(Left photo) Consul Marford Angeles (rightmost) with Coreen School students Brianna Ferguson (3rd from right), Jarryne Douglas, their teacher, John Williamson (leftmost), S.E.A.T. National Project Manager Christa Silvia (2nd from left), and Blacktown City Councilor Kathie Collins (2nd from right) at the Max Webber Library in Blacktown City, New South Wales, Australia on 28 October 2016. (Right photo) Two of the chairs that were painted and decorated by the Coreen students, including Brianna and Jarryn, which will be donated to the Angel House Orphanage in Davao Oriental, Philippines.

On 28 October 2016, a two-week exhibition of chairs donated by students of Coreen School in Blacktown City, New South Wales, Australia, to the Angel House Orphanage in Davao Oriental, Philippines, was launched at the Max Webber Library in Blacktown City, New South Wales, Australia.

At the launch ceremony, Mr. John Williamson, a teacher at Coreen School, said that in line with teaching empathy to his students, his class decided to take part in the Sustainability, Education, Art and Teamwork (S.E.A.T.) Project. The project entails assembly of a small bamboo stool, which encourages teamwork, problem solving and literacy among children. Mr. Williamson’s students assembled, decorated and painted the stools and will donate the said stools, along with learning materials inside the stools’ compartment, to the Angel House Orphanage in Davao Oriental, Philippines. According to Mr. Williamson, he suggested the orphanage as the recipient institution, as he himself has been supporting the education of a child in the Philippines for the past nine years. Two of Mr. Williamson’s students, Brianna Ferguson and Jarryn Douglas, spoke at the launch about their experience in working on the stools.

On behalf of the Philippine Embassy in Canberra and the Philippine Consulate General in Sydney, Consul Marford Angeles thanked the Coreen School for their donation to the orphanage, saying that such a beautiful gift highlights the friendship between Filipinos and Australians and is a fitting gesture in this year when we mark the 70^th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Philippines and Australia. He also thanked S.E.A.T. National Project Manager Christa Silvia for coordinating with the Embassy and the Consulate on this project. Consul Angeles also thanked freight forwarder LBC for sponsoring the shipment of the stools to the Philippines, and the Blacktown City Council, represented by Blacktown City Councillor Kathie Collins, for the use of the Max Webber Library as venue for the exhibit. END