Empowerment Through Play

On the island of Mindoro, the indigenous population consists of eight different sub-tribal groups which fall under the Mangyan indigenous group. Over the course of time, the Mangyan people have been displaced in remote areas throughout the island. These Mangyan groups generally belong to the poorest part of the local population; they have the highest rate of illiteracy and they are too often subject to discrimination. In order to address the issues of poverty, poor health and hygiene, poor education, and repressing discrimination, Stairway introduced in 2011 a feeding program at the local school in Baclayan. Before 2011, the average daily attendance of students was around 20 to 30. Today there is an average of 200 plus children attending classes daily. Providing breakfast and lunch to the students was a strategy addressing all the compromising and challenging issues that faced the community. The children attend classes and can now compete academically with other children, they receive 2 nutritious meals a day and get physically stronger and healthier, they learn about the importance of good hygiene, and through Stairway’s Youth for Change Camps they interact with other children and young people from around the world and learn that they have equal value and rights to any other child anywhere. Around 5 years ago, we added a strong focus on the health and hygiene aspect of the program after several children in the community got seriously ill, and some did not recover. Twice a month we held a medical clinic at our farmhouse in the community, facilitated by volunteer doctors and our in-house nurse. Most recently, we have built a Children Health and Education Center right next to the school. This building holds a medical clinic, a small library, and a large area for holding workshops and classes for children and older members of the community. Topics range from basic literacy to positive parenting; health, hygiene and nutrition; reproductive health; prevention of child trafficking; various livelihood skills, and much more. At this point, there is one more project that we wish to complete, namely the construction of a sports court for the children. The children at the Baclayan School never had to chance to have any Physical Education classes and play ball, as there is no space suitable for such activity. We have now leveled a large area right next to the school, where we want to create a sports court, so the Mangyan children will also be able to compete with their lowland peers in basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports that require a flat space for practicing. The objectives in developing this sports/play court are: · To provide the children and youth in the community a safe place to play and interact with each other. · To provide the Baclayan Elementary School a suitable venue for facilitating P.E. classes. · To encourage child and community participation with the local elementary school. · To allow the children to not only compete academically but also athletically against other schools in the region. · To provide an alternative to other more dangerous activities that the children may do to occupy themselves. (i.e. climbing on construction developments, playing in the jungle, or pestering local wildlife.) · To provide a venue for community gatherings like school graduations and other festive occasions. A majority of the groundwork has already been laid out for the construction of this court. Most of the materials have been attained and the land to be used has already been leveled. Despite this, we still find ourselves 5.000 EURO short of the projected costs for completion. Once the campaign goal has been met, we will be able to finalize construction on this recreational space for the children and the community.