So here is the FYI on Stairway: Stairway Foundation was founded by Lars, the cutest 6'5'' Dane you will ever meet, and his American wife Monica, who looks like one of the nameless candidates for ANTM two seasons ago. Their initial program and the main focus of Stairway is its yearlong residential rehabilitative program for a dozen former street children from Manila. These boys, suffering from malnutrition, tuberculosis, and low self-esteem, are brought to Stairway, where they receive medical attention, three nutritious meals a day and a host of resources (computer classes, jewelry-making classes, academic classes, sports instruction, psychological therapy... a permanent place to sleep, etc.). Stairway instills a sense of self-respect in these boys, so that they're better able to defend themselves and their rights when being subjected to the many obstacles of being young and impoverished in inner-city Manila (sexual abuse of children is unfortunately very common). The jewelry they make during their time here is "sold" to Stairway, which gives each boy a bank account, and are available for sale to volunteers but mostly decorate the office. Depending on their individual circumstances, the boys are then either returned to their families or placed in other centers that will manage the logistical aspects of their custody and legal guardianship.
Stairway's mission at large is to promote children's well-being, through protecting their rights and improving the circumstances of the most marginalized children. Three of the staff here at Stairway act in the Foundation's theater production "Cracked Mirrors," a series of monologues telling stories of street children falling victim to starvation, sex trafficking, and pedophilia. The production, written and directed by Monica, stems from the staff's personal experience and is intensely moving to watch. They've toured internationally and are planning to launch an American tour. Additionally, Stairway has produced three animated films, highlighting the same issues, intending to destruct the stigmas around speaking out about victimization and to help children better understand that what has happened to them in the past is fundamentally wrong and that they should never stand for it to happen again.
In recent years, Stairway has gotten increasingly involved in enhancing the opportunities available to the local youth of Puerto Galera. They have implemented a sports program for the local youth, established a scholars program that finances the grade school education of two dozen selected students, and has been working with the under-funded Baclayan Mangyan School to better the quality of education the school can offer. This is the branch of operations my research will contribute to. The indigenous Mangyan children of the Baclayan community have had historically dissatisfactory achievement scores; this has added to the existing prejudiced beliefs that indigenous people are inherently inferior. But analysis of their academic performance cannot neglect the Mangyan children's lack of resources. They come to school without academic supplies or textbooks and very hungry. The children suffer from malnutrition, causing them to lose focus during class time. Stairway is seeking to fund the supply of textbooks and school supplies and to implement a nutrition program so that the community is able to feed their children the nationally recommended values of each nutrient for developing youth. Through dietary recall, I will assess the children's daily diets and statistically analyze the discrepancies between what they are eating and what they should be eating. This information will be presented to Stairway's board of directors and finalized in presentation modules to use to generate financial support from the international community. Because Stairway is looking to plant a kitchen garden to supplement the Mangyan's available foods, my policy recommendation will include suggested combinations of vegetation that constitute a nutritionally sound meal.
... Yeah, this post is a little drab but I'm copying and pasting this for an e-mail to my mother, who called me frantically from JFK airport, demanding that I tell her in more detail where ("the hell") I am and what ("the hell") I'm doing so that our relatives in China will better understand why she allowed me to run off to a third-world country and subject myself to UV rays that will darken my fair complexion and compromise my potential for attracting suitable marriage prospects. So I promised her an explanatory e-mail in her inbox upon her arrival in Shanghai. "Things I Will Not Tell My Mother About" will be discussed next.
