Mobile Classroom Update

Hello everyone. Thanks to the help of interested parties we have started making the first steps towards bringing a mobile classroom to Cabanatuan City.

Through the last blog post and with a mass plea through Facebook, the logo for this project is being cobbled together. There were questions over the vision for the logo and what the actual name of the mobile classroom would be, we have some answers.

The name of the program is currently: EduK (A Mobile Classroom)

Edukasyon is the spelling of education in Tagalog. Obviously it came from the English form. The reason the "K" is to apply to words such as kabataan (Children, Pronounced: kah-bah-tah-ahn) and knowledge. There were other words in Tagalog but I wasn't able to keep up with the stream of suggestions. It's a short name and it looks and sounds nice.

The "(A Mobile Classroom)" portion acts as an emergency descriptor for people who don't know what EduK is. Also, it makes it sound like a classy perfume or cologne.

The actual image is still undecided but I know I have at least one person currently working on it. I gave suggestions of using a transportation theme (wheels, cars, trikes, etc) and gave a short list of pride items from my city. We love to brag about all the trikes we have and we grow rice like no other here, both are trotted out as bragging rights in conversation in other cities.

The logo is a big deal and when it is finalized I expect to really get moving. I'll have my eyes set on making a trailer for our project for potential donors and I'll need to start coming up with ideas for donor incentives. A large project for sure but taken piecemeal will ease my load.

Thanks for the support and interest and I hope to update you soon on more progress.

A Inquiry for Help

Hello Friends and Family!

I'm writing you all in an effort to make a large and important project actually get off the ground. I'm currently proposing a plan for an all inclusive mobile classroom for the Street Children of Cabanatuan City.

In the city where I live and work, Cabanatuan City, there is a large population of street children. Currently there we reach out to 50 Street Children but my estimates put the actual population over 600 Street Children. These are children who often live on the street, work very basic jobs instead of going to school, or are simply unsupervised a majority of the day. The severity of their poverty is astounding by my American standards. Often I see Street Children in my market without sandals on their feet,

begging for money or food from passerbys.

In an effort to provide some form of education to these Street Children, my city has assigned me the task of building a mobile classroom. Thankfully this type of endeavor has been been proven multiple times before to be worth the effort. CNN awarded the 2009 CNN Hero Award to Efren Peñaflorida (Philippines) for his groundbreaking efforts in mobile education, dubbed “Mobile Kariton.” This last week, July 9th-13^th, I attended a Street Education training and shadowing. This training was performed by Bahay Tuluyan, a Manila based non-profit that directly supports Street Children and their families. The purpose of the training was multifaceted; training for Cabanatuan City's only two Street Educators, appraisal of a successful program, and for inspection of design of their mobile classroom. There was even two days dedicated to in-depth review of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This training showed us how a successful operation works with street education.

The plan now is to start our own mobile classroom here in Cabanatuan City to reach the Street Children. The mobile classroom would teach more than the usual educational fare found in typical schools but will also cover life-skills. Life-skills is a broad category that includes everything from hand-washing, nutrition, conflict resolution, to livelihood skills like jewelry making. This synthesis of basic education and life-skills is to give the forgotten street children a chance to grow and work towards a life off the streets.

The planning for a mobile classroom is simple enough but getting to the finish line presents a more difficult task when reviewing the price tag. With efforts to design an all inclusive mobile classroom that covers the price of the vehicle, renovations, materials, and even a one year spartan salary for a dedicated Street Educator my estimates come to around $7,500 US.

This price is large for one person but if we can get a large number of people to donate small amounts, I think we can reach this number quickly and easily. Here's where I need help:

Indiegogo.com is a website for crowd-sourcing funds for varied projects and endeavors. This is where I propose to start the ball rolling (after this letter) for making street education a reality in Cabanatuan City.

Even before asking for your money, I need help with marketing materials, this includes:

• Mobile Classroom logo design
• Video editing of web video
• suggestions for donor gifts (Indiegogo projects often give tokens to donors, I want the same)

This is a pre-call for help. I lack the professional ability to create a logo, edit a web video, and I don't know what a group of compassionate people would like in return for their donation towards Street Children education.

Do you know a graphic artist (or are one) that can do charity work? Or maybe your neighbor makes great YouTube videos weekly for her Vlog and is willing to edit for us? How about Wade, the guy who works at the YMCA, didn't he say he loved making logos? Could you ask if they are willing to help?

I'm hoping this is only the beginning of a grand collaboration that brings education to the Street Children of Cabanatuan City.

Thanks for reading. Please share with people who might be able to help. If you have any questions please contact me.

Email: aokincaid@gmail.com