Streetlight attracts U of A students eager to change lives of impoverished children

While most students spent their summer working, studying, or simply relaxing, a group of seven volunteers from the University of Alberta joined hands with international organization Streetlight to make a difference in the lives of impoverished children.

Based in Tacloban, Philippines, Streetlight was founded in 2004 by Erland Johnannesen, whose travels with his missionary father took him to Southeast Asia. The organization provides street children with an alternative to the orphanages that Johnannesen had visited in his journeys. Classifying these centres as orphanage factories, he worked hard to provide orphaned children with a safe and community-like home.

“There are 14 boys living there right now, and they’re like a huge family. They have ten support staff working there at all times. They have house moms and house fathers. You can tell they really care about the kids,” explained Kurtis Haynes, a volunteer and Master’s student in marine biology at the U of A.

Emphasizing the value of family, Johannesen has expanded his services to help children from underprivileged families. Through Tacloban’s Study and Development Centre, fully funded by Canadians, approximately 50 students are provided with warm meals, transportation to their schools, and tutoring services.

The U of A connection was created much in part by the work of Kieran Ryan, a recent Bachelor of Commerce graduate in Business Law and Economics. First affiliated with the organization in 2006, Ryan recruited four out of the seven volunteers that participated in a month-long trip in August, 2008.

With the help of their friends, the volunteer team prepared for their trip by using various fundraising techniques, eventually making enough to purchase nine laptops for the Study and Development Centre. By doing so, they allowed children the opportunity to develop essential computer skills that would allow them to secure jobs in the future.

“The children saw the computers, but didn’t think it was something that was in their reach. So, the fact that we left nine laptops for them to work on and learn on was important,” explained Brock Paterson, a participant now in his first year of nursing.

While it was difficult to predict what to expect, the U of A team noted that they could only feel excitement as they arrived in Tacloban. In an area secluded from tourists, the locals welcomed the visitors—known as the Westerners—with interest and speculation. When learning of their association with Streetlight, Haynes explained that community members began to express greater displays of respect.

Despite the warm reception, the volunteers described their shock at the conditions in which the students of the Study and Development Centre lived. Through their daily night walks, they encountered the Seawall, a community of make-shift shacks, as they distributed food to the young and elderly.

“The first week was really fun, because kids just loved having us there. But once we started doing the night walks in the streets and saw where they really lived, it started to hit you a lot harder,” recounted Marney Beliveau, a fifth-year accounting student.

For a month, Streetlight Canada spent time offering students typing lessons, providing tutoring sessions, and holding birthday parties. Perhaps most importantly, according to Joel Elford, a fourth-year finance student, was building strong relationships with children that society has rejected.

“These are kids that have been living on the streets for the last three or four years. Society sees them as the low of the low. They have not had anyone believe in them,” Elford explained.

“To have westerners come over, create relationships, create experiences, and create memories, it’s something they will remember forever. They develop self-confidence because they think, ‘someone does believe in me.’ ”

Returning home after this eye-opening experience, the team of seven is determined to spread their message on campus and raise money to fund the development of another Study and Development Centre.

“We want to support whoever we can that wants to go out and have that experience as well. That’s one of our main initiatives for this year: looking for volunteers that want the same experience we did,” Elford concluded.