Kinder level

We Wear the Mask

BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
       We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
       We wear the mask!
What If Instead Of Being Behind These Kids Are Ahead?
By Jaime Ragsdal

What if, instead of falling behind, our kids are advanced?

What if they have more empathy, they enjoy family connection,
they can be more creative and entertain themselves,
they love to read and express themselves in writing?

What if they enjoy the simple things, like their own backyards and balconies, sitting near a
window in the quiet?
What if they notice the birds and the dates and different flowers emerge and the calming
renewal of a gentle rain shower?
What if our kids are the ones to learn to cook, organise their space, do their laundry and help
keep a well run home?
What if they learn to stretch a 50 pesos and live with less?
What if they learn to plan shopping trips and make meals at home?
What if they learn the difference between want and need?
What if they learn the value of eating together as a family and finding the good in sharing the
small delights of every day?

What if they are the ones who place great value on our teachers and educational professionals,
librarians, public servants and the previously invisible essential workers like truck drivers,
grocers, cashiers, healthcare workers... just to name a few who are taking care of us right now
while we are sheltered in place?
What if among these children a great leader emerges who had the benefit of a slower pace and
simpler life to truly learn what really matters in life?
What if they are ahead?

Love in the Time of COVID-19, A Community Poem for Healthcare Workers and Other Frontliners”

Your voice holds me when your arms cannot.

You spoke calming words to me as I slipped into sleep
And yours were the first eyes I saw as I came out from under the fog
Wingless angels dressed in scrubs, footfall on our steps,
a tap on the window, a neighbor’s wave,
a newly-sewn mask tossed (in a plastic bag),
to the front of the door: “run it through the washer first,”
she calls, waves, and departs.

Today, she is a hero, daily risking her life for her patients,
while her own children wait in their fog-shrouded home.)
Earth angels, haloes shining bright, working with this virus in the air!
We will not despair
You support us
You surround us
Because of you, the world will get brighter, socially un-distancing.

Bless the arms that hold you today.

We’re all joining hands, guests on this planet, across many lands.
We are forever grateful to the warriors who save lives.
Time to recognize the real heroes, brilliant shadows, as we’ve never seen before.
God calls us to opportunity, it is for each of us to claim.
Our neighbor is our brother, is our sister, is our keeper, is our healer.
As soldiers, you stand tall, ready for the next patient who calls.
Your love and care exemplify heroism without compare.
Without you, our country would be facing an even larger catastrophe.
Doctors and nurses and other frontliners, with help to give.
Some deliver goods, some clean and scrub, stock the shelves,
and work so hard so we can stay in our space.
You can do it, you can make it, single mom working two shifts,
exhausted nursing home staff fighting against depression and confusion.

Dementia.
Dressing up in silly costumes, dancing down the halls,
Holding ipads high so loved ones can see,
their elderly parent who are unable to communicate,
reassuring them that everything will be okay.
Smiling faces, heads pounding, tirelessly ensuring
the outside world stays ‘outside’ and residents stay safe.
For the inner strength, courage and compassion with which you serve,
our eternal devotion, you so deserve.
For all your efforts, may you be blessed a thousand fold.
Where we are,
the tired ghosts of fearful uncertainty welcome the laughter that champions the heart,
for the speed of love turns out to be the speed of light.
A gentle reminder: Be safe. Be well.
Be kind. Which is to say, shelter in safety and love.
Everybody’s home and nobody’s alone.

Bituin

Pag-ibig ang pananatiling paglilingkod nang tapat

Sa pagsapit ng dilim na kay lalim at kay lawak
Ang nagsisilbing pag-asa ay ang liwanag ninyong hawak.
Tila ang bawat isa’y mga talang, hindi man namin tuluyang mahawakan at mayakap,
natatanaw namin ang inyong pagkislap.

Panalangin naming hindi kayo mapundi.

Hinihintay namin ang inyong pag-uwi.
Kayo ang payong na hindi tumitiklop.
Kayo ang sinasandalang dingding.
Kayo ang bubong na kumukupkop.
Kayong piniling mawalay sa mga mahal sa buhay.
Nais naming sumaludo.
Nais naming pumalakpak.
Kayong mga nag-aalay ng buhay,
Kayo ang aming mga bituin

ORATION GRADES 7-9

The Philippine government has been boasting that as early as March 16, they had the gumption
to implement a lockdown in major cities and provinces in response to the unfolding COVID-19
pandemic. However, Manila’s overall response to the pandemic has been fraught with
incompetence and rife with terror.
The implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) came on the heels of
serious negligence — namely, the authorities failing to keep up with the preventive measures of
neighboring countries and grossly underestimating the virus. What’s worse, instead of easing the
overall burden that the virus unleashed on the country, it seems the last resort lockdown itself
added to a plethora of problems without adequately addressing the primary crisis at hand:
ensuring public health and safety.
Strict compliance with the ECQ is ordered for all citizens, with the exception of frontline
professionals, until at least May 15. That has meant curfews, harsh penalties for being outside,
and an impoverished population descending into hunger.

The global crisis is first and foremost a public health issue, but Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte has faced the coronavirus pandemic in a decidedly militaristic fashion. Since the
lockdown went into effect, he has peddled the narrative of pasaways or “undisciplined” citizens
as responsible for the ensuing problems. He has also brought up unsubstantiated activities of
guerrilla groups as threats to government aid efforts without conceding any missteps in his
management. On top of deploying thousands of police and soldiers throughout the archipelago to
enforce the ECQ, Duterte has on two occasions threatened the public with all-out martial law.
There have been moments of abject incompetence from those in power around the world, but
using the pandemic as a reason for increasingly flexing authoritarian muscles spells danger for
the Philippines post-lockdown.

Sustaining safe schools and healthy communities

It is important to use schools as a way to implement broader public health programming. And it
is equally important to develop contingency plans for future emergencies.

While we hope that children and students in the most affected areas will soon be able to go back
to school and that other schools won’t be affected, let’s make sure that global
education is not forgotten during the crisis or in its aftermath. Investing in education not only
provides normalcy and a pathway for our young people to participate fully in the economy and
society, but it fuels innovation and the skills and talents that will be needed to combat the next
pandemic or crisis.

In the coming weeks and months, many governments will have to make difficult choices about
their investments in education. The crisis will stretch resources for sure. When faced with these
choices, it is imperative to remember that today’s children are tomorrow’s nurses,
epidemiologists, doctors, researchers, and public health experts. We need to continue investing in
learning today so that the world can be better prepared to solve future epidemics and crises
tomorrow. Education continues, learning never stops.
Our fingers are all crossed
As we all hope for a cure
A cure to end the pandemic of Covid 19
Which has killed a many like Ebola did in 15
Friends have journeyed to the land of the dead
Enemies have journeyed as well
We are now united by sympathies but still divided by entities
Our compassions cannot travel beyond the walls of our rooms
We are now left to succumb to the limitations set by W.H.O
As that is better me and you
Our fingers are still crossed
As we hope for a cure
A cure to make things get back to how it used to be like before.

by Mohamed Salihu