60 new sets of volunteers, before sending off to the field, have reported five additional schools to be established at Sulu and Tawi-Tawi during a recently conducted Courtesy Call at Zamboanga Peninsula Mission Headquarters at Tiayon, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay on July 24, 2024.
ZPM SULADS AMR are grouped into two clusters; Sulu Cluster and Tawi-Tawi Cluster.
In Sulu Cluster, there are two sites; Sulari and Kahoy Sinah which are both located at Parang, Sulu. This island is located in the southern Philippines, rich in culture with abundant marine resources and a home for the Tausug tribe, one of the strongest Muslim tribes, and also the Badjau tribe in the Philippines. For more than two decades this had been a war-stricken island but now, fortunately, Sulu is ASG-free as declared by the Special Forces last November 2022. Sulu, without any peace, education, or livelihood for the longest time, especially in the far-flung areas has now two flourishing schools, the Peace Formation, and Learning Centers which are located at Bud Bunga and Upper Sinumaan, Talipao, Sulu which is the home for the Tausug people, accommodating 328 pupils not including Adult Classes last school year, 2023-2024 according to Mrs. Fellah Pagapong, the assigned Registrar of both schools. Currently, with their new supervisor, Mr. Junarey Duarte, with the new volunteers, four schools will be in full operation for this year and the years to come.
Meanwhile, in Tawi-Tawi, the seaweed capital of the Philippines, where ZPM SULADS AMR influence spread like wildfire, it will be at Tahao island, Guakan island, and the re-opening of Tambunan island. The Tawi-Tawi Cluster has seven schools situated in the islands of Bagid, Laa, Tando, Punduhan, Liabuoran, Tongbankaw, and Tah-tah serving 800 students which mostly belong to Sama, Tausug, Badjau, and Jama Mapun tribes last school year, 2023-2024 according to the former Tawi-Tawi Cluster Supervisor, Mr. Junarey Duarte. As of now, with Mr. Diodolo Luad leading the cluster, ten schools will be in full swing starting this year.
These schools became an Annex to the Local DepEd Schools thus, these learners are slowly reaching their dreams through the blood, sweat, and tears of these ZPM SULADS AMR volunteers. The birth of these five schools aspires to extend a hand to more community, more people who thirst for learning, peaceful living, and a bright future through education.
Focusing on their intervention within the community, these volunteers, just like the previous ones, will take part in community activities, engage in house-to-house visitation while providing basic medical attention like checking blood pressure, and promote healthy living while educating both adults and children for free and introducing them to basic livelihood to sustain their families’ needs.
ZPM Socio-economic Uplift, Literacy, Anthropological, and Developmental Services (SULADS)- Adventist-Muslim Relations (AMR) volunteers having been enveloped with the message from the ZPM Executive Secretary, Pr. Vilmar Mandalupa, who gently reminded them to be like David who became ‘a man after God’s own heart’ and forget not that God never calls the qualified but He qualifies the called, contemplated with an affirmative response.
The ZPM Education Department Director, Sir Victor Palin, and his golden years of experience in Tawi-Tawi have truly inspired the volunteers to do their best while putting God at the center of their lives.
In addition, the ZPM Adventist Mission Director, Pr. Ranny De Vera had given an orientation of the volunteers’ responsibility in the field addressing their needs according to the HEAL (Health, Education, Agriculture and Livelihood) program of SULADS.
With the undivided support of the ZPM Administrators and workers, this year’s batch, “Machaira,” is ready for send-off.
