Safe Schools: Uniting Interfaith Children
Unite Inter-Faith Children via Education and Safe Schools
In the Philippines, religious conflict and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children. The country has around 50 million school aged children between 5 and 15 years old. UNICEF estimates that 2.85 million girls and boys aged 5-21 years are out of school, and 8 in 10 children experience some form of local crime violence or civil war, and daily physical, psychological, sexual or online abuse.
This program promotes peace in inter-faith communities through schools that ingrain the value of cooperation and equal opportunity. We provide books, chairs and tables, school supplies, and hygiene facilities. Each semester we provide nutrition programs for more than 50,000 children per week across the 7,000 island nation.
The Philippines school-aged population 65 million are mostly impoverished and malnourished. Sulu Province, in Mindanao region, with a majority Muslim population, remains near the bottom of the United Nations’ worldwide Human Development Index. Christian and mountain tribal communities in Luzon and Visayas regions are currently recovering from multiple natural disasters. In both regions, we supply schools with books, clean water, adequate nutrition, and hygiene supplies.
This program materially assists 30,000 children in 60 elementary schools in Sulu and Visayas. They are overcoming extreme poverty and communal violence through integrated literacy, livelihood skills, and health support. Mothers and fathers of pupils assist teachers to cook daily nutritious meals. We provide thousands of books, school supplies, garden tools, and fresh water systems.
The long-term positive impact of this program empowers Christian and Muslim communities to learn from each other through their respective best practices. Asia America Initiative serves as a communication bridge for action. Our social media facilitates transparent communication and dispels fear and myths that alienate communities who feel alone and abandoned. Starting in schools, positive interaction, and equal treatment of various cultural groups by AAI facilitates mutual respect and inspiration necessary for peace and development.