Vision for the future

LivPH chats with our Founder and Executive Director Lynn Pinugu, about the long-term vision for Mano Amiga Academy. 

What is the Mano Amiga Program?

Mano Amiga is a school that provides an international standard of education in a way that's affordable for low-income and middle families. Our dream is for every child in the Philippines, no matter what their socio-economic background is, to receive quality education and the necessary support in order for them to build better lives for themselves and contribute positively in society. More than just a school, we also serve as a community development center. We also provide our students and their families access to healthcare, values formation programs and livelihood opportunities.

What is the organization's long-term vision?

We envision Mano Amiga to be a center for educational innovations - a school that makes learning fun while focusing on teaching the skills that a child would need to thrive in the creative revolution. We would also like to be known as a Center for excellence in teacher training, particularly on how to effectively facilitate a class through engaging activities and projects. Lastly, we hope to replicate our success in our pilot school to at least 20 other locations in the Philippines.

How can people help?

So many families apply to our school for a full-year scholarship, but due to limited funds, we can only accept a number of them. Those interested to help financially may do so by providing scholarships to our students. It takes about P300 a month to send a student to Mano Amiga Academy.

People may also choose to donate their time, and to share with our students (and staff) whatever skills or talents they may have. We are always looking for role models who would be willing to mentor our students. It goes a long way in making a lasting positive impact on a child’s life.

A Feature on Mano Amiga Principal, Ramon Austria

Right Hand Man
By Ruel S. De Vera

Sunday Inquirer Magazine

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view/20081214-177920/Right-Hand-Man

AS a child, Ramon “Mon” Austria knew what it felt like to be uprooted. Born in Quezon City, he was only 4 when his family moved to the Federated States of Micronesia, where his father Rolando took a job as state physician on an island called Kosrae.
“Only a few people can boast of having spent their childhood frolicking on some island—and I’m one of them,” says Austria. “I could swim whenever I wanted because in Kosrae, you’re never more than five minutes away from the ocean.”

It was education—a theme that would pervade much of Austria’s life—that brought him back to the Philippines after four years. Years after this idyllic childhood, while taking up management economics at the Ateneo de Manila, Austria thought about doing a bit of volunteer work after graduation.

He was drawn to the Regnum Christi, a lay movement within the Catholic Church that provided him an opportunity to be involved in the youth apostolate in Washington, D.C. for a year.
This experience started him on the road to a teaching career, a path the 24-year-old Austria confesses had never crossed his mind.

“Are you kidding?” he says incredulously when asked if this was something he had all planned out. “There’s no money in teaching.”
His eventual work among young students he explains away as "divine intervention." He was never too keen on working with children, he says, and yet he wound up doing just that in Washington. “Little by little, I learned to love working with children,” he clarifies. “It’s something that just happened.”

And what Austria initially intended to be just volunteer work gradually steered him on a set career path. Returning from Washington D.C., he signed up to teach religion at Beacon International School in Taguig City. After two years there, he embarked on a project that was meant to change lives through education, in perhaps the same way that his life had been changed.

Click the link for the full article