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Dear friends and supporters of Tender,
In the words of the great Dr. José Rizal, "while a people preserves its language; it preserves the marks of liberty." Rizal was many things to many people - a national hero, linguist, physician, teacher, writer, and ultimately a martyr for the Philippines in the fight for freedom from Spanish colonizers. Rizal understood the importance of language, stating that a person is "multiplied by the number of languages" they can speak. He also said that anyone who does not love their own language is worse than a smelly fish.
...I guess some classic quotes don't need flowery, poetic language to send a message.
When your home is an archipelago surrounded by ocean, there's a lot of smelly fish. It's a familiar stench. But there certainly is no lack of pride amongst Filipinos for the many languages of the Philippines. Did you know there are 184 distinct languages in the Philippines? 12 of those languages are spoken by more than a million people each, and the national language is Filipino (based on Tagalog).
Because language is so essential to the Filipino identity, every August is "Buwan ng Wika" (National Language Month). Festivities at schools usually include a culminating activity at the end of the month where students and teachers enjoy traditional attire, traditional games, and cultural songs and dances. Through our annual Buwan ng Wika celebration, Tender's preschool empowers students to embrace and celebrate their cultural heritage. Enjoy these photos of students and teachers who came to preschool dressed up for the event.
A child is never too young to learn the beauty of their heritage—nor is it ever too early to inspire them to dream big and build a fulfilling future. Last week, our preschool (the "Simula Daycare Center") held a career day to show the students that the world is full of exciting possibilities they can one day grow into. Here's a peak at our preschool's "in-house" newsletter, sharing more details about the event.
Bridging the gap between growing up in the slums and achieving their aspirations, Tender's child sponsorship program provides everything a child needs to go to school in Manila. Without child sponsorship, few students in our community would have the confidence or hope to one day graduate from school and find meaningful employment.
One of the sponsored children recently shared that in spite of how hard their parents work to survive, they still cannot afford to provide even basic school supplies for him and his siblings. Education is a privilege they cannot afford. The family must prioritize any income on food and clothing for the children. The child explained, "My father is a fisherman, but the current quality of the fish in our bay is low, and so buyers will no longer buy fish from our family. My mother is trying to side-hustle by making and selling homemade baskets made from the waterlilies in the bay. She wakes up before sunrise to do her side hustle and comes back home again to help my sibilings and I prepare for school." The family barely has enough income for three meals a day and safe drinking water.
Everyday necessities like backpacks, school uniforms, and school supplies can be a heavy financial burden for parents in underprivileged communities. Thankfully, child sponsorship at Tender covers those essentials and more. Let us share with you some of the grateful smiles of sponsored children with their new school supplies to kick off the new school year. They were empowered to pick out the school supplies they wanted and needed (as opposed to us purchasing supplies in bulk and giving them each the same items).
If you are interested in sponsoring a child from extreme poverty in the Philippines for just $1.25/day ($37.50/month), please email John Coffey at [email protected] for more information and for the full profile of your potential sponsor child. We still have a handful of children on a waiting list at Tender in need of a sponsor to be able to go to school.
While the majority of Tender's sponsored children reside in Metro Manila, Tender also partners with a rural non-profit organization (Batang Matinik) in the province of Quezon to sponsor students in rural poverty and empower them to also complete their education. We recently sent a number of interns and social workers from Tender to visit and encourage our rural sponsored children. Our team conducted home visits and interviews with their families.
Walking through lush fields and narrow pathways, our team experienced a firsthand tour of the realities of rural life in the Philippines where farming, crop harvesting, and raising livestock form the heartbeat of the community.
While families utilize local resources—growing fruits, vegetables, and raising animals right in their yards—they also face daily hardships, including fluctuating crop prices and livestock losses. Despite the unpredictable weather, our interns rolled up their sleeves to help harvest some of the produce, connecting deeply with the families and gaining a profound appreciation for their resilience, hard work, and resourcefulness. Our social workers also took time to check-in with and interview the sponsored children and their parents.
Taking advantage of the fresh air and beautiful rural scenery, our program staff met up with our interns and social workers at a local camp for a 3-day case conference and program evaluation workshop. Our case conference and program evaluation served as a vital milestone where we assessed the progress of Tender's students, shared success stories, proposed improvements to our programs, and strengthened community-driven strategies to uplift marginalized children.
Lastly, we want to thank the visitors who traveled from near and far just to volunteer at Tender over the last few months. This includes a mother and daughter short-term team (or "short-term duo") who have roots in India but call the US home - Ma'am Poonam and Sofia. With backgrounds in education, music, and dance, they shared their talents and gifts with the students of Tender. We were also grateful to welcome back the Beale family from the US who are now experienced missionaries and have served at Tender each summer for the past few years. Our students were delighted to continue developing bonds and relationships with these bright, hard-working, and talented teens.
We even had some local volunteers - a group from the Home Owners Association of the subdivision where our new center is located. Our team and students were deeply encouraged by the teachings and guidance of visitors from across the globe. If you are interested in short-term missions or volunteerism at Tender, don't hesitate to email us at [email protected] and please visit any time!
Thank you for following along with us and for supporting our programs and students. Please check out the current prayers and praises of our team here below.
- The Tender Team
