UN Ambassador Brings Education Materials to IP Kids
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LA PAZ, AGUSAN DEL SUR – A group of foreign dignitaries came over here yesterday to give educational assistance to indigenous children studying in a floating school at the Agusan marsh.
Ambassador Gion Gounet of the United Nations Goodwill office and former Dutch Ambassador Theo Arnold personally handed over books to students of Mambagongon Literacy Center. The turn-over was held at the municipal gymnasium because of the limited time to travel to the school site.
Gounet also announced that his group will give more library materials and provide scholarships to the lumads. He added they will work out to donate a floating school mounted on a barge to ensure the safety and continuous education of the children.
The group which also included UN Goodwill Office Counselor Riko Sempio and Beth Victoria of JAV Talents Unlimited Foundation of Manila came over to see the plight of indigenous children in the marshland area of the town.
They were accompanied by Pastor Solomon Mongaya of the Seventh Day Adventist Northeastern Mindanao office based in Butuan City.
Their church through their ministers in the locality had been implementing the Social Upliftment through Literacy and Anthropological Development Services (SULADS) which provide non-formal education to kids in the hinterlands.
Vice-Gov. Santiago Cane Jr. and Mayor Ambrosio Lim formally welcomed the delegation. The party were treated to Manobo dances and songs.
In the same occasion, the Manobo tribal leaders of the municipality adopted the guests by investing them Manobo titles in simple rites. Gounet was baptized as Datu Tigpamangha or “searcher” while Arnold was given the title Datu Sobsoban meaning “flowing”.
Tribal chieftains Datu Sangkoan Roberto Havana and Datu Mahanom Francisco Havana installed them as Manobo leaders and donned them with tribal headgears.
The visit of the foreign diplomats is a huge relief to the negative publicity spawned by the recent-hostage taking crisis of education officials in a remote barangay in Prosperidad town. The abduction was peacefully resolved after 5 days of captivity without anybody harmed.
Victoria even issued a statement claiming that “it’s very safe to come over to Agusan del Sur and I enjoyed my visit to see the Manobo children perform cultural presentations.”
Ambassador Gion Gounet (right) of the UN Goodwill office and former Ambassador Theo Arnold (left) of The Netherlands are donned tribal headgears as manifestation of their adoption as Manobo tribal leaders during simple rites held on April 13, 2011 at La Paz town, Agusan del Sur. (PPIO_ADS/EDG)
UN Goodwill office ambassador Gion Gounet (rightmost) and Counselor Riko Sempio (leftmost) present to Vice-Gov. Santiago Cane Jr. (center), La Paz town mayor Ambrosio Lim (2nd from left) and a representative from the Mambagongon Literacy Center the books for use as educational materials of the Manobo children in the said floating school. (PPIO_ADS/EDG)
Source: PPIO - ADS
