Filipina
educator and international lecturer Rayla Melchor Santos received the
prestigious Global Education Motivators (GEM) Award for 2013-2014 for her
advocacy on the empowerment of children in schools under the I Am SAM
Foundation.
Santos
co-founded the I am SAM foundation in 2010 following her mother Merci Melchor’s
long years of advocacy to help abused women and children to be aware of their
rights and be able to rebuild lives after suffering from various forms of
abuse.
The
teachings of the I am SAM foundation are based on two fundamental UN treaties-
the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Their flagship program, IamSAM Prevent-to-Empower
Protocol (PEP), was created
to teach children and women the values of self worth and uniqueness, respect
and responsibility for self and for others.
SAM
stands for Shakers and Movers whose campaign was launched in 28 public
elementary and high schools in Muntinlupa City. A similar campaign will soon be
launched in all 38 public elementary and high schools in Makati City.
Shakers
And Movers, according to Santos, is a person that makes things happen, anchored
on the belief that one takes full responsibility for his/her own evolution as a
person.
Wayne
Jacoby, president of Philadelphia based GEM Inc. surprised Santos by presenting
her the Global Educator Award at the 9th annual United Nations
Teachers Conference on Human Rights and Peace held last April 4 at the UN
Headquarters in New York.
Jacoby
said Santos and the I am SAM Foundation have been successful in “making its
mark in helping and protecting the world’s children.”
“I
have seen you expand from the Philippines and now working with teachers and
children in Canada, China, United States and Taiwan. It is important for you to
bring your message back to the UN,” said Jacoby in his letter of invitation to
Santos.
Now
fondly called by her students and fellow teachers as Teacher SAM, Santos said
she “feels honored to have received the prestigious award from GEM that has a
long history of affiliation with the UN.
She
did not realize that her advocacy would be recognized at the UN Teachers
Conference on Human Rights and Peace event.
“It
was a moving experience to receive such a prestigious award from GEM which is a
partner of the UN in promoting human & child rights and peace at the global
education level,” said Santos.
GEM
is a Philadelphia-based non-government organization founded by a group of
educators in 1981 to put a global perspective in all aspects of learning.
The
NGO started working with the UN Department of Public Information in 1986 and
received the prestigious UN Peace Messenger Award in 1989 for its work on
behalf of UN promoting world peace and human rights.
For
Santos, empowering a child with awareness of her inherent rights has a far
reaching impact to grow as fulfilled individual.
“Self-worth
is the greatest tool we can give a child,” she said.
Inner
strength and the realization that every child is special, precious and unique
is deeply expounded and made easy to understand in the campaigns of the I Am
SAM Foundation.
Santos said
every child should realize the meaning of two powerful Tibetan words: “Tashi
deley” which means ‘I honor the greatness in you’. Each child should recognize
the greatness in himself/herself and the greatness in each other.
When
teaching this as an official greeting of the foundation said in schools where
the IamSAM works with, Santos recalled one high student shared his amazement, “How
can two words mean so much and do so much upliftment!”
The
foundation provides schools covered by its campaign some educational posters
written in Filipino that state: “I am special, unique and precious because I am
a human being.” The message encapsulates the soul of the UN Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
The campaign
message further expounded in succeeding banners that carry the messages: “I am
special, unique and precious because I am a child”; and, “And because I am a
unique, special and precious, no one can abuse me, even my parents.”
Santos said
the banners capture the whole message of the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child. She pointed out that is necessary
to teach against abuse because of the staggering incidences of violence in
schools. The focus of the IamSAM protocol is the development of self-worth and
the restoration of human dignity.
