An NGO in Cebu breaks ground on new adventure education camp for youth

Cebu City, April 9 (PIA) -- After more than a decade of running camps with the youth and other sectors, an NGO in Cebu saw the importance of taking adventure to greater heights through the creation of the Philippines’ pioneer outdoor education center.

The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) officially opened its new Kool Adventure Camp (KAC) site at Barangay Cansumoroy, Balamban, Cebu in March 2011.

It is a 10-hectare campsite that is seen as the first outdoor experiential center in the Philippines. It houses outdoor high and low challenge courses and indoor challenge courses.

It also has corporate conference halls, training halls, trekking trails, dining & kitchen facilities, tent areas, youth bunks and corporate cabins.

The Kool Adventure Camp will also feature the High Element Challenge Cluster, a challenge course that combines both low initiatives and high ropes courses in one.

The campsite also includes an Iconic Structure, a multi-face, multi-element high challenge ropes course.

“This is where we will grow and multiply the program,” RAFI President Roberto E. Aboitiz said during the groundbreaking ceremony, referring to the ongoing KAC program of RAFI.

KAC, launched in 1999, is an adventure-based education program that provides youth and adults with learning and development opportunities through experiential education.

Its program offerings seek to build character, develop competence, and inspire active citizenship among its participants.

It also includes youth adventure camps, adventure training and consulting, corporate adventure workshops, land and sea leadership expeditions, urban backpacking, games and initiatives, and trainer’s training, among others.

The KAC has a 10-year-old program that deals with the hearts and minds of the youth in the Philippines. It had graduated close to 8,000 campers.  

“What we promise is that those who will attend our program will never be the same again. You may come into the program with different backgrounds but when you graduate from our program, you will be enthusiastic, you will engage in various activities, and you will become leaders of tomorrow,” Aboitiz said. (PIA-7/Minerva BC Newman with reports from RAFI-Nancy R. Cudis)

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DepEd gears to strengthen public-private partnerships

(for safer schools and conducive to learning)

By: Minerva BC Newman

Cebu, April 9 (PIA) – The Department of Education (DepEd) emphasized the need to strengthen public-private partnerships to address the infrastructure gaps and safety in the public schools.

Education secretary Armin Luistro, in a TV interview explained that the target of DepEd is to realize the intent and purpose of the UNESCO-prescribed ‘Education for All’ (EFA) specifically to improve the quality of education in the country.

Lusitro shared that one of DepEd’s major programs that the communities continue to support is the ‘Brigada Eskwela’.

It mobilized a multi-sector cooperation and pooling of resources for the repair of public school buildings, clean-up, repainting and repairs of chairs, desks and others one week before classes start in June.

In ‘Brigada Eskwela’ parents, local government officials, members of the civil society and non-government organizations and business sector work together to make schools safe and conducive to learning, Luistro said.

  

With the recent calamities such as earthquakes and typhoons, more and more public schools are unsafe. DepEd statistics showed that of the 685 schools inspected nationwide for safety in 2010, 588 were found to have structural defects.

Senator Loren legarda, chair of the senate committee on Climate Change recently called on the private sector to help the DepEd to ensure that schools are safe from disasters.

According to DepEd data there are still as many as 869 schools built many decades ago are still being used until now.

Legarda opined that it is important to make the schools disaster-resilient to keep the children, who are most vulnerable to disasters, out of harm’s way when natural hazards occur.

Aside from being a shelter for children, schools are critical public infrastructures, especially in times of disasters because these are turned into emergency refuge centers.

Schools then must be able to withstand earthquakes, typhoons and other natural hazards. Government must fortify and enhance the structural integrity of public schools, while the private education sector should be encouraged to do the same, the senator said.

Safe schools ensure that the children are safe from injuries and thus beneficial to their general health. Senator Legarda urged communities, organizations, government agencies and businesses to work with the DepEd to make schools safer now to survive disasters, Legarda said. (PIA-7/mbcn)

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PCOO, GK launch Pilipinas Natin Project in Batayan Island, Cebu
By Eli C. Dalumpines

Cebu City, April 11 (PIA) – The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) in partnership with Gawad Kalinga, launched the Pilipinas Natin project in Bantayan Island, some 120 kilometers north from Cebu.

PCOO secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma, told the media in a press conference, Friday that around 2,100 youth volunteers from seven countries, including delegates from Australia, United Kingdom, Canada and Spain, joined the project dubbed as “Bayani Challenge.”

Coloma said that participants in the week-long activity, which covered from April 4-9, have joined hands in building communities, leading medical missions
and implementing mangrove reforestation projects for the people in the island.

The project, according to Coloma, is in keeping with President Aquino’s policy of forging partnership between the government and the private sector in working towards the common goal of nation building.

Pilipinas Natin project, which is initiated by PCOO for Special Concerns, is a volunteerism movement that taps the enthusiasm and exuberance of
the youth in implementing anti-poverty projects in poor communities, Coloma stressed.

He said it is designed to introduce a paradigm shift from the traditional mindset of relying more on the government in initiating welfare programs to
letting the people themselves, in partnership with the government though, take the initiative.

One of the features of this volunteerism project is its strong partnership between the national and local governments, Coloma further said.