Negros Occ volunteers bring Christmas cheers to Bantayan

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines   â€” They only wanted to bring Yuletide cheers to the schoolchildren of Yolanda-devastated Bantayan Island, and what they experienced there gave them their own share of Christmas in return. 

"The smiles on the faces of the children were priceless. They made our Christmas," said volunteer Anne Ledesma, in describing their group's trip last Dec. 12 to the seven "underserved" islet-barangays of Bantayan Island in Cebu: Hilotongan, Moamboc, Botigues, Doong, Luyong Baybay, Lipayran and Mambacayao.

Volunteer Eli Francis Tajanlangit said, "These seven islets of Bantayan are among the worst hit places by Yolanda. They are also some of the most difficult to reach and almost forgotten, considering their geography, which was why they were the places that a group of Bacoleños decided to focus on."

Bantayan 3500 volunteers first delivered relief to Bantayan immediately after Yolanda. From that first visit, they saw how schoolchildren were shaken out of their normal school life as their notebooks and pens and papers were either destroyed or washed away by the typhoon.

The Bantayan 3500 volunteers left Bacolod at midnight Wednesday to catch a pump boat from Sagay City at 2 a.m. and reach Bantayan at around 4 a.m. Upon arrival, the group split into seven teams, each of which took small motorized banca to reach the seven islets, about 30- to 90-minute travel from the island proper.

Each of the 3,500 pupils received a backpack with school supplies, snacks and candies, each of the 70 teachers got a bag of teaching aids, while each of the seven school principals were given school kits that included a Philippine flag, to replace their supplies that were destroyed by the typhoon.

The school supplies were donated by friends from Negros Occidental and some parts of the Philippines, the Americas, Australia, Germany and France, while the backpacks, teacher and principal kits, came from German friends through Bacolod Patenkinder, which is based in Munich, Carreon said.

Carreon said the group is planning to go back to the seven islets to deliver gifts and school packs to high school students.  (FREEMAN)