Building a School for Deaf Filipino Children
Donation protected
Help us build a school for deaf children in the Philippines!
My name is Mareike and after I graduated from high school in Germany I decided to spend a year abroad volunteering. I ended up spending most of this time in a small city called Naga in the Philippines, where I got the amazing opportunity to work in a school for deaf children, called Gualandi.
Gualandi opened in 2008 with originally only 10 students and is run by catholic sisters. Today there are already almost 50 students which is way over the capacity of Gualandi. Currently, dormitories and the changing rooms of a gym are being used as classrooms. Many of the children stay at the school throughout the week and sometimes the weekends as well, which makes it even more difficult to find space to teach in. Unfortunately, almost half of the children’s parents cannot afford the tuition fee, which leads to delayed payments for teachers and even less chances of increasing the capacity of the school.
The special thing about Gualandi is that the sisters and teachers are not just teaching the children general school knowledge but also lip reading and speech therapy! This is a unique concept, and gives the children the chance to later on thrive in society and the job world since communicating in sign language will not bring them far in small Filipino communities.
What is our goal?
Like I mentioned before, there is not enough room for all the students attending Gualandi. With your help we are hoping to build a new school with more modern classrooms and dormitories, increase the learning atmosphere and give more deaf children the chance of a high-quality education.
Everyone in the Philippines is ready to go, the building plans have been approved and we are only waiting for the needed funds!
Thank you so much for your help, and don’t hesitate contacting me if you have more questions
My name is Mareike and after I graduated from high school in Germany I decided to spend a year abroad volunteering. I ended up spending most of this time in a small city called Naga in the Philippines, where I got the amazing opportunity to work in a school for deaf children, called Gualandi.
Gualandi opened in 2008 with originally only 10 students and is run by catholic sisters. Today there are already almost 50 students which is way over the capacity of Gualandi. Currently, dormitories and the changing rooms of a gym are being used as classrooms. Many of the children stay at the school throughout the week and sometimes the weekends as well, which makes it even more difficult to find space to teach in. Unfortunately, almost half of the children’s parents cannot afford the tuition fee, which leads to delayed payments for teachers and even less chances of increasing the capacity of the school.
The special thing about Gualandi is that the sisters and teachers are not just teaching the children general school knowledge but also lip reading and speech therapy! This is a unique concept, and gives the children the chance to later on thrive in society and the job world since communicating in sign language will not bring them far in small Filipino communities.
What is our goal?
Like I mentioned before, there is not enough room for all the students attending Gualandi. With your help we are hoping to build a new school with more modern classrooms and dormitories, increase the learning atmosphere and give more deaf children the chance of a high-quality education.
Everyone in the Philippines is ready to go, the building plans have been approved and we are only waiting for the needed funds!
Thank you so much for your help, and don’t hesitate contacting me if you have more questions
Organizer
Mareike Dannemann
Organizer
Tilburg, NL
