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I N S P I R I N G S T R U C T U R E S
Clockwise from left: Children of Barangay 37 now
have a dedicated space for learning; the architects
regularly meet with the members of Streetlight and
barangay residents through the different phases of
construction; the new study center
THE CLUSTER
of homes — many of
them on stilts — known as Barangay
37 has a fairly utilitarian name: it is
one of many barangays on the fringes
of Tacloban, the capital town of Leyte,
in the region of the Philippines known
as Eastern Visayas. Thanks to its wave
breaker wall, it’s also called Seawall.
Beyond it is the Leyte Gulf and parts of
the San Juanico Strait.
What it doesn’t have is a number of
basic utilities necessary for everyday
living: proper plumbing, a sanitation
system or a steady power supply. In
this settlement of makeshift homes
— most of which are haphazardly
assembled from discarded wood
boards, rusting galvanized iron sheets
and hollow cement blocks — education
is often an abstract prospect, something
to be considered if one had the luxury
of time or the means to even start
dreaming. In Barangay 37, where
families get by on very little, only a few
have ever donned a school uniform,
and fewer still have finished school.
“The families struggle every day
to get food and work,” says Nerren
Homeres, a nurse working with
Streetlight, a non-governmental
organization devoted to taking
underprivileged children off the streets
and getting them back in school. Born
and raised in Tacloban, Nerren knows
the place very well. “Many of the
children have not gone to school or
have had to drop out to beg for food on
the street.”
....a local NGO and three young architects
from halfway around the world to build
a modern study center from which the
children’s dreams of a better future can
grow. By Tara F.T. Sering
PHOTOS
TROND HEGVOLD, RONNIE RAMIREZ (ENTRANCE, NIGHTVIEW)