Volunteer teacher finds fulfillment in seeing students cope with learning

SAMAR—It is one thing to volunteer with uncertainty, it is a completely different thing to go through uncertainty just to volunteer.

Seems to be the apt motto for Juvelyn, a volunteer teacher for a small class of students in Samar who have difficulty coping with school lessons, and even reading.

The small class, which is part of World  Vision’s Safe Schools Program funded by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), is a tutorial session for struggling learners during the pandemic especially for those in already vulnerable situations.

In the course of her teaching, Juvelyn noticed that many of her students couldn’t cope well in their studies because nobody at home could teach them or help them answer their assignments, for instance.  A lot of her students came from families whose parents are busy trying to make a living or are simply lacking the knowledge to teach them at home.

“It was a challenge for me to make sure the children would learn,” she says.

Juvelyn learns to develop her own strategy in teaching—that going the extra hours for struggling children or even for just one child is worth all the efforts.

“I didn’t want to give up on them, any of them. It was hard work, but it was fulfilling work. And it all paid off. Some kids who used to be tardy started to become excited and would even insist that we start our activities: ‘Ma’am, come on let’s read already!’ It was always a  joy to see them interested in learning. They learned how to read, to count, to name colors,” she says.

Juvelyn hopes World Vision will continue to have these kinds of programs to help and give children more chances to learn and grow.

“There came days when the children would go to class earlier than me, ‘Ma’am, we got here really early. We’ve been waiting for you!’

It was these warm words that make Juvelyn stay. “I am doing this for the children.”



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