Strong will and Partnerships transport children to school: the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation

The story of the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation began with a Facebook post by
Filipino blogger Jay Jaboneta, now Vice-President and Co-Founder, who shared with all his Facebook followers the fate of several children living in the remote village of Layag Layag in the Philippines. Those kids traveled to school by swimming almost 2 kilometers.

The publication went viral and the blogger’s readers and Facebook friends rallied to buy a boat for the children. One boat became thousands of boats, and finally the initiative turned into a Foundation that today impacts more than a hundred communities.

Jay Jaboneta, deeply touched by the story of these children ready to brave all the dangers in order to go to school, was fueled by a desire to change things. Motivated by his Facebook friends after his publication, he was helped by Josiah Go, Marketing Guru who helped launch a donation campaign to acquire a paddle boat for the children. This action, which they had believed to be a one-off, eventually became hundreds of projects implemented through the Foundation that Jay and Dr Mari Anton Lim set up with the voluntary donations of many.

“The desire to change things, combined with the contribution of generous donors, the collective effort of several volunteers, and the solidarity of a community, gave the hope for a future to underprivileged, yet extremely courageous children”

“My hero is a blogger, who is your hero? »

Through this article, published in December 2011, in a Filipino daily newspaper, Ernie O. Cecilia explains why an ordinary guy like Jay Jaboneta is her hero: because he followed his heartbeat and took action promptly to change a community. Today, the impact of the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation is immense. It has received numerous awards and been cited in the media by CNN, Al-Jazeera, and many others.

“Developing countries need more heroes like Jay and many others, people who are eager to do things differently and better for their communities”

Watch an inspiring video about the enormous impact of The Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation.

Dorcas Manou Assoko

(Voir les liens inclus dans le texte pour les références)