FOR most children in the rural areas, summer offers opportunities to swim in the sea, catch spiders and fly kites outdoors.
But the children at Mocpoc Elementary School in Sandingan Island, Loon, Bohol chose to stay indoors for a week to travel to imaginary lands and kingdoms of fairies and superheroes.
Through the storytelling project of Smart Communications, these young Boholanos were able to spend part of their summer encountering the pleasures of storytelling.
“We organize this summer activity for a chosen community each summer not only to make reading an enjoyable experience for children, but also to impart values through storytelling,” said Smart senior manager and Public Affairs VisMin head Jane Paredes.
“This year, we partnered with The Storytelling Project, which shares our advocacy for learning, and chose Sandingan Island to host the activity,” added Paredes.
The island was among those devastated by the earthquake in Bohol in 2013.
“This gave us the chance to learn good values from stories we heard—these lessons would help us become good citizens,” said 11-year-old Mary Joy Laguardia.
Her mother wants her to be a nurse someday, but Mary Joy said she’d rather be a teacher because she wants to help educate young people.
“Nakatabang ang storytelling kay gi-mold ang among gagmay’ng hunahuna to think creatively. Karon mas ganahan na ko mobasa kay gitudloan pud mi unsaon pagbasa (The storytelling activity has helped push our young minds to think creatively. Now, I am more keen to read because we were taught how to do it right),” she said.
The stories were acted out by student volunteers from the University of San Jose-Recoletos with each story emphasizing life-long lessons. At the culminating activity, the student volunteers acted out a story of a fairy, who transformed the lives of three environmental polluters.
Mary Joy’s favorite story at the week-long storytelling sessions was Papel de Liha, about a mother whose hands were very rough they were likened to sandpaper.
This was because she did all the housework herself, until her daughter realized that she has to help her mother with the chores.