Community Service

Community Service >> The Little Disciples

By Yerin Choi, Grade 12, Brent International School-Baguio

The beginning of the story goes back to four years ago. During my 12 years of living in Baguio, Philippines, I had numerous valuable experiences and received an education that encouraged me to make a difference. Therefore, I wanted to find a way to contribute to the Philippines. One day, I brought my violin with me to a local school that my classmates and I frequently visited because our school’s community service projects. Several children curiously touched my violin case and started to ask, “What is this?” I opened the case and showed them my violin and some music sheet. The children squinted as soon as they saw the music sheet and told me that they did not have music classes.

As a musician who loves music, I was astonished; this inspired me to contribute to the Philippines in my own way: teaching local school children music. This eventually resulted in establishing a nonprofit organization named “The Little Disciples”.

This organization started as an idea to spread happiness to the children through teaching music, which I thought was impossible since I wasn’t a professional musician. However, when I shared this with my family and friends, I saw that many people were willing to help me accomplish the idea of starting a music class in the local schools. Therefore, encouraged by them, I gathered a small group of friends and began to brainstorm ways to make this possible. We kicked-off our fundraising by planning a small concert on May 13, 2017 and further raised funds through finding people who were willing to donate and through working part time jobs. With the money raised, we were able to buy a variety of instruments such as violins, handbells, ocarinas, keyboard, and guitars.

Our first place to start off our work was in Lindawan Elementary School, a local school that needed a music program, and we planned to continue to contribute to this school. For every one hour of class we held with them, we dedicated over five hours of our time each week to create a curriculum for each instrument. When we first went to the school to teach, the school’s principal and the children welcomed us with their smiles and open arms. While I was teaching the children, I realized that small actions can make other people happy and that even without being a professional, most things are possible with dedication.

As such, I am currently planning to arrange a recital with the children for the residents of Baguio in hopes that this will inspire people to help bring music to other schools in the local community. With this experience at hand, I will continue to help people in my own way for the rest of my life. Furthermore, as the founder of this organization, I will continue to support the organization even after several years.