For the past seven years we have supported a total of 37 students coming from various tribes. They are provide with modest accommodation, tuition fees, food and transportation allowance, and are given formation and training activities to help them interface with mainstream culture.
2009 GRADUATES
The long road to graduation
Saturday, April 11, 2009COLLEGE graduation, it's the culmination of the long years of schooling and the start of a life in the skilled workforce in pursuit of individual dreams.
To these young hopefuls, however, their graduation is more than just walking down the aisle in their togas and gowns and receiving their diplomas. It is the culmination of walking down the long, unpaved roads of their village homes to grab their dream of a college education and to bring back home what they have been given with hope of a better future.
They are latest graduates among the scholars of Mindanawon Initiatives for Cultural Dialogues (Mindanawon) for children from indigenous tribes.
As if to underscore the role they are playing in the collective dreams of their tribes, all five earned their baccalaureate degree in Education, although with different majors.
Lovely Mae Calig-onan is a Mandaya, Dadong Gumatao is a Matigsalog, Jun Mark Amban is an Obo-Manobo, Sahara Mariz Anta is a Bagobo Guiangan, while Ergie Lantong is a Pulangion Manobo.
There, cheering them on at the sidelines, is their 'father', Mindanawon's Fr. Albert E. Alejo SJ.
Jun Mark or Macmac made his mark this early by graduating cum laude in Ateneo de Davao University. His fellow scholar in Ateneo, Dadong, is just overwhelmed that he has finally graduated after six years in college, the phase in his education that he describes as the "pinaka-hayahay" even though he had to make do with the little they are given and earn a little on the sides as well to add to his daily needs.
Read the rest of the article here.
To these young hopefuls, however, their graduation is more than just walking down the aisle in their togas and gowns and receiving their diplomas. It is the culmination of walking down the long, unpaved roads of their village homes to grab their dream of a college education and to bring back home what they have been given with hope of a better future.
They are latest graduates among the scholars of Mindanawon Initiatives for Cultural Dialogues (Mindanawon) for children from indigenous tribes.
As if to underscore the role they are playing in the collective dreams of their tribes, all five earned their baccalaureate degree in Education, although with different majors.
Lovely Mae Calig-onan is a Mandaya, Dadong Gumatao is a Matigsalog, Jun Mark Amban is an Obo-Manobo, Sahara Mariz Anta is a Bagobo Guiangan, while Ergie Lantong is a Pulangion Manobo.
There, cheering them on at the sidelines, is their 'father', Mindanawon's Fr. Albert E. Alejo SJ.
Jun Mark or Macmac made his mark this early by graduating cum laude in Ateneo de Davao University. His fellow scholar in Ateneo, Dadong, is just overwhelmed that he has finally graduated after six years in college, the phase in his education that he describes as the "pinaka-hayahay" even though he had to make do with the little they are given and earn a little on the sides as well to add to his daily needs.
Read the rest of the article here.
