FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN
A six-year-old girl, who used to beg in the city streets, now finds herself in a makeshift shelter dedicated to giving children like her basic education. There are now a good number of homeless kids who have traded the old, mendicant life for something more hopeful under the shade at the Senior Citizens Park. “I am here because I want to learn. I want to be smart so that I can become a nurse,” said Ann in Cebuano. The mobile school is a project of the Cebu City Government in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development 7. Several makeshift schools of this kind have been set up in Barangays Mabolo, Kamputhaw, and Pahina Central.
Six-year-old Ann's (real name withheld) mornings were usually spent on begging passersby for food or money.
But it wasn't until last December when the girl found her way to the tent set up at the Senior Citizens' Park that she realized that her mornings would never be the same again.
Ann is one of the many homeless kids who have traded begging for basic academics and lessons on values formation.
“Ari ko diri kay para makat-on ko. Ganahan man ko ma-brayt para mahimo ko'g (I am here because I want to learn. I want to be smart so that I can become a) nurse,” she told SunStar Cebu.
The mobile school Ann and her peers attend to from Mondays to Fridays is a project of the Cebu City Government in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7.
Junel Labrador, one of the teachers at the park, said that the program aims to help the home- less, especially the younger ones, realize that there will always be hope for them.
Since opening the mobile school, at least a hundred people of all ages have joined the twohour class, he said.
Among the attendees was 41-year-old Luisa Nidwaza, a volunteer at the DSWD.
Nidwasa said that attending the classes has made her realize that there is still hope and that mendicancy, while convenient, should not be the last resort of the poor.
With grownups joining the youngsters, Labrador said he feels a sense of fulfillment as a teacher. /
Mobile schools set up in Cebu City barangays Mabolo Kamputhaw Pahina Central