Thinking Globally But Acting Locally In Helping The Philippines Through The Books For The Barrios Foundation
By Ernie Delfin

CONCORD, CALIFORNIA April 8, 2002--After almost 8 hours drive by car from Los Angeles, my daughter Donna, my co-founder of Katipunan-USA and I finally saw the huge Books for the Barrios (BftB) sign before 10:00 AM last Good Saturday in this Northern California city of Concord. As we promised Ms. Loreto Quevedo Dimaandal, a coordinator for the BftB newest Model of Excellence (MOE) school project in the Philippines, we brought a van-full of donated books to the BftB Foundation warehouse in this city to be included in a 40 ft. container shipment, donated by American President Lines, that is now on its way to bring these thousands of books and computers to various barrio schools in the Philippines as beneficiaries of many Americans and their multi-ethic supporters through this non-profit foundation.

During lunch, we had a spirited discussion with the BftB founders, Nancy and Dan Harrington, who used to live in the Philippines for about 7 years (she was a teacher and he was a navy pilot). When they went back to the United States about 22 years ago, they had a vision and a mission to do something for the socially and economically disadvantaged young children in remote barrio schools in the Philippines. That vision gave birth to the Books for the Barrios Foundation. Over all these years, they have sent over 4 millions of books that have touched the lives of thousands of young minds across the Philippine archipelago. Through their Model of Excellence school projects, they have also upgraded 38 remote schools to become comparable to any California school standards. The foundation has trained teachers to maximize the learning process of these young students with the use of computers and books from the United States.

Books for the Barrios started with a simple project of the heart: to organize American schoolchildren to gather, ship and distribute books, computers, typewriters and educational aids from America to the Philippines while helping protect the environment in California by recycling its books and educational materials that are normally just discarded in dump sites. BftB has also sponsored the National Teachers Training Conventions to enhance teachers' instructional skills. To date, Books for the Barrios has also set up and supported 38 "Model of Excellence" Schools in the Philippines. The newest one, Anisca MOE, in the town of Laoac, (the birthplace of this writer) the first in Pangasinan and the second in Northern Luzon, is scheduled to open this coming school year to coincide with the Philippine-US Friendship Day celebration on July 4, 2002. Ms. Harrington is schedule to visit the Philippines again and will grace the opening of the newest MOE School in the Philippines. Ms. Harrington said that the Board of Trustees has designated the area of the Basilan in the Sulu archipelago to be the next MOE School site. However, she implored that she needed more corporate sponsors, volunteers and funds to make these projects expanded and sustained.

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