Philippines trip to check progress
Scot Foundation changing children’s lives
LDexter, who is now aged 23, is a university accounting lecturer.
evin’s Mike de Boer spent one month in the Philippines over January this year gaining some community development experience. A key feature of the community experience was to share Aotearoa New Zealand’s te reo Ma¯ori language and the Ma¯ori culture through dance and song.
Mike is the co-founder and executive director of the New Zealand and Philippines-registered charity Scot Kids Hope Foundation and works as a literacy and numeracy tutor with Literacy Aotearoa Levin, located in Bristol Street, Levin.
After Mike and wife Sharon adopted a 5-year-old orphan boy from the Philippines, Scot was cofounded by Mike and now-New Zealand-based Philippines national Nanette Carillo, 14 years ago in 2009.
Every year or so, Kiwis and Filipinos and Filipinas venture to the Philippines to empower disadvantaged slum children, their families and communities, and help break the cycle of poverty, allowing the children, their parents and their families to grow to their full potential.
Through community feeding, education scholarships and $20 monthly sponsorships, 700 slum children have been transformed into schoolchildren.
“One of the many, many Scot Foundation success stories is Dexter, who is now aged 23 and is a university accounting lecturer,” Mike said.
Mike met Dexter when he was nine. Dexter came from a disadvantaged rural background, but thanks to a $20 monthly sponsorship, the boy was able to break the cycle of poverty through education.
Dexter is now a Scot Foundation area co-ordinator, empowering the next generation to grow to their full potential. The Scot mission is to assist with reducing child poverty by setting up education programmes to empower Kiwi and Philippines children to grow to their full potential, in part through experiencing a new culture and language from a different country.
Te reo Ma¯ori and waiata [song] were shared over five Christmas giving events in January 2023.
Philippine schoolchildren gained an understanding of te reo Ma¯ori words like kia ora, ka pai and kia kaha, delivered waiata through singing and action, such as Pokarekare Ana, and performed a rousing haka with the usual hand movements and stomping of feet.
For details on the Scot Kids Hope Foundation, and to sponsor a child for $20 each month, contact Mike by emailing mikedeboer2021@ yahoo.com or calling 027 302 3274.