April’s Newsletter
By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 26 Apr 2018
Read all about what has been happening in the GSF Village.
Tag: school
Capinahan Primary School Moving up Ceremony.
Leave a comment 11 Apr 2018
This month has been very special for all the children of the village. They have all been through their end of year awards at their schools. Many of the children have graduated from primary school to middle school and now it was the turn of the kinder children from Capinahan Primary School.
Capinahan Primary School is very close to GSF. Last year Greg and the Foundation visited the school and pledged to help them rebuild their classrooms, playground and stage over the coming months.  With the stage and playground now complete, repair work will now start on the classrooms.Â
The awards were handed out to the children for lots of different reasons: Most helpful went to Jelica, Most Cooperative went to Jarel Jhon Roca whose mother was Super Nanay 2018, Honors of Grade 2 went to Yeshien, Happy Helper awards were given to Valerie Borres and Denzel Dave Pamplona, Busy Bee award was given to Lorin May Panaligan, The Eager Beaver and Determined Kids award went to Rico Aljed Vicente, Best Discipline to Robert Jongco Jr, and finally another Honors award goes to Alden. Â
Well done to all our GSFÂ children. We are so proud of you. Â 
Saturday Class moves to a weekday …….
Leave a comment 5 Apr 2018
The children were up early when they heard that their Saturday classes were returning. Because of the school holidays, Central Philippine University have moved their lessons to the weekday. Â Student teachers from the college make the journey every week from Iloilo to spend the day with the children and teach them a variety of subjects.Â
The children love their lessons where they get to learn Maths, English, Philippine History and Physical Education. Â It’s fantastic that the children get this opportunity to learn in the holidays so when they go back to school in June they are up to speed.
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We love the t-shirt that one of the student teachers is wearing…..
WE GIVE YOU WINGS SO YOU CAN FLY
Thank you to CPU for helping our children achieve this.Â
Our GSF children graduate from elementary school.
2 Replies 4 Apr 2018
Some of our GSF Children have now graduated from Jose Alminana Memorial Elementary School and will now attend Lemery National Junior High School.
Their graduation day from Elementary to Junior High was held on 3 April with the students starting their new school in June when the school year starts.Â
It is not only a proud moment for the parents to see their children moving on to big school but a very special day for the children as they start the next chapter in their life.Â
Our future leaders of GSF……..
The Children of the GSF Village receive their end of year school awards.
Leave a comment 3 Apr 2018
On April 2, our Children of the village received their end of year awards from their school – Jose Alminana Memorial Elementary School. Many of our GSF village children attend this school in Lemery, which is about 15 minutes along the dirt road to the town.Â
The proud parents attended with their children and watched as they went up to receive a variety of awards such as: Most Cheerful, Most Great Giver, Most Active, With Honours, Kindness Award, Journalist of the Year and Athlete of the year.Â
One special girl, Fatima, who as many of you know, didn’t attend school for many years due to her tumour. Here she is a couple of years into her education and receiving “Most Cheerful Award.”    Â
Another special award was for Trixie, who received Journalist of the year award.
It is so rewarding to see this generation of children doing well at school – with a secure home now back in the village, they can really concentrate on their education.Â
The Literacy programme starts in the village.
Leave a comment 1 Feb 2018
On the 30th January and every Tuesday for the next 10 months, 43 mothers from the village will be studying hard. They have enrolled in a Literacy programme – an Alternative Learning system which means that all ages are welcome to join. A lot of our Mothers stopped school at primary level and did not enter high school so they are really excited to get this opportunity to learn again.  At the end of 10 months they will sit an exam and of course a Graduation Day will be held to hand out Diplomas for all those that pass.Â
An assessment exam was held this week to determine what level they will be in. There were a lot of very excited but nervous faces as they sat in silence doing their test!
“All in a week’s work”
Leave a comment 23 Nov 2017
All in a week’s work …..Â
Greg and his team have shown us how it can be done, all in just ONE WEEK! It is the pure passion in Greg that just comes naturally to him, to help everyone in his path and to help make a difference.Â
This is how his week unfolded …. On Monday the team left London Heathrow and flew to Dubai and then connected onto Manila. In Manila they were joined by our Ambassador, Ms Angelia Ong and they all flew on to Iloilo.  After an overnight in Iloilo they then flew to Lemery and then drove to the GSF village.Â
On arriving at the village, there was a buzz in the air – Mr Secker is here. The beneficiaries followed Greg around the village, not letting him out of their sight! Â After a fantastic community lunch, cooked by the mothers of the village, the team were then entertained with dancing, games and a christmas tree decoration competition. Who was going to win 1st prize?
Whilst in the village, Greg was also being filmed for a pilot for a documentary which is about encouraging other successful entrepreneurs to integrate the gift of  giving into their “business as normal”. If Greg can house 500 people .. there are certainly a lot more entrepreneurs out there who can do the same. Â
Meanwhile in the village, Dean and Angelia did some story telling. Dean had written a book for the children of the village and with Angelia’s help translating it into Filipino they soon had the children giggling away.
After spending a day and a half in the GSF village it was time for the team to visit the school that the Foundation have pledged to help for the next 10 years.  Capanihan School is 2km from the GSF village.  Over the next few months we will build toilet facilities, an ICT computer training centre, a playground, a full refurbishment of the entire school and full catering for the children.
It was time for the team to bid farewell to the community and set off back to Manila to join Bill and Tani Austin from the Starkey Hearing Foundation, where they helped fit hearing aids to children that were deaf. To assist in the giving of a gift of hearing was a very emotional day with many of the team in floods of tears as the child gave the thumbs up as he or she heard for the first time in their life. Â
The team had two more important visits to make before flying home – one was the House of Refuge Orphanage where Greg had sponsored the build of the medical centre, named after his late Grandmother, The Maud Clinic. They firstly stocked up with presents and then went and caught up with all the children.  And secondly, to personally thank all the wonderful Learn to Trade employees who have raised a fantastic amount of money towards the construction of the village.Â
After five days it was time for the flight home …. Manila – Dubai – London.
 “All in a week’s work!” – Greg Secker – you are a true inspiration to us all.Â
A busy, yet very rewarding week for the GSF team.
Leave a comment 9 Nov 2017
What an incredible week, – our head of GSF, Peter Cameron-Burnett and our Foundation Coordinator, Racquel Kiffin flew out to the Philippines to spend time at the Foundation village. So far this week,  they have joined in with a Medical Mission and today they visited a small local school that GSF are to help repair and expand.Â
Wednesday 8th November, started with a beautiful sunrise, marking both a subo (sad) and nalipay (happy) day.  Today marked the anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan, a sad day, but 4 years later, a happy day. Â
A Medical Mission was held for our beneficiaries where they received free medical and dental care. Medical personnel spent the day at the village volunteering their time to ensure that the community is well cared for, ensuring that they are healthy and happy. A day of remembering the past, but also looking forward to a brighter future…
The beneficiaries were so happy to also be joined by our Ambassador, Ms. Angelia Ong and her close friend, Ms. Michelle Gomez. They too spent the day showing their support,  joining in with the party atmosphere of the day – and dancing with the parents and children!Â
A heartfelt thank you to everyone involved – our GSF team, led by DR our project coordinator, all our volunteers, the medical personnel and of course our beautiful Ambassador, Ms. Angelia Ong.
Waking up the next morning  – was back to school day!  The GSF team visited the small local school that we are to help rebuild. It lies about a mile from the Foundation village in the hamlet of Capinahan.  The GSF team brought a few presents along to say hello! It’s a heart melting moment to see the reaction when you present the children with basics such as pens and pencils and simple toys. When you have nothing, even a little means a lot.Â
It was wonderful to meet the children at the local school, -Â Â the teachers are doing an amazing job supporting them. The repair and expansion works we are engaged in will go towards helping to give them a brighter future.
