Mike encouraging young adults supported by the Scot Foundation in a city slum setting.
Mike encouraging young adults supported by the Scot Foundation in a city slum setting.
Levin’s Mike de Boer spent one month in the Philippines over January this year gaining some community development experience. A key feature of the community experience was to share Aotearoa New Zealand’s te reo Māori language and the Māori culture through dance and song.
Mike is the co-founder and executivedirector of the Aotearoa New Zealand and Philippines registered charity Scot Kids Hope Foundation and works as a literacy and numeracy tutor with Literacy Aotearoa Levin, located in Bristol Street, Levin.
A Scot Christmas giving event in a rural town setting with Scot co-founders Mike and Nanette.
After Mike and wife Sharon adopted a five-year-old orphan boy from the Philippines, Scot was co-founded by Mike and now-New Zealand-based Philippines national Nanette Carillo 14 years ago in 2009.
Every year or so, Kiwis and Filipinos venture to the Philippines to empower disadvantaged slum children, their families and communities and help break the cycle of poverty, allowing the children, their parents and their families grow to their full potential.
Through community feeding, education scholarships and $20 monthly sponsorships, 700 slum children have been transformed into schoolchildren.
“One of the many, many Scot Foundation success stories is Dexter, who is now aged 23 and is a university accounting lecturer,” Mike said.
Mike met Dexter when he was nine. Dexter came from a disadvantaged rural background, but thanks to a $20 monthly sponsorship, the boy was able to break the cycle of poverty through education.
Dexter is now a Scot Foundation area co-ordinator, giving back to the foundation by empowering the next generation of Scot children to grow to their full potential.
Scot Foundation children performing a Māori waiata in a rural countryside setting in front of their parents and the rural community.
The Scot mission is to assist with reducing child poverty by setting up education programmes to empower Aotearoa New Zealand and Philippine children to grow to their full potential, in part through experiencing a new culture and language from a different country.
This is where te reo Māori and waiata [dance and song] were shared over five Scot Foundation Christmas giving events in January 2023.
Philippine schoolchildren gained an understanding of te reo Māori words like ‘kia ora’, ‘ka pai’ and ‘kia kaha’, delivered Māori waiata through singing and action like Pokarekare Ana and performed a rousing haka with the usual hand movements and stomping of feet.
For details on the Scot Kids Hope Foundation, and to sponsor a child for $20 each month, contact Mike by emailing mikedeboer2021@yahoo.com or calling 027 302 3274.