Launching of FundLife’s Reach to Teach Project for North Tacloban amid the COVID-19 pandemic

As the City of Tacloban is currently facing another surge of cases due to COVID-19, this did not stop FundLife from making positive change to our boys and girls in the community through our Reach to Teach Program.

The players of FundLife from the different villages in Northern Tacloban which include Zone 123, Villa Diana, UNDP Village, Lion’s Village, GMA Kapuso Village, SOS Village, Aeroville, Coreville and Habitat Village cannot contain their excitement as the Community-Based Sessions resume last January 20, 2022. However, due to temporary prohibition of contact sports to avoid transmission of COVID-19 in areas placed under Alert Level 3, FundLife decided to postpone the Football sessions to ensure the safety of the players. Instead, a classroom-based type of sessions were adapted to continue their learning amid the current situation. Topics discussed include the prevention of COVID-19 and Mental Health, which are deemed as relevant and useful discussions with children and youth nowadays.

A total of 37 boys and 32 girls from UNDP Village, Lion’s Village, GMA Kapuso Village, SOS Village, Aeroville, Coreville and Habitat Village attended the two-hour session.

One of the players who attended the session from Aeroville, Rosemarie, cannot contain her happiness as the session paved the way for her to gain new set of friends and at the same time, she learned valuable lessons such as the importance of wearing face masks at all time and avoiding going outside if not necessary as precautionary measures to avoid the virus.

“After this session, I am looking forward to being able to apply all the lessons that I have learned from this session and the following sessions to come”, Rosemarie added.

Rosalyn, a player from the same village and a first-time attendee of the Community-Based Sessions, expressed her happiness as she got to participate in the activities prepared by the coaches and bond with some of the players who hail from different villages.

“Although I got nervous and tensed in participating since it is my first time, I am thankful that we have discussed about COVID-19 and being reminded of the importance of following the protocols such as the wearing of face masks. One of the most important things that I have also learned from the sessions is to always respect our coaches and players in FundLife”, Rosalyn added.

FundLife’s Reach to Teach Program will continue to make an impact on children and youth every Tuesday and Thursday. As part of the health and safety protocols, coaches from FundLife ensured that the boys and girls were properly wearing their face masks and observing physical distance while the sessions were being implemented.

Meanwhile, the community sessions and other initiatives of the organization resumed in the second week of January for its existing 5 community sites.

According to the government's alert system, Alert Level 3 is raised in areas where COVID-19 cases are high or increasing. Part of the restrictions include the conduct of contact sports. From January 14 to January 31, 2022, Tacloban City was placed under Alert Level 3.