COPAR

The front view of the library before renovation

The side view of the library

The library AFTER our group's efforts =)

Before anything else, let me first of all give credits to Mr. Fran Stefan Encarnacion for all the photos. Yes, he's our group's official photographer and he's the guy responsible for these great shots you see here. Thanks Fran! Really appreciate you (finally) letting me grab some photos...hehehe... so again, super lotsa thanks, Frannie! =)

Okay, so friends, to those who've been asking, to those interested on the improvements we've managed to do for the CAA-A Community Library, here it is...

Let me start by recapping our group's objectives:

1. fund-raising (of at least php3000)
2. to match or exceed the amount of books donated by the previous group (a total of 223 book donations)
3. provide storytelling and homework help club for the children
4. library renovation

After the 3wks we had for our COPAR (Community Organizing Participatory Action Research), we basically exceeded our group's goals and expectations.

FUNDS

We managed to collect more than php15K (that's more than 5x our goal then!)

BOOK DONATIONS

We managed to gather up a total of 316 books/reading materials (that means a 142% achievement for our group's efforts)

STORYTELLING SESSION

During our last day in the community, we provided 50 grade1 pupils with three short plays, giving them a short break from their usual classes. The stories we presented were three popular English stories for children (which, alas, were unknown to many of these kids):

1. Three Little Pigs
2. Jack and the Beanstalk
3. Hansel and Gretel

All stories were presented in English. The children were all happy to see the colorful props and the different costumes, making this a truly worthwhile experience for the entire group. Ms. Ramona Gojit, the head librarian of the school and also a Hekasi teacher, even commended our group for the well-prepared presentation and the props & costumes which obviously caught the children's interests.

To gauge the students' comprehension, some questions were given after each of the stories & those who answered correctly were awarded with a prize. The students were allowed to answer in the Filipino language but they were all encouraged to answer in complete sentences.

After the activity, the children were given some snacks and giveaways (composed of math and reading worksheets).

LIBRARY RENOVATION

Due to financial constraints, we failed to hire pest control services but we did recommend that to the next group.

We did, however, manage to renovate the library's exteriors (roof, gutter, windows, door, etc.). Special thanks to Momi Ritch's dad for helping us on this part!

Copy-pasted below is part of the evaluation I had written re: library renovation which our group had to submit:

A lot has changed on the way the CAA Library looks since the day that the group came to see it. Looking at the library then, it looked abandoned. Windows were broken, some plywood were peeling off of it, graffiti were drawn here and there. But, after the nine days that the group had for community, it looked very different with its new Mediterranean shade of paint, new windows, and a new door. The roof and the gutter of the library were also part of the reconstruction work done.

Ariel, the librarian at the said library, never failed to impart his heartfelt gratitude to the group for all the efforts placed into the library, not just the reconstruction of its outside, but for all the books donated. A lot of parents have also expressed their gratitude because the library was finally going to be able to be opened again for their children's usage.

RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY

A ribbon-cutting ceremony shall be held on 24 Feb. 2010 for the re-opening of the library. Hopefully our group would get the chance to join in on this event.

THANK YOUs

The group with Sir Ariel, the librarian at the CAA-A Community Library

In behalf of the group, I would like to thank everyone who supported us in this project. We truly appreciate it.

Also, we thank our CI, Ms. Sue, for trusting us and giving us a sense of empowerment. The freedom & trust you gave us is what motivated us even more. It's nice how you left everything up to us and just met up with us for a quick post-conference, to facilitate our progress & make sure we are actually meeting our goals. Making us plan and execute things on our own truly meant a lot. It boosted our spirits, making us feel solely responsible for all the outcomes.

As group leader, I would like to give my utmost gratitude to the team. My subleaders:

Ritchie Domingo - Head, Documentation and Research Committee

Fran Encarnacion - Head, Networking/Communications/Fund-Raising Committee

Angelo Diago - Head, Community Mobilization Committee

And of course, the other members of each committee:

Documentation and Research Committee

• Gilbert Domingo
• Kenny Entena
• Vikki Flores

Networking/Communications/Fund-Raising Committee

• Kyra Elevado
• Florence Descalzo
• Faith De Jesus

Community Mobilization Committee

• Jose Mari Diago
• Aces Encajonado
• Rao Estrada

Thank You, Thank You, THANK YOU for all the efforts, the cooperation, everything! I truly enjoyed the group's company. Cheers to our final days together... TWO MORE DUTY DAYS TO GO! =)

Our group (together with Ms Sue) with the students and some teachers from the CAA Elementary School
AFTER the Storytelling Session