The Morpeth Concord School

The Morpeth Concord School, located in Sitio Biaan, Mariveles, Bataan, was officially opened on 28 March 2003.  This is the third school raised in Bataan through the generous donation of the people of Morpeth, Northumberland, UK - this time the Morpeth Concord of Anglican Churches.  Built by the Aeta community of Sitio Biaan, with the help of engineers from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), this school in the mountains is a dream come true for the local Aeta chieftain.

On the day of the opening, chieftains, villagers, local dignitaries, children, and even pet dogs joined the band of EVACF volunteers (who had travelled the 3 hours or so from Manila by ferry and jeepney) to witness the blessing and naming of the school.  Village elders in traditional attire and bearing bows, arrows and spears gathered in a circle to dance and sing, before igniting charcoal and special leaves in a coconut shell in a traditional "blessing" of the school.  Father Tyler Strand, Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Manila, and Anglican Chaplain to the British Embassy, then blessed the school with prayers and holy water, and the school was officially opened by Jennifer Wallum - founder of EVACF and a "resident" of Morpeth - cutting a "ribbon" of creepers and flowers.

Following the document signing and other legal procedures, at which Jennifer Wallum represented the people of Morpeth, the children from one of the other Morpeth Aeta schools - Morpeth St. James - presented the "Legend of Bataan", and several EVACF volunteers planted trees in the school compound to mark the event.

With all the formalities completed, community and guests sat under the shade of a nearby tree to partake of a simple feast of celebration, and the EVACF volunteers and NCIP officials begun their return journey to Manila.  They took with them the memory of the eager faces of everyone attending the opening of the Morpeth Concord Aeta School and the hope for a successful future that it provided to the local Aeta community.

(From a report by Jennifer Wallum, MBE, Founder of EVACF