I consider this Inquirer Read-along session in Katipunan Elementary School (Sagbayan, Bohol) as one of my favorite storytelling sessions for several reasons:
(1) It was the joined forces of Inquirer Read-along and Basadours plus the overwhelming talents of two professors from the University of Cebu (Edz and Mariz) who really made this session very meaningful;
(2) This was a session that was held in a school that was affected by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit the province of Bohol last October 15. Three pupils died. Hearing the stories from the teachers was like being brought back to the day after the earthquake when they learned that they will never see the faces of those three pupils again;
(3) It was a heartwarming session because we saw the parents participating with their children. I nearly broke into tears when children and a teacher sang a song (to the tune of Imelda Papin’s Isang Linggong Pag-ibig) that narrated their lives after the earthquake experience;
(4) A realization that children can be the most vulnerable part of society in times of disasters but they are also the most resilient. This was evident in our arts and crafts activities when they drew “Safe Places” and their Ideal Communities.
This is a very short video of that Viva Clap! that we all shared but you can feel how alive the children are even after a major disaster.
