Many distinguished guests from Korea and Philippines celebrated the opening of the school. Mr. John Reynard Tiangco, the mayor of Navotas, warmly welcomed the guests.

City of Navotas is one of the poorest cities in the Metro Manila and most of the residents suffer from extreme poverty. In January 2011, there was a big fire which destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings in the City of Navotas. One of the main buildings of San Roque Elementary School was also completely burnt down by the fire. However, the local government could not support unexpected construction of the school building due to a shortage of budget.

In partnership with Daum Communications, one of the leading IT corporations in Korea, Heart to Heart has supported reconstruction of the school as Global Hope School project. The Global Hope School project is to create safe learning environment for quality education in San Roque. After the big fire, the school had been operating on a three shift schedule daily with 80 students per class to accommodate the large number of students. After the Global hope school was established, the school began operating on a two shift schedule with only 50 students per class.

In the opening ceremony, Ms. In-Sook Shin,
The chairman of Heart to Heart Foundation said, “Korea is the only country in the world transformed itself from an aid beneficiary to a donor country. Education was the key element to this transformation. I truly hope that all the students here could enjoy benefits of education and make the best of it for the better future.”

On January 29, 2011, a disaster occurred just a few meters where I’m standing now that totally changed the lives of many residents of Barangay San Roque. It’s been almost a year and I can still recall how a big fire razed hundreds of houses to the ground including one of our school buildings. Also not only did the fire burn hundreds of houses and houses, it also claimed the lives of 12 people. Sad to say, four of them were pupils of San Roque Elementary School. The loss of one school building caused a major problem not only for our principal, but also for our teachers and pupils. To solve it, the three-shift scheme of class sessions was imposed. It means that teachers must teach all the subjects in just four hours. For sure the flow of instructions and learning among pupils will be affected.


I thought that arrangement would be for a long period of time due to the fact that the national government has insufficient funds for the construction of school buildings. I was wrong only two months after that tragic incident, a group of Koreans led by Pastor Paul Lim arrived in the school and expressed their desire to sponsor the construction of a school building. Prior to that my perception about Koreans was that they’re pop icons and dramatic actors and actresses since many Koreans have been dominating the major networks for the past few years. Now we know that aside from being beautiful and good-looking people they’re also generous and charitable.


The people behind Heart to Heart Foundation could have spent their money on something else for their own benefit. They could have donated their money to other people in need, but they chose us. It’s not unusual to see people helping others of their same race and nationality. However, the men and women behind Heart to Heart Foundation live up to their name since they have big hearts to unselfishly share their time, effort and material things to people of different walks of life. For that, in behalf of the 2104pupils of San Roque Elementary School I would like to thank all of the officers and members of Heart to Heart Foundation. We can now enjoy six hours of instruction under a two-shift scheme.


We cannot pay you back, however we promise to study and strive hard so that all your efforts would not be in vain. That’s the only way we can show our sincere gratitude for all you have done for us. So from now on, we shall not regard January as a time for mourning but rather as a month for rejoicing.