Teresa, Karyn & Carol

"The social significance of a cultural breakthrough,
as contrasted with a social movement, does not
arise from its being done by vast masses of people
but from its being done decisively by someone"

--Jim Corbett's Quixote Principle

One of the most touching aspects of the school is how new sponsors have joined with old friends to become like an extended family for the students. Their continuing loyalty never ceases to reduce me to absolute mush.

Teresa and I became friends thirty years ago in Redwood City, California, when we both were new to the world of sailing. Bill and I were building our gaff-rigged PILAR, and Teresa and her partner were refitting their cruising sloop. Teresa and I began working together on other boats, sanding and varnishing, and while we worked she would enchant me with stories of her huge family, growing up in Spain. Dazzled by the bounty of her memories, not wanting to lose any of it to time and poor memory, I began writing them down...my first literary efforts for which I will always be grateful.

Karyn and Carol came into our life through an email last year, and continue to brighten our mailbox with frequent updates. They initiated the friendship thus:

"Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 22:44:26 -0500
Subject: What can I do to help your school?

Good evening, Diane,

My name is Karyn, I am Cathy's sister. Cathy has been talking about you and your wonderful school, non-stop, since she got back from the Philippines. You and your students have had quite an impact on her, so I wanted to see what I could do to help, too.

Cathy gave me a set of the cards your students made, and I love them, so I would like to help market them...I also wanted to let you know that I love to haunt garage sales and flea markets, so if you could provide me with a list of any books (classroom or otherwise), supplies, clothing, etc, you might need, as well as an address to send them to, I would be happy to keep an eye out for them."

In the Philippines, the government allows a special service (called "Balykbayon") for people abroad to send packages inexpensively into the country. For the past several years, in addition to sponsoring (in conjunction with her husband, Steve) one of our college students, Teresa has been regularly forwarding boxes of donations to the school--thus enabling Karyn and Carol to send HUGE amounts of clothing, books and school supplies to the students.

With any donation we receive, the students begin working on their Thank You's, incorporating the new materials if possible, and/or using the computers to develop their skills. For Teresa, Karyn and Carol, they turned to PowerPoint Presentations--their first-time experience!

Much of the art the children used were their own, utilizing their previous skills to scan the pieces themselves. They were very taken with the "bells and whistles"--sound effects and animations--but these have been lost during the embedding process here...