IN MEMORY OF Welnar P. Rivas (August 7, 1993 to March 13, 2007)

"...the mystery of life lies in the unexpected twists and turns that we meet along the way. Just when we thought the road is paved and smooth we encounter a bump that forces us to take a detour to some rutted, potholed street...yet, the beauty of it is that before we stumble upon that roadblock, we are able to have a life. We are allowed to laugh, to cry, and to exist the way we want to..."

--Nicel Jane D. Avellana
Cancer Survivor

My Name is Welnar P Rivas; I was born on August 7, 1993
in San Jose, Sursogon.

My mother sent me to school in Siaton, at Felipe Tayco Memorial School.
I have a problem for hearing and I can’t talk but
I go to school. I get hurt because of my situation. My aunt Jocelyn knows that there is
One Candle Schoolhouse in Tambobo. So my cousin brings my picture
and asks if for me to be a student of this school
because I want to know how to use the computer.

In One Candle Schoolhouse there is a donation to solve my problem.
I receive a hearing aid and that’s a big help for me. I learn many things like drawing, painting, and designing eggshell boxes.
I’m so happy to be a student in this school
because all the students are understand my situation.

Painting by Welnar

Last week, Welnar was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was a passenger on a small motorbike, riding to his regular school in nearby Siaton. In rural Philippines, this is the local mode of transportation. It was a tragic accident, the driver not noticing the turn signal of the utility truck ahead of him before trying to pass. In the collision, Welnar was thrown and hit his head. Though Siaton has a hospital, it is only equipped to do X-rays. He was taken to Dumaguete, ninety minutes away, where he died.

During the same week, published in Dumaguete's weekly paper, the MetroPost, columnist Nicel Avellana mused how it would be if everyone were given a book at birth titled, How to Live. Within this book would be advice for each individual on which paths to take, and their consequences. She postulates that if we did have such a book, "...we wouldn't have to keep guessing whether the decisions we make are sound or not."

Given such a book, Avellana then goes on to wonder how her parents would have reacted to the information that their newborn daughter would develop cancer at the age of twenty-six. She imagines they'd search for cures, become depressed at the odds given in the late 1970's, then "probably treat me like china...not allow me to have a normal childhood...(hoping) the prediction would somehow reverse itself." She even adds that they might have even "thought twice" about having their two other children.

When I first read the column, I wanted to share it with our niece whose six-week old daughter had just survived several surgeries, due to bile duct failure. Though the spectre of brain damage and a liver transplant still loom in little Tatum's future, she was home from the hospital, "eating and laughing and pooping" like a normal child. Wonderful news--but it was easy to imagine for our grandniece the author's feelings, that if her parents had known of her future cancer she, "...would have most certainly missed being a normal kid, and would have had to endure being fussed over at the slightest fall."

In the days following Welnar's death, I thought of how his mother, Rosalinda, widowed during her pregnancy, must have felt when her son was born deaf--and I realized that she had somehow found the grace to help her son "have a life...to laugh, to cry, and to exist the way (he) wanted to."

This blog was impulsively begun as a means to share the progress of the students with friends of our school. Grateful for a donation that made it possible to attend an event for Special Needs children and facilitate their Arts table , that first entry (Candle In The Park) promised to include more pictures in a later entry. Given that Welnar and April Rhine (our other deaf student) also participated in the games that day, it now seems fitting to close the circle by including in this memorial to Welnar, those children whose lives were also affected by "unexpected twists and turns."

Field Trip

The third day in December, we go to Dumaguete to attend the Norwegian Disabled Care Foundation to share our talent in other children.

The student in OCHS they are all happy when teaching the disable children. I proud in the disable children because they have talent to show people.



by John Mark Dominisac

Allan Lajot writes:

It’s very hard to teach a differently-abled child but they can do what you think they can’t.

I was very pleased with their great
performances. They made me think of how different people do different work.

One Candle Schoolhouse students

helping GP Rehab students
making some tie-dyes.

This is what the children made

When we go to Dumaguete I saw the children sitting at the wheelchair. When I look at them they are sad but they can do like what we can do because I can teach them to do tie-dye and make a flag with shell.

Charlie Palallos

Mia sewing her flag

with Richel

Because Welnar and April Rhine are hearing-impaired, they were allowed to participate in the special games organized for the GP Rehab students.

Here, Rhine is fitted with a safety harness by Jufer before she begins to climb the wall.

Normally shy, it was delightful to see her bold ascent.

Then it's Welnar's turn.

He was very
excited,
because he had been looking forward to this event all morning!

"Every pearl
is the result of an oyster's victory
over an irritation"

Better Late Than Never

"All the genuine, deep delight of life is in showing people the mudpies you have made: and life is at its best when we confidingly recommend our mudpies to each other's sympathetic consideraton"
--J.M.Thorburn

It has been over two months since the last posting--due to an overload of projects in general, and total frustration with re-sizing the last post's photos, in particular! To all our friends who've looked to this page for updating, please forgive the lapse--and though I still need to correct the re-sizing problem for those who have not been able to enlarge the pictures and read the history of our school, know that continuing to reliably update these pages is a commitment I'm eager to return to. This posting and the next few may be a bit uneven as I resume the work, but I trust that you will agree that DOING it will (at least for awhile) be more important than HOW PERFECT it's done. (I've been getting the ArtBizCoach's weekly newsletters, and those words of advice from her are what's gotten me motivated!)

So for now, to fill the recent information void, I will post an assortment of photos to introduce:

Where we are located

This is an aerial of Port Bonbonon, at the very tip of Negros Oriental, Philippine Islands.
The original school was located at the end of the pier, at the bottom of the photo, until moving
to Tambobo, located between and below the words 'Where' and 'we',
on the finger of land pointing to the yachts.

(Our home, Pilar, is anchored midway between the two schools)

What we look like & the things we do:

(clockwise) Our Main Classroom, Diane with Roselyn, Charlie playing chess with Bill,

Ivy, Ryan and Radel prepare lunch with
assistant Ludy, Math help with Ludy for Roselyn, Reynalyn & Rhine

Brothers Jayfer (then, 5) & Allan (13) discovering computers

Guest Teachers
from the
yachting community

are a treasured source of expertise.

Architect/Sailor/Artist Robin Riley
demonstrating Water Color Techniques.

You can see that Ricagin caught on quickly!














This is John Mark with his cousin Charlie,
and the drawing JM made of a Chinese Junk under repair, in front of the school.

One of Charlie's many talents is drying flowers,
then 'tweaking' his designs when he scans them into the computer.

Isn't Ryan's frog,
an illustration for one of his cards,
wonderful?

During Summer School of 2006,

the students began developing their own small businesses, creating cards, candles, jewelry and gift boxes to market. Artistic, linquistic and mathmatical skills are exercised as they individually design, craft, and maintain accounting records of materials, labor and profits.

For the many who cannot afford a college education, these skills will help them establish small cottage industries, thus reducing financial dependance on badly depleted fishing and farming sources
in their villages.

Our goal has always been to help children
learn HOW to think,
rather than WHAT to think.

In addition to adult Guest Teachers,

foreign children from Cruising Yachts often become teachers, too,
when they join us as Guest Students.

This is Bronwyn Wilde,

from New Zealand,

reading to Jayfer,

playing recorders
with Jaid and Leonila.

We have Special Needs children, also...

In this picture, Alzadam and Bernalyn are learning to sign,

so they can communicate easily with our two
hearing impaired students.

Donations from Al Wasserman and the Pool/Stuckey family ( as well as special consideration from Dr. Reyes, in Dumaguete), made it possible for Welnar and April Rhine to each obtain a set of hearing aids.





Using ClipArt and PowerPoint Presentations on the computer, tools to help them learn to read and write in English/Visayan, Welnar and Rhine have created their own illustrated Dictionary.





What was intended to be a quick patchwork of pictures has turned into an all-day obsession! I've had a wonderful time (dispite the frustrations of figuring out how to DO this!) and I long to keep on showing even more, it's been so stimulating.

But it's time to give it up...Bill has been back at the boat for hours, so I must go. In future posts, I will include the writings the kids have done, as well, but for now this is it.

Goodnight!