From Christmas 2023 to June 2025 – Tuwak Primary School in Bon Bon Annex, Patikul, Sulu
MCCC Hernandez
For Christmas in 2023, I visited a friend who at the time headed the Army engineers in Sulu. Ma’am Nida was a gracious host who showed me the tourist spots being developed by the local government, as well as the various roads and schools her unit was helping build. Along the way, she pointed out one school to me. This school was neglected even by Sulu standards, but on the average school day it would be overflowing with students.
Tuwak Primary School in Bon Bon Annex, Patikul, Sulu. Bullets once flew here. The single-classroom school had stood abandoned for ages before peace began to settle into Sulu sometime around 2021. Eventually, a single teacher returned, with permission to reopen the school. He rebuilt the walls with scrap wood by hand and his wife sewed the curtains to keep out the heat and bright sunlight. By 2023, they had 126 students, one proper classroom, two makeshift classrooms with dirt floors that turned to mud when it rained, and curtains and slat-wood walls that let the breeze in when the weather was good, and let everything else in when the weather was bad. The lone teacher was assisted by four volunteers. Some parents sold snacks by a bamboo table occasionally. They needed facilities. Classrooms, a playground, a library, a canteen. And the lone teacher with his toolbox was the only person focused on expanding their facilities until then.
The dedication of that one teacher inspired me to adopt this school for 2024. As soon as I got back from my trip, I started a book drive and sought out partner organizations to help raise funds for proper classrooms.
In contrast, here is a library in another Sulu school that Ma’am Nida’s unit was able to renovate prior to my visit:
The work of the 545th Army Engineers was breathtaking. Bright, colorful, and adapted to the culture of the locale. It was something to aspire for.
For the next several months – over a year, even – the Hernandez Library and the UP Cadet Alumni Organization ran a book drive to collect donations for Tuwak Primary and other schools in Sulu.
