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 eace Corps Volunteer Rose Marie Starkey, the mother of three grown children, made the life changing decision to join the Peace Corps and participate in the Philippine's Business Advising and Youth Development (BAYD) Project. It was not long before the Philippines became her second home and a place where she made dreams become a reality through the lives that she touches.
It was through the relationship with her supervisor Father "GC" Carandang, that Rose Marie gained the inspiration to become a catalyst for change. In the beginning, Rose Marie felt that her goal would be to utilize her computer programming skills to "establish a self-sustaining program, in which she would teach the teachers and then mentor, leaving a program in place, customized to the people." But, on an ordinary day when she was making her customary daily round of socializing with the locals, her project goal changed.
Rose Marie encountered a day care teacher seeking help in reopening a center recently closed by local authorities. Initially, Rose Marie was very timid about becoming involved with the day care center, "I wasn't really high on the idea, frankly. I'm a computer programmer, not a day care manager." It was not long before Rose Marie was persuaded by her instinctive call from within, the heart felt encouragement from Father GC, and other newly found Filipino friends, that she began to tackle the daunting challenge of breathing new life into the distressed day care center.
Rose Marie knew that the road that lay ahead was going to be rough partially due to the demographics of her new community. It was estimated that a small percent of the population was considered to be wealthy, a modest number of middle class, and the rest suffer to make ends meet. Officially 100,000 Filipinos resided in her town, but Rose Marie believes that another 100,000 unofficially reside there as well. The 100,000 unofficial Filipinos are unregistered and unrecognized by the government, leaving them on their own to survive.
During the process of restructuring the day care center, Rose Marie kept in mind that lack of education shackles all poor to a cycle of poverty; therefore, Rose Marie's plan from the start was to erect a sensible business framework to support basic education in a caring environment for children ranging in age from 3 to 6 years old who came from families that struggled daily to make ends meet. Rose Marie knew that she had to incorporate basic education into the framework of the day care center if there was going to be a change for the underprivileged children. "They (the underprivileged children) do not even know their left from their right, literally. Numbers? Forget it. Read? No way. The children won't even survive first grade, if they get there at all," Rose Marie grimly commented.
The key components necessary for resurrecting the new day care center were funding and volunteers. Funding came from all ends of the spectrum and in various forms such as books and other basic needs. The study content and the hands-on teaching methods quickly attracted a following of young Filipino professionals who signed up as volunteers to assist in running the three weekday sessions of the day care center.
Rose Marie also formed a Parent Teachers Association (PTA) which embodied a membership of Filipinos from a range of social classes. Rose Marie commented that "they have never had anything like this before - all social classes productively working together."
As Rose Marie's time as a volunteer is coming to a close, she is relinquishing her business management chores to a carefully groomed successor who, Rose Marie adds, is strictly bound by the center's new charter and oversight by the local PTA.
Rose Marie confidently feels that the day care center is going to last, and a grateful number of families in the town hope so as well. The increase in the number of children registering for the day care center relates to the parents realizing the importance of their children gaining an education, which will hopefully steer them away from a life of utter poverty. Rose Marie earnestly maintains that, "I teach them (the young children) to dream. And dreaming is something they never did before." Rose Marie not only inspires children, but through her work she's given the parents in her community hope for a brighter tomorrow.
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