Ford funds mobile library

For 11-year old Philip Gamboa, Jr., summer is no different from any other season. Kids his age usually create unforgettable memories during this time of the year when school is over.

But Philip wakes up to the same reality, rain or shine: living in a shanty the size of two confessionals, where home is just a heartbeat away from the busy railroad in Sta. Mesa, and where sitting out into the world means washing car windows and pushing wooden trolleys that ply the tracks from Quiapo to Paco.

Thus, when the opportunity "came to spend some quiet time reading, Philip did not hesitate to choose the classic tale, "Ibong Adarna," which tells of a magical bird that lulls its would-be catchers to sleep, then turns them into stone.

Aside from giving a moral lesson, tha tale "takes me to places where I could forget about life in the tracks," Philip says in the vernacular. For more than six years now, the Mobile Library Program of Manila-based Museo Pambata Foundation has been taking children in marginalized areas like Philip to dreamland.

"Whenever a child opens a book, he opens the window of opportunity that builds his imagination, hopes and dreams," says Noreen Parafina, coordinator of the Museo Pambata.

The concept of extending library services outside the confines of a school is actually nothing new. It is a popular concept in less developed countries like the Philippines where the cost of educational materials is still high. Aside from Museo Pambata’s Mobile Library, the country has around 14 bookmobiles run by the National Library.

Humble beginnings

Like its target market, Parafina says the outreach program itself has humble beginnings. When it started in 1995, there were only three volunteer storytellers hauling a box of over 50 books into a run-down Tamaraw FX.

"At the time, our goal was so simple: promote the love for books and encourage many poor children to ready," says Parafina. "The problem was that there was too much love but there weren’t too many books." In 2000, The Ford Foundation agreed to fund the program to complement its thrust of improving the reading skills of children as an entry point in reforming basic education. The New York-based funding institution extended a grant of $52,800 to Museo Pambata which went to acquiring a custom-built Isuzu NPR truck carrying over 3,000 books and other educational materials to be used for storytelling, reading and book lending sessions.

The bookmobile was also made child-friendly by University of the Philippines professor Mel Silvestre and his fine arts students who volunteered painting the truck with bright illustrations. "They wanted the van to appear like a book in itself," says Parafina.

The grant will also help set up mini-libraries for children in at least 400 communities and conduct reading sessions where both parents and their kids will be involved. Museo Pambata will hold workshops on effective storytelling for teachers, daycare workers, librarians, community organizers and other volunteers.

Parafina says the state-run museum has so far succeeded in partnering with public libraries. With a P100,000 grant from the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the program was able to establish four mini-libraries housing 250 children’s books in poor barangays in Tondo, Paco, Pandacan and the Valeriano Fugoso Community Library.

Since most of the books came from donations from institutions and Filipinos abroad, Parafina says most of them are foreign publications.

"There aren’t enough local books because they are expensive," she adds.

A day with the mobile library

In a recent visit to a community in Sta. Mesa, around 30 street children sat in a makeshift classroom to participate in an hour-long reading session. The session was a joint outreach program of the Concordia Children’s Services, a privately funded orphanage, and the Mobile Library. Museo Pambata guides volunteered as storytellers and facilitators. Parafina also taught children the concept of borrowing a book from a library using a borrower’s card.

Children lined up to board the Mobile Library. When told to pick a book each from a collection of more than 3,000, they scampered like a man in a desert who suddenly found an oasis.

Thirteen-year old Catherine Eldiosa stood out when she chose a voluminous Noli Me Tangere and finished reading two chapters in one sitting. The second eldest among seven kids in her family, Catherine says she has been wanting to read a book written by Jose Rizal ever since she saw the national hero’s monument in Luneta where she used to sell sampaguita garlands.

Neighbor Salome Valbuena, also 13, could already tell the tale of Cinderella by rote. But she chose to read it for the third time "because Cinderella was also poor and had a chance to succeed in life when she married the Prince".

Asked what she wants to be in the future, Salome immediately replied: "Business manager."

And Philip Gamboa, Jr., who went to read the tale of Ibong Adarna, says he wanted to be a pastor someday "to spread the word of God".

He says his family only has one book at their house: the Bible. "And I’ve read it many times," he adds.

Parafina says the Mobile Library helps poor children with less accesss to educational materials aspire to surmount their difficulties in life.

"We are really into building dreams," says, and it isn’t hard to see how one’s dreary life suddenly disappears between the pages of books.