Emailed on June 27, 2009

Hello KVC members and friends,

For those of you who do not know, I went to Cebu to dedicate and turn over the two new classrooms that we help build in Cantao-an, Naga City, Cebu in partnership with the Cebu Institute of Technology Alumni Association and Feed The Hungry, Inc.

The ceremony was simple yet very nice. It was attended by CITAA president Engr. Boy Besavilla, Vice president Engr. Charlie Ng and the rest of the  CITAA staff and members. Also present were Pablito and Tessie Alarcon of FTH, Mayor Chiong of Naga City, School staff and officials, Cantao-an residents and of course the school children. Kuya Geno Pabre, Lolo Ricardo Bucog and Mr. Junny Barcenilla were also in attendance representing the Kona Visayan Club. I promise I will email you the pictures from the event soon.

I just want report that the classrooms are even more impressive in person that what we have seen in the photos. It really surpassed all of my expectations.  From the positioning of the building to the sizes of the windows and the addition of the vents, everything was very well thought of. Our congratulations and deep gratitude to CITAA for overseeing this project on our behalf from its conception to its completion. We could not have asked for a more perfect partner. From all of us here in Kona– THANK YOU!

Please see below Engr. Charlie Ng’s complete cost report on our Cantao-an project. This is what actually impressed me the most. We built a very good quality 3-classroom building with toilet in each classroom complete with teachers’ desks and chairs and all the additional upgrades for less than a million pesos. How great is that! Another less quality 2-classroom building which was donated to the school two years ago was reportedly built for 1.2 million pesos. What a big difference that is. I truly admire and respect CITAA’s credibility and accountability on this project. Way to go!

I also would like to report that Thursday last week, I went back to the school with Engr. Rudy Alforque to take more pictures of the classrooms with the teachers and children inside. I was very touched when the children started handing me thank you cards. I was not expecting it but it was a very nice gesture. I will show them to you on our next meeting.

Originally, we thought that the classrooms were going be used by elementary school children. On the contrary, it is now being used by first and second year high school students. Barangay Cantao-an is a very big community. Because of its burgeoning population, it has become necessary to start a high school in the community. Most of the students went to high school in the neighboring barangays but because of the distance, transportation became a problem for most of them because they cannot afford the fare. The result then is an increase of students dropping out of school.

I cannot tell you how happy the students are to have a school close by. But no one is happier than the parents of these children – the relief they felt when they learned that Cantao-an Elementary is also now a High School. Although they are only accepting first and second year students this year (and they are crowding the classrooms already), it is a start. They are hoping to get additional classrooms from other generous donors soon.

I want to thank all of you KVC officers and members for believing that this project can be accomplished. There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing that we have made a difference in lives of others. We have certainly attained that through these classrooms. To our generous donors and supporters, we could not have done this without you. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We hope that this is only the beginning of a wonderful partnership. There is so much need in the Philippines and there’s not enough means to address them. But our little contribution means a lot. We pray that we can still count on your kindness and support on our next venture.

God bless you all!

Mahalo and Aloha,