HUMANITARIAN RELIEF

After the raging Typhoon Onday struck the Philippines with devastating force, a UBC student traveled to one of the poorest slum areas, called Navatos, to help the local community raise funds to support impoverished youth education

After the raging Typhoon Onday struck Philippines with devastating force, a University of British Columbia student assisted with a C.A.R.E. travel award traveled to one of the poorest slum areas called Navotas, located in the Metropolitan Manila region, to help the local community to raise funds to support youth education.

With his innovative approach, the volunteer student mobilized the local high school and university students to share their stories and unique vision with the help of disposable cameras. He gathered the children's biographies and began a dialogue, asking them how they thought they could best be helped to achieve personal growth and their life goals. Almost exclusively, the students voiced that education was the way forward. He then asked how he could practically help their education endeavors become more successful and once again they harmoniously agreed: they needed computer and internet facilities. All of their schools require a large amount of research, typing, and project preparation which are dependent on printing, computer time and use of the internet. It may or may not come as a surprise that none of these things are free in the Philippines or provided by the schools, and these children, coming from inconceivably poor streets, often cannot afford the use of such equipment. With a weak level of education, the cycle of poverty inevitably goes on. It is this cycle which must be broken!

The UBC student volunteer came back to Canada and organized a large fundraiser in the form of a photo exhibition, showcasing all the photos taken by the children and through this effort, raised enough money to build a computer centre for the children of Navotas.