Jun 2016 – Through the very generous sponsorship of staff at The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Singapore, and family and friends, we were able to organise a “Back to School SY ’16/’17” drive to provide packs for the children plus teaching materials for the teachers. Each student received a plastic envelope containing a pencil, sharpener, eraser, ruler, composition notebook, grade pad and notebook plus toothpaste, toothbrush and soap.

4 RBS Volunteers, Michael Hickey-Leonisa Velarde-Jelle de Rooi-Fredrik Karlsson, plus a Singapore businessman Jesper Gustafsson, travelled to Cebu for 4 days to purchase, prepare and deliver school supplies in the city. During their free time they also visited various historical attractions such as Fort San Pedro, Magellan’s Cross, Basilica del Sto. Nino de Cebu, Colon Street and Tops Lookout.

On Monday June 6 the volunteers visited the school and spent a day interacting with the children, teachers and parents and distributed the Back to School packs. The teachers entertained everyone with a surprise dance. A number of speeches were delivered by representatives of the local Barangay, Students, Teaching Staff and Parents Council to express their thanks for the generosity of all the Sponsors. This was a great experience for all the Volunteers who got the chance to pay it forward. Check out the video here https://vimeo.com/173218815

Breakfast before traveling to the school

The children came to receive their Back to School Packs

Materials ready for distribution

TV’s and DVD’s were presented to the Teachers for their classrooms

Presentation of Teaching Materials

Volunteers and Teachers