Senior citizens tapped as storytellers
MODERN LOLOS AND LOLAS
WHO else will make good surrogate parents to day care center kids but the city’s senior citizens.
This is the mantra adopted by the Dagupan City government when it chose to tap good storytellers among the senior citizens in the city to teach the children basic values as taught by “Lola Basyang.”
Leah Aquino, city nutrition officer and concurrent officer-in-charge of the City Social Welfare and Development Office, said the storytelling project for day care center children is an advocacy of Mayor Belen Fernandez.
The select group of senior citizens was formed as storytellers for the city government’s Mga Kwento ni Lola Basyang (The Stories of Grandma Basyang) project.
The project is ongoing in the city’s 43 Day Care Centers in the city.
In addition to teaching basic character values, the new band of senior citizens also teach the kids how to pray and to practice the traditional way of showing respect for elders – seeking the hand blessing, having their foreheads touched by hands of elders.
“Today, we now see our children hurriedly seeking the hand blessing of elder people, thanks to our modern Lola and Lolo Basyangs,’ Aquino said.
Storytelling in a Day Care Center lasts up to an hour and is now a year round activity.
“The children now look up to their storytellers like their biological grandparents,” she said.
The other objective of the project is to create an opportunity for senior citizens to continue to be productive since the city pays them an honoraria for their services.
There are 100 senior citizens assisting in this storytelling project. (Eva Visperas)
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