A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Negros Island Region in February 2012. It brought a lot of damage to infrastructures and left many casualties.

One of the infrastructures that wrecked by the earthquake was the Camandayon Elementary School in the town of Jimalalud in Negros Oriental.

All buildings inside the school campus collapsed, leaving the teachers and students to squeeze themselves and crammed into the makeshift classrooms made of tent.

“It was very hot inside the makeshift classrooms; students could not concentrate in their classes and got easily distracted. It was not conducive to learning for the students,” said Ms. Jean Dumag, school principal.

This reality worried the parents because it would affect not only their children’s education but also their health.

Children are the seed of hope for the country. They have been and always will be the nation’s future.

The nurturing of these children in Camandayon would be hampered because of the deplorable situation of the school after the earthquake.

The entry of Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated delivery of Social Services Millennium Challenge Corporation (Kalahi-CIDSS MCC) in April 2012, (two months after the earthquake) in Negros was timely.

It came in when residents were in dire need of the rehabilitation of their school buildings, roads and infrastructure that were destroyed during the earthquake.

For the people, this new development is the beginning of hope to recovery.

In the implementation of Kalahi-CIDSS in the barangay, the people of Camandayon were one in choosing to rehabilitate the elementary school buildings for it gained more votes during the Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum (MIBF), the venue where people vote and rank the project proposals presented by each barangay.

Community volunteers committed themselves for the construction of the two-classroom elementary school building.

From day one, these volunteers actively engaged themselves and later became members of the different committees to manage the construction of the school building.

Having in mind that this school building will benefit their children, the community volunteers worked hard to finish it and they did it in two months.

The new two-classroom building was occupied by the Grade 5 and Grade 6 pupils. This building was the only structure that stood inside the Camandayon school campus in 2012 to 2013.

For the community, the building symbolized hope because it paved the way for more funding from different agencies. They flocked their way to construct new buildings in the campus.

“Nalipay name kay daghan na kayo mig classrooms (We are happy because we have many classrooms now), said Myca and Karen, students of Camandayon Elemenatry School.

The parents, students and teachers were overwhelmed that they were able to construct a school building that would give hope for the children to grow and become responsible citizens. ###

(4) Views