Apart and away from its commercial hotspots, Makati can be described as uneventful on Saturdays. This is especially true during the mornings when its usual inhabitants are still tucked away in their homes dozing off the effects of their previous week’s stress and/or last night’s excesses. But in a small school along J.P. Rizal, some of Makati’s weekday inhabitants have a different role to fulfill. Some are seated on chairs, some are standing behind a teacher’s table, some are busy jotting down information, and still some are writing on the board. Different people, yes, with one thing in common, REAP.
REAP is a group composed of young female professionals from various fields coming together every second and fourth Saturdays of the month at the Jose Magsaysay Elementary School (JMES) to give reading tutorials to female grade three and four students. REAP was an offshoot of TOPS which initially meant “Time Out for the Poor on Saturdays”. TOPS was a venue for young professionals who want to give a part of their week to volunteer teaching academics and doctrine, visiting the poor and the sick. Later, TOPS evolved to mean “Time Out for Professionals on Saturdays”.
Upon learning about the crisis in the Philippine Education System, TOPS decided to have a pool of volunteers dedicated specifically to teaching reading and imparting to the students the passion for reading. Most of us would know that we Filipinos are not a reading culture. But more than this, REAP is not just about teaching young girls to read, it is about teaching them a life skill from which they can learn more about life, others and God without restrictions or boundaries.
REAP first started as a pilot project with a number of Grade 3 pupils of San Antonio Village Elementary School together with their parents. With the help of consultants from International Montessori School and ARAL (Acquiring Ready Assistance to Learning Program of Iraya Study Center in Quezon City, REAP started improving its reading program. For REAP’s first year run, REAP conducted its tutorials in JMES. REAP volunteers were provided with the modules and teaching materials based from the book READING REFLEX (The Foolproof Phono-Graphix Method For Teaching Your Child to Read) by Dr Carmen and Geoffrey McGuiness. Volunteers also received trainings and workshops on teaching methodology and student relations. In REAP’s second year, REAP looked for a partner educational institution in order to meet the growing demand for volunteers. Since then, the Assumption University has generously sent student-volunteers to lend a hand to REAP and its student-beneficiaries. REAP is currently in its third year. Right now, we are aiming to do better and more things towards our goal, i.e. literacy. We are actively looking for collaborators who are willing to share anything they are willing to further our cause.
Why REAP? Life skills aside, REAP is in reality sowing the good seeds of example into the hearts of our students. For the Ate-volunteers, it is no longer a matter of making a better use of our time through volunteerism but the actualization of our individual beliefs that one of the best and surest way to alleviate poverty is quality wholistic education. Because more than the lessons of reading, there is also the lesson of a life-worth-living-to-the-full to be witnessed from the Ate-volunteers.
If you think you can spare one-fourth of your Saturday to change lives, please come and join REAP.
