STORY HOURS: Storytelling with Lyra and friends

Children from Mactan Air Base Elementary School and Sto. Niño Mactan Montessori School joined the February 18 session of Story Hours, a literacy development initiative organized by Basadours, Cebu Daily News and J Centre Mall.
PHOTO VIANCA ABELLANA

When her daily allowance was not enough to pay for fare from Lapu-Lapu City to Cebu City, then education student Lyra Arina-Jayoma made sure that the jeepneys she rode were those that had no conductors on board, those driver assistants who would yell out the destination and collect money from passengers.

That way, she could pretend to have already paid for her fare even though she barely had a single centavo in her pocket.

Times were hard but Lyra was simply bent on completing her education degree at the Cebu Normal University (CNU) even if it meant committing occasional mistakes.

“I didn’t want to be a teacher but Cebu Normal University (CNU) had the cheapest school fees. It was only 2,200 per semester and that was even more than we can afford,” she recalled.

Lyra took the entrance exam and passed. She became a college student in 2003.

She took full load units every semester and never thought of quitting even when times were difficult.

Her 50-peso daily allowance was just enough for a round-trip fare from Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City to Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City where CNU is located.

Her regular lunch consisted of rice (packed from home), dinuguan and lumpia which she bought from eateries surrounding the university which sold cheap food for students on a limited budget.

“I was already 19 years when I started college because my parents could not afford to send us to school. But I wanted to finish a degree because that is the only treasure that I will have,” Lyra, 32, said.

“We are not rich and my education is my wealth,” she added.

In order to raise funds for her college education, after high school while only 17 years old, Lyra worked for companies at the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ).

She decided to give up her job, just before becoming a regular employee, to go back to school.

The daughter of a security guard and a housewife, Lyra had an older brother and three younger siblings.

At stake, when she quit her job, was the food that she helped bring to the family table.

But Lyra was headstrong in getting herself a college degree.

She graduated in 2007, a few years older than her batchmates; but she was perhaps the proudest CNU graduate that year.

Teacher Lyra Jayoma (second from right) of Mactan Air Base Elementary School receives books from teachers of Sto. Niño Mactan Montessori School. Private school pupils are encouraged to bring books to be donated to their public school partner as part of Story Hours.
PHOTO VIANCA ABELLANA

Paying forward

Lyra was employed at the University of San Jose-Recoletos Basak Campus for five years before she landed a job as a public school teacher at the Mactan Air Base Elementary School.

Last February 18, Lyra accompanied 15 pupils of the public school to join Story Hours, a literacy development initiative organized by Cebu Daily News, J Centre Mall and Basadours, a group of volunteer ambassadors for reading and storytelling.

Story Hours provides a venue for public school pupils to interact with children from private schools. Children and teachers of the private school donated books to the public school.

That Saturday, pupils from Santo Niño Mactan Montessori School joined the activities which included storytelling and story writing sessions.

Featured during the event was the book “Bru-ha-ha-ha-ha! Bru-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi!” a story written by Ma. Corazon Remegio and illustrated by Roland Mechael Ilagan, told from the perspective of a child and on why she thinks the old lady Mrs. Magalit is a witch.

French national Michael Pochet with wife Mira joined their six-year-old son Keith during the session.

“It’s unusual for me to attend events like this but I am very happy to see an initiative as meaningful as this,” he told CDN.

“It’s a very good initiative to promote storytelling. It is well organized and the children are having fun,” Pochet added.

For teacher Lyra, there is nothing like the power of stories to entice children to learn more.

“It’s time to bring back the beauty and brilliance of storytelling in the classrooms especially that it enhances a lot of skills,” Lyra said.

“The listening skills of children need to be developed at a certain age and storytelling is one way of making sure that they develop and improve that skill,” she added.

Ten years after graduating from college, Lyra who took up Education only because it offered the cheapest tuition fees at CNU, now loves teaching.

Her joy comes from being part of the process of molding young children to aspire to be better, no matter the odds, just as she did before.