Filipino students go back to school

QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES - Biology major Seary Balliard is finding there’s a lot more to a university education than knowing how the parts of the human body function. She is also learning about the human psyche and the compassion it can share.

As one of hundreds of students whose college education at the University of the Philippines Visayas’ Tacloban College was disrupted by Typhoon Haiyan Nov. 8, Balliard has been welcomed by a new university community and its affiliated Catholic parish, giving her the opportunity to continue her studies with barely an interruption.

“The university gave us everything we need: food, a home, psycho-social guidance. They were very accommodating,” said Balliard, on the campus of the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City, her new college home.

Balliard is one of about 200 Tacloban College students who made their way to the Diliman campus. Students are receiving no-cost tuition, dorm rooms and benefiting from donations of food from suppliers and a nearby church.

The Parish of the Holy Sacrifice of the Diocese of Cubao has played a major role in helping studentss. Johaina Langco, 19, credits the parish priests for delivering inspirational homilies, special programs and social events that allowed the new students to overcome the traumatic experience of being forced to suddenly flee floodwaters and high winds.