At the mere mention of kids, Fr. Pierre Tritz’s eyes brightened as he smiled from ear to ear. “My work is to help children and the poor who have no money to get an education,” said the 99-year-old Jesuit who has led Educational Research and Development Assistance (ERDA) Foundation, Inc. for almost four decades.
Though born in France, Fr. Tritz has spent most of his life elsewhere. He served as a missionary in China from 1936 to 1948 until political conflict began to rise in the country. Fr. Tritz was then sent to the Philippines in 1950. Over the years, he fell in love with the country and chose to stay. In 1974, he founded ERDA as a response to an article on dropout rates in local public schools. Both fading and recent-looking photos of him with friends—from different age brackets and social classes—cover his desk at the non-government organization (NGO). Today, ERDA focuses on (1) educational assistance, (2) child, family, and community assistance, and (3) child protection.
Accessible learning
While the first is ERDA’s main goal, the other two are also duly considered. A program dubbed ABK3 LEAP (Livelihoods, Education, Advocacy and Protection to Reduce Child Labor in Sugarcane Areas), for instance, falls under the NGO’s plans for child protection. Yet to lessen child labor, they still see education as a factor in the issue.
Moreover, educational assistance isn’t just about tuition fees. With the help of barangay officials, ERDA has built preschool centers in various communities. To make learning even more accessible, the group set up mobile schools that go around Metro Manila as well as rural areas. There is also an alternative learning system (ALS) and catch-up sessions for dropouts who wish to go back to school.
SaBaNA
Another project is SaBaNa (Sanayan ng mga Batang Nanambakan), a building made for former child scavengers in the dumpsites of Tondo, Manila. It houses a preschool center, and rooms wherein tutorials and ALS efforts are held. Also, the first floor is a place for the student’s parents, called parent-leaders, to engage in livelihood activities like sewing and painting.
Hazel Vega, now a peppy 19-year-old, was once a preschool student at SaBaNa. To this day she remains an ERDA scholar, set to graduate with a computer applications degree from the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde (DLS-CSB) in October 2014. ERDA and DLS-CSB have maintained a partnership to help put students from poor families through school.
In an interview, Hazel said that ERDA has done more than to help fund her education. “Sa ERDA, doon ko na-enhance yung leadership skills ko… tsaka yung behavior [At ERDA, that’s where I enhanced my leadership skills and behavior].” She explained that ERDA regularly holds free seminars and other related events. The lessons from these proved to be useful, especially when she joined organizations in high school and college. As a way of giving back, Hazel volunteers at SaBaNa as a Math and English tutor in her spare time.
Christina Salutal-Carrasco, who had financial aid from ERDA for elementary up to college, is another of many grateful to the NGO. After college, she worked as a marketing assistant for a local firm, where she met her husband. “Hindi ko mararating ‘to kung ‘di dahil sa work ko… at kung ‘di ako grumaduate, ‘di ako nakakuha ng job [I wouldn’t have arrived at this point if not for my work… and if I didn’t graduate, I wouldn’t have gotten the job].” Now Christina is a full-time housewife. “Successful pa rin ako kahit papano kasi may dalawang kids ako at maganda yung pagsasama namin ng husband ko [I’m still successful somehow because I have two kids and a good relationship with my husband].”
BK-RESToRe
Besides SaBaNa, ERDA has another center in Tondo. Known as BK-RESToRe (Buhay Kalikasan – Revitalizing and Expanding Services Towards Rehabilitation and Reintegration), it is a temporary shelter for children in conflict with the law (CICL).
Ruel Noprada, who was into drugs before he became a BK-RESToRe kid, now lives with his family in Quezon City. With ERDA’s guidance, he was eventually able to turn away from drugs. “Marami akong experiences na masaya, na dahil sa ERDA naranasan ko [I’ve had a lot of happy experiences, thanks to ERDA],” he added. For example, the NGO offers sports leagues and eco-park trips so that the CICL, despite their past mistakes, will not forget the joy of youth.
ERDA also enrolled Ruel in ALS, and then short courses in cooking and baking. He thinks the skills he got from these are handy to have on his resume. Though now busy with his job at a fast food chain, he visits BK-RESToRe when there are special events.
TuKLASan
Meanwhile, in San Juan, Metro Manila, there is another temporary shelter run by ERDA. It is called TuKLASan, short for Tuklas (discovery), Kalinga (care), Laruan (play), Aralan (study) at Sanayan (training). Instead of CICL, it was built for former street children.
Jeffrey Monserate is one of the boys who live at TuKLASan. His dark past involves abuse from his stepmother, thus he ran away from home and struggled to survive. Then, he met a street educator who brought him to ERDA. Through the NGO’s help, Jeffrey was able to enter the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, where he is now a senior taking up education. After college, he would like to be a teacher. “Gusto kong i-view yung sarili ko na matutulungan yung mga batang kagaya ko [I want to view myself as someone who can help kids like me],” he said.
Hazel, Christina, Ruel and Jeffrey aren’t the only ones whose lives have been changed by ERDA’s programs. Based on their records, ERDA has had around 800,000 student beneficiaries and counting. While each kid may have their own path to success, Fr. Tritz and everyone else at the NGO continue to uphold the belief that with hard work and proper studies, they can attain it.
Thus, perhaps Fr. Tritz, though almost a hundred years old, is kept youthful and alive by the mission he works toward—education for all. He hopes that even after he is long gone, his cause will inspire others to see the value of learning. “By helping kids go to school, we can prepare them for the real world,” he said.
Gianna Villavicencio graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2011. After that, she worked at BusinessWorld Publishing Corp. for about two and a half years. She currently lives in the US.