Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Budlaan kids to get books
AROUND 50 children from a Gawad Kalinga village in Barangay Budlaan, Cebu City became beneficiaries of a summer storytelling program.
Employee-volunteers of Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) returned to the PLDT-Smart Amazing Gawad Kalinga (GK) Village in Budlaan to read stories once again to the children-beneficiaries.
When the program culminates on April 29, the team will turn over books and two refurbished computers to the GK Budlaan Daycare Center for the use of the children.
The storytelling program is an extension of Smart’s Read-to-be-Smart Project under its Adopt-A-School Program.
It was for children aged six to 11 years old.
Storytelling sessions started on the fourth week of March and ran for five weekends.
Through the program, employee volunteers aim to impart the value of reading by instilling a love for books among the children-beneficiaries of the GK Village.
Various Filipino stories were read to the children. Some sessions also included arts and crafts activities for the children, such as drawing and puppet-making.
Seminar
“In preparation for the program, we attended a seminar on how to conduct storytelling sessions with Museo Pambata Foundation where we learned a lot of useful tips. For example, as a story teller, one must be familiar with the words and the characters of the story before reading it to the kids. And then, read loud enough to be heard and slow enough to be understood,” said Neil Godinez of Smart Network Services Division.
“Being a volunteer reminds me to do things unconditionally. The storytelling program is one way for Smart employees to give back to the community,” he added.
“Smart employees have always been active in volunteer activities. Smart supports activities that give employees an opportunity to share their time and skills to others. The storytelling program is a chance to promote love for reading among the GK Budlaanchildren. We plan to do this again next summer, and we hope to encourage more employees to volunteer as storytellers to the children,” said Smart Public Affairs manager for Visayas-Mindanao Atty. Jane Paredes.
