Let the Children Come…as We Hear their Silent Cries

ARTURO L. ZUÑIGA

In 2011, the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED) created a tutorial program called CORNERSTONE that reached out to the children in the peripheries of our public education system in Grades 2 & 3 who are still non-readers and slow learners. They are often the forgotten and neglected ones.

In ACED research, the leading cause of this situation is poverty and parents who lacked parenting skills and values that may have eluded them in their daily struggles to put food on their tables to meet the everyday needs of their families. In many cases, the kids’ learning disabilities are also caused by absenteeism as the children are often asked to work, beg or sell the Sampaguita flowers, take care of younger siblings, or have no fare or means to go to school.

To make the program holistic, ACED created Kids Values Formation and Parent Values Formation, which included livelihood training and feeding so the children would learn with full stomachs.

Finally, ACED partnered with Couple for Christ (CFC) as the implementing army. ACED piloted the program in 10 elementary public schools with five schools in the North B (NB) Sector (Payatas to Pinyahan area in Quezon City) in 2011 and started with 30 kids per school. By 2020, it grew to over 233 public schools nationwide, with thousands of kids assisted.

By 2017, the NB Sector was servicing seven elementary public schools. We received funding through a grant from my daughter, who worked for an IT firm in her capacity as APAC Regional CSR. In addition, it funded 30 scholars. By 2020, as we started the COVID lockdown in March, we channeled the grant to help out the families of the program beneficiaries through Ayuda Part 1 and Part 2, giving out much-needed cash and rice.

By SY 2021-2022, we could no longer divert the monies intended for the kids in Cornerstone and piloted an ONLINE TUTORIAL for two schools, bought 60 tablets, and provided loads, too. We accomplished all the program components by God’s grace and had our entire onsite MOVING UP after seven months. Ateneo was a great help in providing training for the online learning system as we learned how to translate all our learning modules into digital content.

We continued in SY 2022-2023, this time as full ONSITE (face-to-face) in seven (7) schools in our NB sector, but this time, we were put on notice that our grant was ending after five years of support, as they are moving on to their other deserving donee interests. It was sad news, yet our hearts were fully grateful for their generosity that provided so much help to thousands of kids/parents throughout the years and gave so many great opportunities for mutual grace in giving and receiving.

Two years back, I was inspired to write an article for this White Butterfly website about this wiry little girl selling sampaguita flowers along Tomas Morato Street while lugging her younger brother with an improvised cloth harness. The encounter greatly affected me and allowed me a deep dive into our faith journey and so many poor around us. (See link to the story.)  https://www.whitebutterfly.ph/2021/09/26/sharing-on-grace-brought-about-my-salad-and-kimchi/

I would pursue a connection with this little girl as often when I’m out and passing by the area. I would always prepare some money for her and would engage her in short, probing conversations. I learned her name is Erica Marquez. She is nine years old, her brother is 4, and she is studying at Marcelo H. del Pilar Elementary School beside Quezon City Jail at Bernardo Park. She is in Grade 4, and when I see her in her spot when the traffic light is green, she opens a handy notebook and probably reviews her homework while waiting for the light to turn red, signaling her to start selling her wares. Seeing this scene, my eyes welled up in tears, not out of pity but in awe and amazement that there is still that great desire to pursue her studies under challenging circumstances. Here she is in the street, caring for her brother, selling her wares, and studying too.

Matthew 18:5:  And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

A PRAYER

Lord, what have we done or left undone for this girl to deserve such a fate? On the other hand, I wonder if I am in the holy presence of this little girl ‘SAINT’ in the making. 

Lord, as we hear the cries of the needy – the children as they yearn to learn how to read, to write, to rise from their crippling poverty and learning disability, as you let your inspiration to love and care remain embedded in our hearts and mind, and it is your will for us to continue, grant us fresh resources that we need, touch generous hearts to become your pathways, allow the flow of grace to all, and experience and share your love as our Lord and Saviour.

As we start every school year in our orientation and training for our volunteers and donors, we usually issue fair warnings… ‘Be prepared,’ as you will all fall in love with the kids repeatedly, and the operative word is NO FEAR, for the Lord will always be with you in all situations. So dear readers, may we invite you to walk with us and share your hearts, time, or resources, confident that THE LORD IS WITH US IN THIS UNDERTAKING.

Pananagutan Link of the CORNERSTONE Program  https://www.whitebutterfly.ph/2023/09/01/cornerstone/