Reading nooks for Manamoc Elementary School

Back in December 2019, I founded my charity project providing reading nooks for the kindergarten classrooms of Manamoc Elementary School. I have always been passionate about reading and have been fortunate to travel around the world and see many places. My favourite happy place is a small island in the Philippines that I love going to each year. There is only a hotel and a few houses on the island. Most of the staff come from the neighbouring island, Manamoc, which is remote and underdeveloped with most of the people’s livelihoods being agricultural or fishing. Literacy is a big issue for adults there, and although Amanpulo and the ASF Foundation have charities that support the children there, they mostly focus on the high school students. I gained my love of reading when I was young and surrounded by books, so as a way of saying thank you to everyone on the island, I built reading spaces for the young children filled with fun books, and picture books - both in English and their local language. They are colourful spaces in the classrooms where the children can gather and learn to love reading and begin reading in their spare time, rather than reading soley as an academic chore they have to do for school.

The Philippines was impacted particularly hard during COVID, so much so that Manamoc Elementary was shut for 450 consecutive days. In the absence of adequate remote learning infrastructure, the books I supplied were used as a form of modular learning. They even put the bookshelves from the nooks onto wagons and wheeled them around the island to the children. They continue to be a vital part of the work inside and outside the classroom not just for the kindergarten grade, but also for years 1&2. When I visited the School in October 2022, I was incredibly moved by the way I saw the children interacting with the books and reading them to me. The project had become more successful than I had ever dreamed possible. When meeting with the Principal of the school, we reflected on the success of the project and agreed extending it to years 4, 5 &6 would be extremely beneficial, so that all the children in the school would be included in this initiative.

To set up these reading nooks in the classrooms for the older years of the Elementary School, and to supplement the books for the Year 1&2 students, I now need to raise £5,000 to buy 510 required English and local language books, buy bean bags, put the shelves up and to transport all the materials to the island.

Please help me achieve this goal.