BID Extends Stay Of 2 Danish Social Workers
By ALEX P. VIDAL
The alien control division of the Bureau of Immigration (BID) regional office, Iloilo City approved the visa extension of two Danish female social workers who are helping “children with special needs” on a voluntary basis in Brgy. Cadingli-an, Oton, Iloilo.
After paying the corresponding fees in the BID Iloilo office last week, Francisco J. Artuz, BID regional alien control supervisor, signed the documents of Suzanne Hoy, 23; and Nicole Eskildsen, 23, both visiting social workers of Jydsk Podagog Seminarium based in Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city.
“I hope that you will continue to help Filipino children who are in need,” said Artuz, a retired police senior superintendent.
Hoy and Eskildsen were accompanied by philanthropist couple named Henning and Melanie Blegvad. They own a house in Brgy. Cadingli-an and who built and donated a P2.5-million school building and 400-square meter gym in the same place, some 10 kilometers away from Iloilo City.
The two social workers arrived in the place last August 4. They were given only four months tourist visa each in the Philippines. They applied for two months extension “so we can finish what we have started and so we can spend Christmas with children who are mostly deprived and neglected.”
They live temporarily in the residence of Blegvad “free of charge because I don’t want them to spend because, in the first place, they are helping the Philippine government for free,” said Henning, a world-renowned pianist and journalist.
Henning Blegvad said he will request the BID authorities to exempt the two Danish social workers from paying taxes and other fees required of tourists “because their cases are different; they are here to help the children who have been neglected by the government.”
Some 22 “starving” children and those with no parents are benefiting from the benevolence of the two visitors who claimed they thought “we were lost in the beginning and (we felt) a little bit frustrated of what we experienced.”
“Even if it’s hard, it’s worth because of the families that we met. We have made many creative things and have used many (teaching) methods and not just rehearsing and following the books,” Hoy said.
Hoy and Eskildsen will spend another two weeks to tour other orphanage institutions in the country before going back to Denmark in January 2008. /MP
1 comment:
It is just proper and fitting that the BID Iloilo extend their visa as requested. Extension of visa for volunteers doing noble things for the good of the children is a win-win solution. The beneficiary wins and at the same time the volunteers - as they can now continue and conclude their program. This kind of program should be supported by our local government and they should even be the one who will request the visa extension instead of Mr. Hinning.
I have worked with Danish expat's and NGO funded by Danish civil society in Angola and Mozambique - giving relief assistance to war affected population and refugees, and have proved that they are sincere, committed, honest, helpful and hardworking.
Post a Comment