ELSA paves way for young dreams to come true

September 08, 2008

Instead of seeing children in schools and inside classrooms, the reality of poverty can be seen on the streets and remote towns in Tantangan, South Cotabato. As young as 8 years old, some of the children work as farmers, fishermen or housemaids.

Emily Palarca, 16, is one of them. At a young age, she has been helping her family survive the travails of life by working as a housemaid for a well off family. Her situation echoes most of the sentiments of children in Mindanao. They come face to face with the harsh realities of life, foregoing the joys of childhood.

Emily’s dream was simple; to reclaim the years she lost as a child. Essentially, her dream was to know how it feels like to be a young student being with her peers and learning from teachers and books.

“I stopped going to school since my parents could not afford it. We could not buy notebooks and even pencils. For us, going to school costs a lot,” Emily said. She has set aside her dreams of finishing her education.

While running some errands, Emily overheard a group of kids talking about ELSA’s Program on Alternative Learning System. “I didn’t understand what it meant. The one thing that stood out to me was the opportunity to study for free,“ she mentioned.

Hearing about ALS re-ignited Emily’s dreams to study. “I asked people about it and I had no second thoughts about ALS. And I had to go and be part of it,” Emily said.

Through the reintegration of out of school youth under USAID’s Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS2) project, Emily is now receiving an education that will enable her to transform her life into what she hopes it can be. She now can feel the real meaning of being a student; to laugh and learn in an environment that allows her to feel young again.

Her belief lies in the very essence of grabbing the opportunity that will make it possible for her to reach her dreams. “I wish to be someone someday and I dedicate this to my family,” Emily concluded.


Emily Palarca is currently an EQuALLS2-ALS learner of the NDMU-CCC, an ELSA-Consuelo field implementing partner in the municipalities of Malapatan in Sarangani, Sto. Nino and Tantangan in South Cotabato and Esperanza and Lambayong in Sultan Kudarat.