FIL-CAN TEACHER- RETIREE BRINGS EDUCATION OUTREACH IN AFRICA

 

By Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired
Toronto-Canada
November 6, 2020
 




Filipino Canadian educator Rosario Alcazaren-Apilado, respectably quiet but passionately determined,  is on a benevolent outreach mission into one of Africa's impoverished nations. Specifically, R. Apilado has been doing continuous education and social work in the village of Liwonde, Lilongwe, Malawi in Central Africa for the past 7 years since her retirement from school teaching in 2011.

A Philippine- trained teacher, Rose as affectionately called by her family, friends, and colleagues, is proudly undertaking her Christian outreach commitment as a way of meeting her personal and professional passion for helping others in need especially in the field of learning. From 2013 up to the present, she has been sharing her efforts, assistance, time, and talent with the poor children and villagers of Liwonde in Lilongwe. Located in the central region of Malawi, Lilongwe is the capital and most populated city with more than 1.2 million residents. The country is near the borders of Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia in Africa.



Rose Apilado's remarkable engagements in Malawi include desirable education, guidance, and guidance work with schoolchildren at Liwonde New Hope Community School, the primary school she helped establish, as well as at Chinguni Catholic Elementary School.. According to Rose, comparatively, they "maybe poorer than children from other parts of the globe, but material inadequacy has not prevented them from smiling, praying, singing and acknowledging with gratitude to God’s blessings and the gift of education!"

Sharing her wonderful story, Rose said that it all started while planning her school retirement. She "had been looking forward to a quiet and restful time reading her favorite books and devoting her time to painting and traveling".  All that changed after traveling for an African safari in Kenya & Tanzania and mountain climbing at Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mt. Mulanje in Malawi. While visiting missionary friends before flying home to Canada she met leaders of the Evangelical Baptist Church and the Catholic parish in Malawi who pleaded with her to volunteer in putting up a primary school in their village. In Liwonde, many children are very poor and could not go to school due to distance and lack of resources for a much-needed education. She decided to return in 2013 and started a Kindergarten class with 5 students in September and ending the school year with 27 students. In 2014, the school was officially registered with the government under the Evangelical Baptist Church of Malawi.



Every year Rose travels back to Malawi bringing in-kind support like books and educational materials & sports supplies for the school and also personal gifts to the children and the villagers coming from generous donors in Canada. She also helped single, unwed mothers and the aged in the village. An Ilongga from Capiz, Rose's other focal activities cover also community outreach projects through Emmanuel International in the ravaged city of Marawi, southern Philippines.

An Ontario certified teacher, she has taught elementary grades at TDSB, MSSB, and the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board(DPCDSB). Earlier in Canada, while working as a secretary-receptionist on weeknights and weekends, Rose enrolled at the University of Toronto where she completed her Bachelor of Arts equivalency degree as well as satisfying the in-service requirement for a Bachelor of Education degree at York University. Starting as a teacher assistant, she became a permanent teacher, handling classes from Kindergarten to Grade 8 in all subject areas including ESL and Special Education assignments.



True to her profession, she is one of the organizers and later became the President of the Philippine Teachers Association of Canada(PTAC) in 2015-2016. PTAC is a  social-professional organization of Filipino-Canadian certified and practicing educators in Ontario. Happily married to Arthur Apilado with 4 adult children, Rose, now fully retired still does some traveling, visiting, and helping the school children, staff, and villagers in Liwonde whenever she finds time and opportunity.  She takes pride by always saying: "What a joy to see Christians, Muslims, non-affiliated children, in one school, their secondary home who are happy, living in harmony, as well as young minds bursting with zest for learning!" Zikomo kwambiri! Thank you.

( Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired)