Written by Board Member, Ate Charmain Tan
We visited Virlanie Tanglaw Home once again to do a Financial Literacy Workshop. Virlanie Foundation is one of our most visited beneficiaries. Our first event with them was 2012 and we’ve had 26 events with them to date. Virlanie Foundation was established in 1992 by Dominique Lemay, French social worker. It aims to care for the children who are amongst the poorest of the poor, the abandoned, abused, exploited, neglected, and orphaned. One of their programs is the residential program, where the children are cared for in the different homes of Virlanie. The children are divided into different age groups as they stay in the homes and eventually moves out through family reunification, adoption, foster care, or independent living.
Today’s event was made possible by The Office Project, a coworking space located in Salcedo Village, Makati. As always the children were very energetic and enthusiastic as they saw our volunteers come in. The volunteers introduced themselves by showing off their dance moves while the kids judged them and got to cheer for their favorites. We then divided the volunteers and children into four groups. They teams got the opportunity to get to know one another. We then played the Bring me Art. Teams were given colored papers and scissors. They had to cut out the objects that we gave them. Some of the items were coins, piggy bank, and others. Each member of the team had to individually cut out the item and when all members finished they had to raise their papers. The team that finished the fastest got points.
We then had the Financial Literacy Workshop. The children got to learn about the currencies of different countries. We then gave the teams a small cash register that had play money and coins. The children got really excited when they saw the cash register. They were all grabbing the money and started playing with them. Kuya Harvard then taught them how to count change. They had to count all the paper money and coins inside the register and the teams had to tell us the correct amount. Some of the teams got it right the first time while others and to do a recount. He also gave several Peso amounts and the teams had to get the correct amount of money from the cash register. The first team that brought the correct amount of money gets a point. It was fun to watch as the children all tried to get the money as fast as they could. From the hurry they would make mistakes and bring us the wrong amount then they had to go back to their teams and count again. Some of the teams did really well as they were able to bring the correct amount of money every time.
After the workshop we did another fun game. We gave one colorful piggy bank to each team together with a bunch of coins. The children were to put the coins inside the piggy bank one by one and the fastest team wins. It was a challenge for some of the teams as the children became very energetic when they saw the coins. They were grabbing all the coins and didn’t want to put them back in the piggy bank. The volunteers had to constantly remind them to keep putting the coins inside. In the end all the groups were able to finish the game. We then told the kids we were leaving the piggy banks with them and they were all delighted.
We then had our afternoon snacks. One of the kids led the prayer and the kids got to enjoy their pizza, coke, and spaghetti. The kids were really excited and they kept telling us the food’s so good! They kept saying “Ang Sarap!” They kept asking for second and third serving of coke and they did love hot sauce on their pizza. It was funny as some of the kids put so much hot sauce and they ended up laughing and saying “Ang Anghang!” We then gave gifts to the children. They all got storybooks which they started reading as soon as they got them. They hugged and thanked the volunteers for spending the afternoon with them.
