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Starweek Magazine

Not Your Usual First Day Of School

- Eden E. Estopace -

On the first day of school in most campuses, the scene is almost always the same: crying children about to be parted from their mothers for the first time, guards milling about the school grounds to provide assistance and teachers smiling and more accommodating. In the vicinity of the school there’s usually a monstrous traffic jam as children arrive with their new bags, new shoes, new haircuts.

Yet every school has its own rhythm, a defined beat that dictates the pace of campus life.

On the first day of school on June 10 at Trichet Learning Center in Barangay West Rembo in Makati, the teachers were huddled around a table in serious discussion over school matters. The children were nowhere to be seen. The school opening was set a day later than the national opening for public schools. But outside the school, there was an unusual number of policemen and traffic aides on standby. The area, after all, is beside three other public  schools, including the University of Makati.

When regular school finally started on June 16, the school was fully alive by mid-morning and the school’s directress, Sister Irene Chateauvert, was as busy as ever greeting students, talking to people, assisting the staff.

This year, Sister Irene says, is going to be more difficult for them as the tiny school has close to 250 students already. The school, which is run by the Daughters of Wisdom with Sister Irene at the helm, has actually seen a tremendous surge of enrollment since it was set up in 1995. However, it remains a policy of the school to accept everyone.

“If God sends these kids to us we cannot say no,” Sister Irene says.

This is because the Trichet Learning Center housed within the compound of the San Nicolas church is a school for children with special needs. If the school can’t accommodate them, many of these children will have no school to go to. With the steep rates of private education for special children, only a few will be able to get an education.

Trichet serves the Makati, Pasig and Pateros communities and Sister Irene says that in the last 13 years that the school has been in existence, they have created a lot of awareness in the community about the need of special children for an education.

Disability carries a stigma and usually families will not come out in the open and say that they have a special child, she says. Their goal is to be able to help these children lead productive lives in the future and become useful members of society despite their handicap.

“With early intervention, children with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy can be educated and mainstreamed in society. Here at Trichet, we teach them to read and write but more importantly to deal with their disability, live with others, and work,” she says.

In fact, some of their older students are now working in the school as janitors and assistants.

When the Daughters of Wisdom set up a congregation in the Philippines, Sister Irene says that they studied the needs of the community where they were going to establish base.

“We focus on a particular need. In this area, we originally started with the idea of establishing a school for street kids. But we thought that there were already many programs for street kids and they can get help from many organizations, but there is practically no school for children with special needs,” Sister Irene explains.

It is, however, no small task to run a special school.

“In our experience, we need to involve the parents, the community, the government and the private donor agencies to be able to maintain the operations and accomplish our educational objectives,” Sister Irene says.

One important component of the children’s education at Trichet is “mainstreaming.” The children are taught to experience life outside the school and be able to do and experience things that most people can do, such as eating in a fastfood restaurant, riding the Light Rail Transit (LRT), enjoying the rides at theme parks.

Last February, the school hosted a party and the older kids came with their dates like a prom. There was also a Mr. and Ms. Valentines and there was a program and dancing afterwards.

“We strive to prepare these kids socially and to give them space in society. We like to give them the experience that most children enjoy in regular schools,” Sister Irene emphasizes.

Another challenge is to be able to source funds in very innovative ways. At Trichet, every family helps in supporting the school.

“I do not believe in giving everything for free. Even the poorest of families have to give something. We peg their contribution according to their means. Those with absolutely nothing help with school tasks,” she says.

Aside from donations and grants, Sister Irene also actively seeks help from very innovative sources, including scrounging for broken chairs, scraps and junk in Makati public schools.

“I asked Mayor (Jejomar) Binay if I can get old things from the junk yard of the public schools, and he says ‘yes, yes, you can get anything.’ Here we may still have some use for them,” she recounts.

After she chose the junk, she said mischievously to the school, “Can you fix them for us?” But who would say no to a nun whose whole life has been devoted to helping and living among the poor?

“I came from a poor family myself,” Sister Irene says. “We were nine kids and we didn’t have much, but there was always space for more.”

The good sister is originally from Montreal, Canada. She joined the congregation at 16. Before coming to the Philippines, she lived in Papua New Guinea for 24 years. She arrived in the country in 1991 and has never left. She has been away from her country too long, she says. The Philippines is her home now and her mission is her life’s calling.

“The Philippines is such a beautiful country. It should not be like this. There is so much talent around and natural resources,” she laments.

Like the school that she runs now, there is always space for a child with disability who needs an education. Trichet Learning is expanding very rapidly. Among other things, she says the school needs to move to a bigger place and to have more facilities.

But trust Sister Irene’s faith and devotion to see through the transition. The funds would come later, Sister Irene believes. And they do come, in many ways. God is truly all knowing. Her mission continues.

 

Sister Irene can be contacted at the Trichet Learning Center, tel. 881-5628.

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