Moving

Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

After all these years, I have decided to get back on my blog and write. There were many attempts to write but they’re all in my drafts folder and have never seen publishing day.

So many things have happened since my last post last November 2021. Almost two years after, I can almost say life had given us many surprises!

First, my whole family moved to Canada!

We are currently in Calgary, Alberta since November 2022.

Photo by Lisa Bourgeault on Pexels.com

We had been exploring the possibility of moving abroad for quite sometime now. The motivation of course, was to give our children the opportunity to live in what my husband Paul calls an “enabling environment” – an environment where they can dream and make things happen and not be derailed by forces outside of their control such as bureaucracy, corruption and small mindsets.

The idea became much more real after my son Seve was accepted at Fordham and moved to NYC to attend his sophomore year in university (see my previous post about this). After Paul experienced how a new student like Seve could be supported in his learning and how opportunities open up for him there, he came back with a resolve to bring the same opportunities for all our children. He promised to work so hard so he could provide the means to be able to send them to good schools. God bless his heart. We now have Seve and Anya both in the U.S. and the other kids planning to pursue further studies as well after they finish high school here in Calgary. With God’s good graces, we lift all of these plans to Him who holds our future.

We came here on my permit as a student. Canada fortunately allows student permit holders to bring their spouses and dependents along with them in order to keep the family together for this most crucial time of their lives. I have completed my first year of studies and have but one more year to go to complete my program. After which, I will be eligible for a post graduate work permit (PGWP) that allows me to work in Canada for a period of 2-3 years. Within that time, we are also allowed to apply for a permanent resident status and this applies for the rest of the family as well. If God wills that all our plans are in accordance with His, then hopefully within the next 3 years, we will become permanent residents of Canada.

For now, we take each day as it comes and enjoy being together as a family in a different place, learning and integrating with a culture different from our own yet being fully aware of our own heritage and values. We can only imagine what the future holds! But hopeful is the word to describe it!

Happy thoughts everyone!

Top 70 Philippines Mom Blogs and Websites

Last November 3, I received an email from Feedspot CEO Anuj Agarwal congratulating me for being part of their list of 70 Top Mom Blogs and Websites in the Philippines. I was surprised as my blog was not really one of the busiest blogs one would see on the web. I’ve kept most of my content to writing about family, experiences and discoveries, my thoughts and ideas and perhaps just a few would resonate with it. Also, I didn’t really have advertisements onsite so naturally I was curious as to how the list was rated. He was quick to reply and he said: “

“Feedspot editorial team extensively searched on Google and social media websites to find the best Philippines Mom blogs and ranked them based on several factors such as. 

1. Blog content quality
2. Post consistency
3. Age of the blog
4. Average number of shares on social sites for your blog posts
5. Traffic of your blog and more.”

Well, thank you Feedspot for including SIGnature on your list! It’s an honor to be acknowledged for what he says is my “contribution to this world”. I simply find happiness in doing what I do!

Happy thoughts everyone!

How I Homeschool While Working Full Time

Homeschooling is not an easy task. It is not for everybody. But if you truly believe it is what is best for your child, then it will take commitment on your part as a parent to ensure it goes on in the way you intend it to be.

A big part of homeschooling also depends on how you’ve built your relationship with your child. I personally believe that if you created an environment of trust and respect for your child and constantly nourished it, then trust and respect become their currency. It will not be perfect, but it becomes the seedbed for the virtue of responsibility for your child, as well as for other important virtues they will need to learn when they face the world on their own later on.

When I needed to go back to work full time, my kids would go to a homeschool support center at first. This was a great help as I felt assured that more difficult subjects like Math were being taken care of by a trained teacher. They were able to finish the difficult subjects first, but there were still some subjects that needed to be done.

With 5 kids homeschooling, it was also beginning to be a little costly on our part to maintain the homeschool support center. Paul also felt that with those initial subjects almost already done, the others could probably be done by our kids at home on their own. I thought that this could be a real test if they could really do homeschool on their own.

I was really worried at first that their homeschooling will be neglected. Truth be told, in the beginning, that’s pretty much what happened. They weren’t productive with their time and were distracted doing other things instead of what they needed to do. Paul and I felt something needed to be done.

The Family Meeting

We sat down for a family meeting with the remaining 4 who were homeschooling. My eldest daughter Anya had already graduated and moved to the regular brick-and-mortar for Senior High. In that family meeting, we talked about the value of time and how it is one commodity in life that you can never take back. Money can be re-earned, but time once used, is done. So we put emphasis on how many things can be done with the time that was given to us.

Next, we agreed on timelines. I went through each of the subjects they needed to do and the tasks that needed to be done for each. I spent time really sorting through each of their subjects, took a look at the suggestions and corrections given by the counselors about their submitted work and gave my own suggestions as to how to better write the book report or the paper that needs to be submitted. Then we agreed on a submission due date. Say, we agreed to submit a history paper by the end of the week. Or an English test by the end of the day. Then hold them to it. Ask them if it is doable for them or not. Let them speak their mind and listen if they say, “I am not sure I can do that by today… or this week”. I sometimes ask them to come up with their own schedule – something that they crafted on their own so they feel responsible for their own commitments. This is where you need a LOT of patience as sometimes, the schedule isn’t met and we have to adjust.

The Implementation

Whenever I leave the house to go to work in the morning, the real test happens for them. They usually come down for breakfast at around 8:30 or 9:00 am then they proceed to what they have to do. I give them the morning to do what they have to do (eat breakfast, take a bath and start on the work that needs to be done).

At noon time, that’s when I start sending them messages on our Family Homeschooling Group Chat and remind them about our agreements. Around that time also, sometimes I receive alerts from the school in the US about any feedback regarding their paper etc. which I share with them so they are made aware of what to do or if they have to revise anything in their book reports or what. The Family chat is also where they communicate their challenges in doing a task. I give suggestions and if need be, I tell them I can help them when I get home later that day.

When I get home, I usually get a rundown of what they accomplished for the day. They share their highs and lows for the day and things they are still in the process of doing. It’s a quick chat as most of the time, I have to go to the kitchen and cook dinner for the family. Sometimes, we carry on the chat while I cook. If they still need a listening ear, I stay a little and listen to their stories while they wash dishes or clean up the dinner table.

My after dinner time is usually reserved for those who are going to regular school. I have to check if they have homework and if they’ve done it or if they need help in doing it, then I supervise.

After all is done for the day for the kids, later in the evening, I attend to answering reply slips or prepare the things the kids who go to regular school need such as preparing their snacks and lunch, preparing the ingredients for breakfast and dinner the following day and setting the table for breakfast (doing this the night before saves me at least 5 minutes of extra work). I lay-out the lunchboxes and water bottles in such a way that I can work pretty much mechanically when I see them the following morning. Sometimes, if you’ve lacked some sleep in the evening, and you’re not in the best up-and-about disposition when you wake up, it helps that things are laid out in the morning and all you need to do is stuff them in their lunchboxes the following day. I must admit, I’ve even prepared a sticky note stuck to my phone listing down – in order of priority – what I have to do first, then next, then last. Maybe it’s the teacher in me that kicks in whenever I do this. I often think I have to prepare everything in a certain order that, should I die, anyone who will have to take over, will know exactly what needs to be done.

Anyway, I just wanted to end by saying that, it takes a LOT of patience in order to homeschool, home manage and work full time all at the same time. I don’t even know how I’ve managed to do this. Again, it’s not perfect. There are days when we do lag and fall behind (sometimes WAAAY behind), but the important thing is to just keep at it. Pick up from where you’ve stopped and just start again! The important thing is you’re doing something about it and have not lost hope. So if ever you are thinking of doing this, my advice is to think and pray about it and have an introspective assessment and be honest about what you can and cannot do. It’s not for everyone but if you feel you are up for the challenge and the rest of the family is ok with it – then go! I wish you all the luck!

Happy thoughts everyone!

Transition

My sister and I caught up with an uncle over dinner last Saturday. We had dinner in a hotel near the airport as he only had a few hours to spare before he flew out to his wife’s hometown in Borongan, Samar. After dinner, since they were going different ways, my sis decided to book a Grab car for them going to their hotel. It amused me that the Grab car that fetched them at the hotel entrance was driven by this hip lady in shorts, sneakers and hair pulled back. It was quite unusual for me to see a lady Grab driver. It is usually the men who take on jobs such as these. But as it turns out, in the Philippines, there are really more women now in the workforce taking on traditional men’s jobs. Jobs such cab drivers, engineers and managers.

According to a CNN Philippines report in 2018, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report ranked the Philippines 8th among 149 countries (and the highest in Asia), in achieving gender equality especially in economic and political leadership with more women in critical roles as legislators, senior officials and managers. The wage gap between men and women has also narrowed down due to an increase in wage equality for similar work.

What could this mean for Filipino families now? Many things, actually… more income for the family and higher purchasing power. With technology paving the way, more women are income generators for their families – some outside the home as employees but some also as WAHMs (Work-At-Home Moms) who are able to still stay at home and work through online jobs and businesses.

However it is, it seems this will be the trend from now on. Women are becoming more empowered through the different options they have that can provide added income to the family purse.

I think as long as women, and I’m talking mostly about the mothers here, are able to try and balance work and family life and have their family’s well-being at the top of their hearts and minds, taking on either a job or business that allows them to earn is a good thing. There will be adjustments for sure, most especially in the beginning when sometimes one misses out on some family obligations to attend to because of deadlines to meet, etc. But as in anything that is on its initial phases, there will always be some things one will learn before becoming a master of it. No one learned to juggle balls on his or her first try and as they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. It takes time and experience to learn the ropes and manage one’s priorities. There will be good days and bad days. But it’s all part of a process.

I myself went through that transition when I accepted the job to be a full time employee running a preschool. I was a stay-at-home mom for many years (we have 8 kids, hence a lot of home managing to do). I was happy being with my children but there was a part of me that yearned to grow and use whatever skills I had in order to be more productive and be a contributor to our family income. It’s not easy especially that we don’t have help and I still have to cook dinner after coming home from work. I also still have homeschooled children that need guidance and attention. It’s still quite a challenge but I am taking it with a lot of positivity, hope and prayers. After all, this is the only thing I am holding on to now. Everything else is a promise of good things to come.

I ask myself once in awhile if this transition is worth it. And I end up with this quote that I came across one time, “Nothing changes if nothing changes”. I find it to have so much meaning. I wanted a change in my life for something good or better, and the only way that happens is if I make that necessary effort to make that change happen. It is on me to make it happen and to make it work. The transition is part of the journey.

I know I share this journey with many other working mothers out there. Let’s keep this up and keep the hope and positive attitude. Things will pan out. Why not share with me your own challenges and drop me a line on our FB page? I’m sure we will have a lot to talk about!

Happy thoughts everyone!

Homespun Breakfast

When you have a large family like ours and when the children start their teenage years, life really becomes a little more hectic than before. This is because they start associating already with a different set of people – their friends. In our generation, we called it our “barkada”. My parents called it “the gang”. Of course nowadays, they call it by a different term – “the squad”. If you don’t G this, then you’re jurassic. Interesting twist of the times really.

According to Erik Erikson, one of my favorite developmental psychologists, this is the fifth stage in his Theory of Psychosocial Development called Identity vs. Role Confusion. This is where the person looks forward to his or her future and they want to belong to society and fit it. Hence they associate with a group who have similar interests and activities as a way for them to feel they belong. They have hang-outs and weekend chill activities that take them more and more away from the family.

In our family however, we try to make our Sundays sacred. We try not to schedule any school activities or events on Sundays so we can reconnect with everyone else and most especially reconnect with our faith as a whole family. When my daughter moves out to Makati this coming school year, we will even make it more special as she will only be able to join us during the weekends.

Last Pentecost Sunday, which also somewhat marks the end of the Easter Season in the Catholic faith, we decided to celebrate over breakfast. Well, actually, we do try to take a meal out of the house so it was my husband’s way of relieving me from cooking a meal and rest instead during that time. After mass, he decided to bring us to Rustic Mornings in Marikina. Paul and I have been there before but this was years and years ago. He felt it was time for a revisit.

As we drove to a tight alley, we were told that there was no more available parking space inside so we had to look for one along the street. The kids were beginning to wonder where their parents were taking them. But as soon we walked in, a fresh and relaxing vibe greeted us. A glass jug of lemon water greeted guests who had to wait a bit for their table to be ready. Fortunately, they had one large table made available to us so we were able to settle down immediately.

As we walked inside, the kids were just in awe at how beautiful rustic can actually be. Mismatched table cloths, decor and plates adorned the whole area but it all just blended well together.

We each ordered what we wanted from the menu and we were all happy with what we got. Some actually asked to taste from the other’s dishes to compare. My daughter was lucky to have a bite of each of our orders and she was simply in heaven!

Apple Oat Smoothie

I think this dish was supposed to be a “dieter’s” meal but it came quite packed and was very satisfying. It came in a deep Lanelle Abueva bowl – very apt for the ambiance. Apart from oatmeal and apple slices, it had berries, cornflakes, peaches and raisins. My eldest daughter simply loved it.

Crispy Boneless Dilis

I wanted something Filipino and a bit heavy since I didn’t have the time to grab something before mass that morning. Among their classic choices of Beef Tapa, Pork Tocino, Longganisa, Breaded Boneless Bangus, Ilocos Bagnet and Corned Beef, I opted for the Crispy Boneless Dilis. The Cebuano in me craved for something from sea, hence the dish. The Dilis was unsalted, and that’s how I liked it. You could dip it into their homemade vinegar and enjoy it with the cilantro fried rice and 2 pcs of estrellado-style eggs. Paired it with black coffee (for me) and it was just perfect!

Original Buttermilk Pancakes

For me, one good way to test the quality of the food is how their basic dishes taste like. If your dough is well made, then your bread is going to taste just fine because everything else, you can add – fruits, meats or even flavoring for some. So, one of the kids decided to try their Original Buttermilk Pancakes because they were craving for good ol’ breakfast pancakes. I liked how they whipped the butter and how fluffy the pancake was – just how the kids wanted it.

Country Style Omelet

Paul opted for the Country Style Omelet. This came with pork bits on top and 2 pieces of sliced French Baguette, herbed butter and jam. There was also an option to add a side salad. He loves eggs for breakfast and this was just right for him. I took a bit of a bite from the bread and I liked the herbed butter.

We enjoyed our breakfast in Rustic Mornings. It was a relaxing Sunday treat for all of us. We didn’t feel hurried at all by the staff despite having a couple of people outside waiting for their turn. They attended to them roperly and somehow the guests also knew they will soon be served.

A week after, my son Seve suddenly blurted out that he was in need of that same vibe for the coming weekend. He said the ease of that morning meal reminded him so much of what home is like ,and when he felt the stress of the school week, he simply lets his mind drift off into the memory of that relaxing homespun breakfast… and he is calm again.

Enjoy family time.

Happy thoughts, everyone!

**For more info on Rustic Mornings, please visit their FB page here.

GCredit Makes Things Easier for Parents

Lately, I’ve found myself bringing less cash in my wallet. Perhaps this is because most of my transactions have been via debit or credit card. For groceries, almost always, I prefer to transact through my debit card so the exact amount is debited from my account and I get to track what I spend for the day. Just last year however, I’ve rediscovered GCash. I used GCash while I was an English online teacher.  Our pay was sent online and I just transfer it to GCash and in minutes, I could already use it to pay items or withdraw whenever I needed to. I was happy with GCash. I thought it served its purpose well.

However, just last Friday, I was invited to attend a lunch gathering with the GCash people and other mom and dad bloggers and we were informed about another feature of GCash called GCredit. GCredit  is your easy-to-access credit line within the GCash App which can be used as another payment source for your purchases. It functions like a flexible loan or credit card by letting you have a set limit of money you can avail of anytime you want or need. I thought that this was a really cool feature!

As a busy mom, sometimes you feel the need to go and get the items you really need – a grocery item or your kids’ last-minute school materials – but cash is not always available right at that moment. GCredit easily comes to the rescue by extending that credit line to finish that task.

Paying your GCredit is easy on the pocket too. Interest rate is set at 5% for a 30-day term, however, it is also pro-rated, which means if you can settle the amount used before the 30-day term, the interest on the amount used is lower!

Thanks to this new feature, I’m sure many mothers will be able to meet their family’s needs without any hassle!

The Weekly Vlog Challenge

Good day friends! Hope all is well with you this Sunday morning! It’s a great time to take a moment to step back, reflect and spend some minutes contemplating on the week that has passed and the coming week.

 

Anyway, I’ve been thinking of taking on a challenge – to do a weekly vlog! I know.. I know.. you might think I’m crazy to even think of doing this considering I have many kids, and no full time help at home. BUT!! I’ve always been interested in doing videos. Back when I was in college, my specialization was in Communication and I loved every bit of it. Also that time, I sort of “coerced” my Mom to buy us a video camera so I could video my trips and maybe do some documentaries. I’ve put aside that dream when I started having a family of my own.

 

But now that we have YouTube, I’ve recently rediscovered going back to try and pursue it, this time through a medium that is more accessible to everyone – especially perhaps to my audience – fellow moms like me who just might need some encouragement or someone they can chat with – even virtually.

 

You know what I realized? I’ve notice that as I search through different YouTube channels, many moms like me have quite a big following! I think it’s this basic human need and desire to connect with those who are in the same situation and to seek some inspiration as well. This is what drew me to subscribe to these channels: Jamerill’s Large Family Table , Knorpp and South, Sarah Mackenzie, Pam Barnhill,and Skip To Malou,

 

So although I’ve done some vlogs before on my channel, I feel that this time, I’d like to try to do a weekly vlog… keyword is TRY (teehee). I know life throws many challenges along our way and there maybe times when I really won’t be able to fulfill this challenge – but we can always just try to get up and begin again, right?

 

So my friends, here is my first weekly vlog: Of Laundry and Father’s Day

 

Apologies for the video quality. I just use my phone camera at the moment. But hoping I could do better sometime.

 

Happy Sunday and Happy thoughts everyone!

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

I’ve recently had a get-together with fellow moms over coffee talking about essential oils and their benefits. And as what moms usually do – we chat about anything and everything under the sun.. but mostly about what concerns us the most – our families and our homes.

With over 8 moms gathered in that room, it turns out half of us don’t have house help anymore and another one only has one. This got me thinking about how the Filipino family is evolving now. More and more families are living without the traditional member of the family – the househelp (or maids as others would call it – but I never liked and never felt comfortable using the term). As they say, we are becoming “Americanized” – family members doing their own cooking, laundry and housekeeping.

For many centuries, the Filipino family has had a reliable helper or two, or even three as part of their household. In fact, I know of a family that had more helpers than the family members!  Throughout the years, Filipino houses were constructed to include a helper’s room and some even their own toilet. If you happen to chance upon an ad for a house for sale, don’t be surprised to find that as an added “feature”, it will say there “Maid’s room with t&b”.

Our reliable helpers usually came from the provinces of the head of the households. Some were even extended families – 2nd or 3rd degree cousins who were financially challenged and needed to send support to families back home.  As it became more challenging to find help for those who have migrated to the big cities, families turned to agencies who supply domestic help. When I was a child, this was already quite unusual for me because we considered househelp really as part of the family and someone we always had some connection to. I also heard a lot of horror stories about these agencies who people say don’t really screen their candidates.

But over the past couple of years, helpers have become increasingly difficult to find. About 10 or so years ago, I never had difficulty finding help as I always had somebody to replace the one who left. Since last year however, I have maintained one help who had eventually asked to leave last March to work abroad. How could I compete with the salary of that?

Before she left however, I had been running through in my mind how I would eventually manage without someone you can rely on, on a daily basis. I was thinking more of who will be left with the smaller ones if I had to attend meetings, and to help me make sure there is food on the table in case I got stuck in traffic somewhere and it was lunchtime.

The workload I felt was something I could manage. I had never been one to pass off to the helper what I can do myself. I guess I had practiced  this underlying principle that there’s no one else you can rely on except yourself, so better do it yourself. This is also the same principle I try to pass on to my kids when it comes to doing things at home. If they want it, then they have to get it themselves. If they’d like a glass of milk, or want a snack, then they prepare it themselves.

It’s been two months now that we haven’t had a helper and yes, although there were some challenges and some still happening, I think I’d like to say, we’ve survived and are doing pretty well. Obviously there were many adjustments I had to do – waking up extra early to be able to prepare breakfast for the family, sorting the laundry of everyone else, making sure living room is in order, etc. But it has also taught me one important lesson – to not sweat the small stuff. As a person who is obsessive-compulsive down to how my slippers should be arranged just before I lie down in a perfect supine position, this I think, is one achievement. Learning to let go and accept a less-than-perfect table setting is perfectly alright. Maybe the cabinet door is ajar? Leave it. We won’t die if it’s left that way. One shoe not tucked neatly inside the shoe cabinet? Geez.. the kids will just find the other pair on their own.

Now some people may think – this is crazy! Disorder is more the norm than the exception! Yes it may be true for some..  and the struggle could be incorporating physical order in their homes. Quite the opposite for those who perhaps are like me who have to fight off the temptation to smoothen out ever inch of wrinkle on our bed covers. It is a REAL struggle – one which I am faced with everyday. Not a life-threatening one, but still a struggle.

One thing I had to learn to face is the reality that in a home with many kids, we have to embrace some kind of disorder so your children learn to have fun and relax. You don’t want them to grow up in a home that is too immaculately clean and organized that when they face the chaos of the outside world, they are shocked, and worse, are left unable to adjust being around different kinds of people. You want them to be resilient and flexible.

I feel that although my kids should grow up in an environment that knows clean and order, it shouldn’t dictate one’s life. In my observation, children who grow up in homes that maintain a certain level of cleanliness and orderliness imbibe this virtue well into their adult years and help them establish a certain flow in their lives that help them become “settled” individuals. However, I’ve also observed that those who are bound strictly to that rule at home become inflexible and rigid – something I never want for my own kids.

Well, we are all a work in progress, as they say, and we never stop learning and growing as a person. So as I grow in my parenting style, I am also learning to “undo” certain traits in order to acquire others. For now, it’s learning not to be too demanding with the little things to give my kids more room to learn in an atmosphere of love and understanding. We grow inasmuch as we need to – to continue being able to give to the people who are with us in this journey called life.

Happy thoughts everyone!

Everyone’s Happy!

My daughter Rocio runs into my room and proudly tells me that after a squabble earlier, her two younger brothers and younger sister have finally decided to play together. Then as she was about to leave, she said “I managed to make them play together, Mom.. so now, everyone’s happy!”

     Oh these are the words all moms would love to hear… yes… everyone’s happy: We make sure our husbands get a good night’s sleep in time for the next day, or our children are fed properly, the home is spic and span, the family schedule is well-planned and everything else is just the way it should be. Oh what a perfect world it will be!

     But we all know it doesn’t happen that way.. and in our home, sometimes, my husband doesn’t get a good night’s sleep because our little boy accidentally kicks him to the corner of the bed when he sleeps with us at night, or the help tells us in the evening that there are no more snacks for the kids for the following day, or we all get mixed up schedules because suddenly your sons have play dates. Oh yes.. such is life!!

     I’m pretty sure we mothers can all relate to the above on many occasions. But what’s important is first for us to accept that yes, we can have bad days. It’s part of life to have unexpected twists and turns. It’s how we face these unexpected moments that lets us grow in the virtue of patience, serenity and yes… wisdom. We are not responsible for everyone’s happiness because true happiness is something that each one must learn to grow in himself or herself. It’s a virtue that one needs to develop and foster through the proper guidance and visioning.We can only try to mold our children, teach them values and pray that they never leave the side of good. But other than that, they have to live their own lives.

     We can only hope and pray that at the end of all of these, we can truly say, “Everyone’s happy!”

Boxes!

I went to the grocery today totally forgetting it was “bring-your-own-bag” day. Fortunately, the lady at the counter offered to pack my groceries in 2 boxes. I willingly took the boxes home. As the help unpacked the groceries, my little ones scrambled to get one each and they slowly climbed into the boxes trying to squeeze themselves like contortionists into the box. I simply watched in amusement. Every now and then, they would pop out, reconfigure the box then sneak inside again. They fiercely held on to the box as if their life depended on it! I was amazed at how their little minds gave them ideas on what to do with an ordinary second-hand box. I let them be and let them explore what to do with the boxes until they felt they have had enough of it.

It reminded me about how my sisters and I used to play a lot with the things we found at home – the couch, the throw pillows, plastic cups and plates and how we would run to the garden and make “juice” out of bougainvilla petals. We made trailer trucks out of the living room set and used the cushions as the roof of our truck. How we had so much fun then making do with the materials that were within our reach. We didn’t feel  at all that it was “not the real thing” because to our minds, we were living our game! That’s how it is with children – they are naturally creative!

When I was teaching in a preschool a couple of years back, a parent wondered at why they would pay so much to a school that was using empty milk bottles, cardboard boxes and tissue rolls as their materials. What they failed to see (although it was explained to them later on) was that these materials were like the children’s blank canvass and paintbrush. They will be making their masterpieces – products of their creativity! With just a few tools and a dash of motivation from the teacher, the children were able to make anything they imagined. How wonderful is that?

As my hubby often says (quoting a famous anthropologist) “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world”. May I just add… never doubt that a small and young group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world!