MANILA, Philippines - A Christian-Muslim couple has decided to convert a portion of their house in Quezon City into a mini-library to share the magic of book-giving with thousands of poor children living in Barangay Holy Spirit, Diliman, Quezon City.
Armand and Annora Nocum, a Christian and a Muslim respectively, opened the Kristiyano-Islam (Kris) Peace Library-Quezon City buoyed by the overwhelming support given them by book donors in the Philippines, the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
“All these donations of books, computers, and educational materials have shown us that the spirit of bayanihan is alive and that Filipinos are still very much willing to give and help good causes,” says Armand Nocum, founder of the A-Book-Saya Group (ABSG), a non-government group dedicated to the task of uplifting the literacy of poor kids in Mindanao to fight terrorism and rebellion.
“This validates our belief that no child will ever be deprived of books if only those who have will share with those who don’t have,” Nocum adds, noting their success in gathering some 5,000 book titles for the first Kris Peace Library they built in Zamboanga City.
Since 2008, the two-story Kris Library in Zamboanga has been giving thousands of poor Christian and Muslim kids free use of books and research materials, free basic computer lessons, free use of computers. It also has some 100 scholars. ABSG has likewise given some 6,000 books and magazines to poor kids since 2001.
“We built a library from scratch and maintained it through the help of friends all around. That is why we are emboldened to give the same benefits to children of informal settlers in slum communities in Quezon City as we ask everyone to also share their unused and old books,” Nocum points out.
ABSG recently launched the “Be a Robin Book” volunteer movement to encourage the youth to help the transfer of books from the haves to the “have-no-books” sector of society.
“None of us are poor enough to have no book at all to share,” says Nocum as he relates the case of long-time Kris donor Carmelle “Car-Car” Wong, a 23-year-old Fil-Canadian who set aside her hard-earned money to send encyclopedias and other books to the Kris Library in Zamboanga City in 2010.
Donors may bring their stuff at the Kris Peace Library at No. 9, Doña Isidora Street, Don Antonio Heights, Diliman, Quezon City or at Dean & Kings Legal PR and Communications Marketing firm located at Suite 300, Kimvi Realty & Dev’t Bldg., 1191 Maria Orosa St., Ermita, Manila 100.