Uplifting children's lives through education
(Part 1)
Henning and Melanie Blegvad at the elementary school that
they helped rebuilt in Barangay Cadinglian in Oton town in
Iloilo.
OTON, ILOILO--"Ma'am Nicole" and "Ma'am Susanne" are not your usual teachers in elementary schools in rural villages.
They do not wear the prescribed uniform for public school teachers but instead don sleeveless shirts, loose slacks and sandals or slippers. Most of their lessons are usually taught through games and play.
Though they stand out with their fair complexion and fine features, the villagers of Cadinglian in Oton town in Iloilo have come to treat them as one of their own.
Since August 4 this year, Danish social work students Nicole Eskildsen and Susanne Hoy have been teaching a special class at the Cadinglian-Batuan-Torog-Torog Elementary School.
Cadinglian is only around 7 km from the town proper of Oton, which is 7 km south of Iloilo City. But a tricycle ride from the town proper to the village takes at least 30 minutes because of the bumpy dirt road which turns muddy and slippery when it rains.
Eskildsen and Hoy, both 23, volunteered to go to the Philippines as part of a six-month practicum for their course at the Jydsk Paedagog Seminarium in Aarhus, the second largest city and the principal port of Denmark.
Their volunteer work was made possible by fellow Danish Henning Blegvad who has a house with his Filipino wife Melanie in Cadinglian.
Danish social work student Susanne Hoy with her pupils
at the elementary school in Barangay Cadinglian in Oton
town in Iloilo.
Blegvad, 80, a musician and former freelance journalist, contacted the Danish consulate in Manila early this year asking for volunteer teachers for the school that he helped repair.
Sending teachers was impossible but he was referred to the girls' school.
The school e-mailed several days later informing him that the two girls are willing to volunteer. Blegvad offered a free house for the girls stay.
Blegvad first came to the Philippines in the 1980s after he married Melanie in 1987. The couple met in 1982 at Canary Islands, a popular tourist destination in Spain, where Melanie worked.
When his friend Lars Wexoe, a former social worker, saw the school building during a visit in 2004, he was shocked.
The school roofing leaked and the walls and floors had cracks. Many of the chairs and tables were broken and the classrooms were unsafe.
The two friends and Melanie decided to fund the repair of the century-old school building, including 14 classrooms and a multi-purpose gymnasium.
"How can we allow the children to suffer like this?" Wexoe had told Blegvad.
From personal savings, Wexoe contributed around P1.7 million while the Blegvad couple shouldered the rest of the total cost of P2.576 million. Some local officials also contributed to fund the repairs.
The repairs took four months, from November 7, 2005 to March 7, 2006 and during that time, the children held some of their classes outside the classrooms.
The Blegvads supervised the work of around 50 workers, more than half of them volunteers.
"I was tired but very satisfied. The local support was fantastic," Blegvad said in an interview.
"When you see all the people helping, then you get satisfied because your work is not for nothing," he said.
The school has around 500 students and serves at least seven barangays because it is located near the boundary of Oton and Tigbauan towns, said Cadinglian village chief Jose Cereneo.
The village has around 1,200 residents mostly dependent on farming palay, watermelon and corn.
"We are glad that they came all the way from Denmark to help us," said Cereneo.
The school was inaugurated on March 7, 2006 in time with Wexoe's birthday. It is now considered one of the best built schools in Oton.
The Department of Education (DepEd) Division of Iloilo gave recognition to the Blegvad couple.
"Such endless patience, indefatigable efforts and inexhaustible energy has resulted to a totally uplifted and rehabilitated school which we can truly be proud of. Your amazing generosity and nobility of spirit will forever serve as our inspiration to aspire to greater heights of achievement," DepEd said in a plaque of appreciation.
Victor Silla, one of the senior teachers of the school, said they do not worry now when it rains because classes will not be disrupted by water coming in from the leaking roofs.
"The parents are not afraid anymore that the classrooms would collapse while we are holding classes," said Silla.
He said the school would not have been repaired without the help of Wexoe and the Blegvad couple. (To be continued tomorrow)