Group photo
Certificate of Appreciation
Pauline, Rod and Brian Gore
Kabankalan, Philippines
Child Care Safety and Protection Workshop.
A three-day workshop on this topic was conducted on October 12-14, 2011 at the San Columbano Retreat and Conference Centre in Batang, 30 minutes' drive from Kabankalan. The presenters were Dr. Pauline Meemeduma, the Oceania Province Child Protection and Family Support Services Officer and Mrs. Denise Kidd, Regional Director of the New Zealand Family and Community Services, based in Christchurch. There were fifty participants from the various schools and colleges. Paul Coster joined us from Maasin. The Kabankalan Community and their support workers were present. Fr. Brian Gore and his staff involved in Rescue of Children from Child Trafficking also attended, although the main target people were School Principals and Guidance Teachers.
Solid material was supplied in Child Care, Safety and Protection, Care Needs of Children, Child Maltreatment, Child Development Theory, Communicating With Children, and prepared documents on Protocols and Procedures and a Code of Conduct were presented at the finish.
The project began in January 2011 when the first Edmund Rice Volunteers to the Philippines from New Zealand spent a full month with us. They were Tony and Denise Kidd. Their twelve year-old son Gabriel was with them.
Denise researched what Child Care, Safety and Protection protocols and procedures were already in place in two of the better administered schools of the Diocese of Kabankalan, and what related unwritten assumptions the teachers had. She recorded these, researched the underlying legislation and produced draft documents to guide the schools of the diocese.
Meanwhile Graeme Leach of the Maasin Community undertook to produce similar documents to guide the Brothers in the Philippines and their co-workers. Graeme's work, based heavily on that of Pauline Meemeduma, is now awaiting approval of the OLT.
Drawing on both sets of documents Rod produced documents suitable to the situations in the schools of the Diocese of Kabankalan. A further step will be to align these documents with recently produced work by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines related to this matter. It is anticipated the final version of the documents will become policy some time in 2012.
Assistance for Teachers of the Slower Learners in the Diocesan Schools.
Denise Kidd's husband Tony is a Special Education and Pastoral Care Teacher at St. Thomas' College, Christchurch. His task in January was to research the situation for the students in 1st and 2nd Year High School who were the slower learners and to suggest ways to assist them. In the fortnight that the Kidd family have with us at this time he is presenting a series of workshops for the teachers of these students from across the diocese in the subjects English, Mathematics and Science, passing on the fruit of his research, drawing from the teachers their ideas and making suggestions to assist. These workshops are being held at Kabankalan Catholic College on October 15 and 17, 2011.
Campus Ministry
Mr. John Richards of Aquinas College, Perth, is also with us at this time. He is at the beginning stages of a project of researching what has been happening in the area of Campus Ministry in the schools of the diocese. Every school has Campus Ministry in place but it would be fair to say that Campus Ministry is limping due to the lack of good direction and clear planning. John is ideally placed to offer advice from his many years of working at this subject in Aquinas College.
We are fortunate that new leadership of Campus Ministry and Youth Leadership in the diocese is about to emerge in the person of a newly ordained priest who has had much experience in working with youth and in student and adult retreats in his life before ordination. Already he and John have met twice and will begin serious planning on Monday October 17, 2011.
Gratitude
We Brothers in Kabankalan already owe a huge debt to the work of Edmund Rice Volunteers and wish to express our sincere appreciation for their professional support. Especially at this time we thank Denise and Tony Kidd and those behind them in Christchurch and elsewhere. We thank John Richards and his wife Gerry (who spent a little over a week with us recently) and the many Aquinas College personnel who help to make it possible, from the Principal, Mr. Mark Sawle down. We are very grateful to Pauline Meemeduma for her time and expertise and to the Ministry Directorate for releasing her. Thank you Peter Clinch.
A little over one week ago the third School Immersion group for the year left us. Each year now we are visited by students and staff from Nudgee College Brisbane, CBC Adelaide and Aquinas College Perth. We believe these immersions are very good for the visitors and for the schools fortunate enough to be the hosts. But we Brothers recognize also the moral and material support that we receive. It is truly a time to give thanks!
