Cristyl Mae B. Senajon*
We all dream of a Philippines without corruption, where people pay taxes without being goaded to do it, where officials use public funds for public good, where deeply ingrained respect for others make most traffic rules unnecessary, and where each child can get quality education that will give her plenty of job options and good pay.
Mary Ann Alampay, a 20-year old BS Management student from the Ateneo de Manila University, believes in this dream. How to reach it, however, was the big puzzle.
Perhaps it was her love for teaching or her hope for the Filipino child that pointed her to a direction that might change a nation. Mian to her family and friends sat herself one Saturday afternoon and poured her heart out on pen and paper. The result was Bright Kids Learning Center, a social entrepreneurship project that would teach underprivileged children for free that art, colors, counting, and reading are as much fun as showing empathy and respect for others.
Bright Kids won a P20,000 grant from the Coca-Cola Foundation during the First Leaders of Asia Forum’s Make It Happen! Business Plan Writing Competition last January 17-19, 2008 along with five other business plans. College friends Kookie Magno (AB-Psychology) and Mark Carillo (BS-Management) who are also now in their senior year are helping her turn her dreams into reality. Last summer, they taught five and six-year-olds at the Batasan Hills Elementary School for one hour and a half each day.
“Sometimes it takes just one simple step for something great to happen. I think that sometimes you have to take risks. You can’t just live your life in your own comfort zone. Nothing will ever happen if you live that way. If you want to do something for the country then find a way to do it. It’s that simple,” Mian says.
Mian recalls spending long hours with a young girl who told her classmates their work was ugly and they were stupid because of the way they colored their artwork. “Values should be taught to a kid at a very young age or else they will bring those bad habits with them when they grow up. It was fortunate that we were able to address this issue as early as that time. But how about other kids who grow up in the same kind of environment? It is really important to be involved in the formation of these children so that they would not grow up with a wrong set of values,” Mian says.
The lack of early education is the kind of social problem that Bright Kids is trying to address. “I saw that the family has a big influence on the learning and value formation of the children” says Mian. While doing craft work to create nimble fingers and nimble minds, Mian teaches basic Filipino values such as “po” and “opo”.
The idea is that the path to attaining national growth is for each Filipino to learn to show empathy towards “kapwa Pilipino” and that simple acts of humanity can cure a flawed nation so mired in poverty. Working with children that only have rice and ketchup for breakfast has opened Mian’s eyes to reality and closed her heart to apathy. Her first summer art workshop this year was where her dream ended and the glorious part of action began.
*Cristyl is program assistant of the Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship Program at the Ateneo School of Government. For those who wish to learn more about social entrepreneurship and how to become an effective social entrepreneur, the Ateneo de Manila University-School of Government together with Ashoka-Philippines will be running Beyond Bottomlines: An Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship this coming July 12,2008 (Saturday), 8 am to 5 pm at the Ateneo de Manila-Professional Schools campus in Rockwell, Makati City. If you are interested to attend this seminar, you can send an email to youthventureph (at) gmail (dot) com or contact Katrina Wy at (02) 683-0262 local 141.
14 Feedbacks on "GUEST POST: Change a child; change a nation"
rey
Hi,
I am interested to join your group. I am based in New York/New Jersey. I f you have plans to have seminars here in America, I will be glad to help you. I think your intentions are excellent. Many thanks and more power to your group!
rey
Harvey
Hi Rey!
Thanks for your email 
We will definitely take you up on your offer to help us there in the U.S. 
Can you email us your contact details? Our email is ateneoylse@gmail.com thanks!
wensy
hi tyl, what you’ve written here is so true. i have seen a lot of children who does not get good early education or who does not get early education at all. kudos to mian for creating the Bright Kids Learning Center. i hope that there’ll be more social entreprises like Bright Kids so that more children will also benefit.
Cristyl
Hi wends! with Bright Kids and other related social enterprises there is no doubt that we will be able to address the problem of the lack of good early education here in our country. Let us work more for this cause! =)
starfish
Hi!
For the longest time, I’ve been dreaming of putting up value formation and reading classes for the less fortunate children of my barangay and its neighbors. Well, a lot of them are going to public schools but still, I think these children if given extra hours of learning during their free time on weekends and holidays, I believe we will see them as our future leaders honed with good moral characters. There is still hope for our country if children are trained as early as possible.
I admire your heart for sharing your education.
Btw, how much is the cost of your social entrepreneurship program?
Thanks and More Power to you.
Bam
Hi! It is really great to start value formation at early age. I still believe that this nation will still get hope from those young minds if they are properly trained particularly with value formation. We also do the same in Guiguinto Bulacan. We also offer free early education for uderprivilege chldren in Guiguinto. I am interested with the seminar. May I ask how much is the cost of that seminar? thanks and more power
Bam
Mian
for the whole month of may, i only spent around 8,000+ for the workshop materials because the venue was for free
thank you very much for your support!
Cristyl
Hi Starfish!
how about starting to put up one? You just have to collaborate with the key people from your barangay and gather like-minded individuals who share the same passion as you do. Value formation programs are a big help in promoting and instilling the right set of values to Filipino children. It is not enough to teach them with classroom skills. It is equally important that they learn proper values most especially at a young age.
Indeed, early good education must be set as a top priority. If our government cannot support this idealism, then as responsible citizens of this country, let us help find means to promote and realize that.
Cristyl
Hello Bam!
You are an advocate of education. We admire people like you who work on ways to improve our society. By actually educating these kids, the underprivileged ones, who most probably could not afford an early education, you are in many ways helping shape a better and brighter future for them. And that much of teaching them good values early on provides healthy ground for the self-growth of the children.
Continue with your work and educate more underprivileged children in Bulacan. =)
Katrina
Hi! The registration fee for the Beyond Bottomlines: An Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship Seminar is PhP 2,200. Kindly contact me at youthventureph@gmail.com or 6830262 loc 141 if you’re interested. Thanks!
norina
Hi!
i agree, in fact here in basilan far away from education, we also started a an informal school for Muslim children different from madrasa and secular schools. which mainly teaches hands on values, spitiuality and sisterhood among young Muslim children. anyway hope those people with heart and experience dealing with children with can come to visit us one day since we don’t have the means to join and attend the seminars.. seminars of this kind is really of great help to improved the values of co existence and understanding among young Filipino kids. keep up the good works mian and congratulations.
Cristyl
Hi Norina!
yes, values and spirituality, these are essential indoctrinations that must be taught but especially to the young people of our generation.
If you want to know more about our program, social entrepreneurship, email us at ateneoylse@gmail.com.
Reginn
HI Cristyl,
Good to know about your selfless endeavor.
It has always been said that the future of our country lies on the youth. Agree. But then, how about the future of these children?
This is where parents, teachers, guardians and the value of a good early education must come in.
As they say, our minds at birth are “Tabula rasa” or blank sheet. The formative years are the best years to instill to our children everything lawful, morally correct and Biblical.
This way, we’ll have a better chance of having better leaders that would carry our country to a higher level.
You write well. I’d like to invite you to write for http://www.worldclassfilipino.com
Try to check the site, maybe you can think of something to contribute.
God bless.
nonoy
Hi Mian,
I just want to Salute for you.
How i wish God cross my path to you.
God Bless You…
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