Trails to Empower Kids

A volunteer organiza7on composed mostly of mountaineers from dierent organiza7ons bonded together by the same advocacy of helping kids and communi7es who live in the mountains or other isolated areas.

Founded in December 2007 by seven mountaineers Kelly Austria, Myrla Punongbayan, Rexandre delos Reyes, AKy. Jong Navarro, Noel Dulay, JP Cruz and Elias Bacolot.

TREK Itogon

Situated near the Mt. Ugo, one of the most popular des7na7ons among mountaineers.

The community is located 5 hours away from Baguio city (3 hours on foot).

Their livelihood includes farming and panning for gold at Agno River.

Most children walk miles to get to school.

They have only one classroom and one teacher shared by grades 1-4 students.

December 8 9, 2007 Saybuan Primary School, Si7o Saybuan, Brgy. Tinongdan, Itogon, Benguet

TREK Casiguran

School of Living Tradi7ons, which teaches Dumagat children about their culture.

The school is 12 hours via land, 10 minutes boat ride plus one hour trek.

The school uses the home school program of DepEd.

Students stay in school but since Dumagats are Nomads, the main concern of their teacher was making them stay in school.

May 1-4, 2008 Sentrong Paaralan ng mga Agta, Barangay Cozo, Casiguran, Aurora

TREK Tanudan

One of the most remote areas of Kalinga. It's a 4-hour bumpy ride in a modied truck, which has irregular schedule, followed by a steep hike.

A village of about 3,000 people with only 4 comfort rooms. Diarrhea and other hygiene related illnesses are common problems.

TREK donated construc7on materials for comfort rooms, reference materials, teaching materials, books, school supplies, lamps and toys for the kids..

December 12-14, 2008 Lubo Elementary School and Tandudan High School, Brgy. Lubo, Tanudan, Kalinga

TREK Pudtol

Some of the students trek for hours to get to school.

Most cannot aord to buy books and school supplies. Their teachers use por7ons of their very liKle salary to buy them these so they can con7nue with their educa7on.

No decent classrooms and comfort rooms.

To help them, TREK donated bags, school supplies and reading materials to all the students.

May 1-3, 2009 Malibang Elementary School, Malibang Pre-school, Cacalaggan Primary School, Aurora Primary

School, Flora Primary School and Lydia Primary Schools in Pudtol, Apayao

TREK Subic Town

A reseKlement site for the Aetas displaced by the erup7on of Mt. Pinatubo.

Managed by Sr. Eva Maamo, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and President of the Founda7on for our Lady of Peace Missions (FOLPMI).

Held together with SABIT Mountaineers Basic Mountaineering Course.

We also partnered with Philippine Science Centrum for a fun science workshop.

September 25-27, 2009 Aeta ReseKlement Site, Subic Town, Zambales

TREK Relief Opps

For the vic7ms of Typhoon Ondoy at Barangay Wawa, Tanay, Rizal.

For the vic7ms of Typhoon Pepeng in Pangasinan.

September and October, 2009

TREK San Luis

In partnership with Aurora Oroaders Club, we delivered books and school supplies to the students. We also constructed a comfort room and donated bookshelves for the school.

The community is reachable via 3 hours trek.

Most students fail in their exams due to lack of school materials.

December 12-13, 2009 Kalapnit Elementary School, Si7o Kalapnit, Brgy. Dibalo, San Luis, Aurora

TREK Kibungan

Home to the third largest cultural community in the mountain provinces of Northern Luzon, the Kankanais.

It can be reached via 4 hours trek from the municipal hall of Kibungan, Benguet;

Some trek for more than two hours, some as young as 7 years old, on muddy path carrying their makeshid bags made out of sacks just to go to a school that also has scarce educa7onal materials.

August 21-22, 2009 Si7o Polis, Brgy Poblacion, Kibungan Benguet

TREK Itogon 2

A visit again to Saybuan to fulll a promise to help rehabilitate Saybuans drainage system.

Addi7onal schools were Pe7can Elementary School and Tinongdan Elementary School.

Both schools are remote, accessible only by trek. They also have a dearth of textbooks and school supplies.

Some student walk hours to get to school.

December 10-12, 2009 Saybuan Primary School, Pe7can Elementary School and Tinongdan Elementary School

Itogon, Benguet

TREK Atan

Purok Atan is a very remote community that requires four hours trek from the road.

Many students walk 2 hours each way to go to school on steep paths. During ber months, when the rains come, aKendance drops as the muddy terrain become dicult for the barefoot students to navigate.

Aside from the challenging distance, terrain, and weather, the students also have to contend with the dearth of textbooks, notebooks, pencils, and even slippers.

August 20-21, 2011 Atan Elementary School in Purok Atan, Brgy. Runrono, Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya

TREK Relief Opps 3

The town received heavy bea7ng from the typhoons, which rendered some roads impassable, destroyed major phone networks and caused power outages.

Organized by the Aurora Oroaders Club, in coopera7on with Trails to Empower Kids (TREK).

October 29, ,2011 Dilasag, Aurora

TREK Casiguran 2

Another project of Sentrong Paaralan ng mga Agta for Dumagat students.

No classroom; the students use the barangay hall.

Located in a disputed land.

January 21-22, 2012 Sentrong Paaralan ng mga Agta in Si7o Niyog, Brgy. Ildefonso, Casiguran, Aurora

TREK Nag7punan

We helped two schools, both in dire need of school materials.

The volunteers trekked for four hours to reach the farthest school.

Students belong to the ethnic group called the Ilongots.

August 24-26, 2012 Tamsi Primary School and Kakidugen Primary School, Nagtipunan, Quirino

TREK Kibungan 2

This is in celebra7on of TREKs 5th Anniversary.

TREK started upcycling old tarps into school bags and we gave them to all the students of Kibugan, with notebooks, pencils, pad papers, erasers and sharpeners.

November 30-December 9, 2012 Polis Barrio School, Palina Elementary School, Tabbac Primary

School, Legleg Barrio School, Napsong Barrio School, Lanipew Barrio School, Batangan Bario School, Les-eng Barrio School, Gasal Barrio School, Lubo Elementary School,

Tonquey-Nalusbo Primary School and Ewa-Bokes Elementary School, Kibungan, Benguet

TREK Mansalay

TREK reached the kids from the Hanunuo-Mangyan tribe in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro.

Aside from dona7ng sturdy footwear which the kids need to traverse the muddy path to school, we also brought them school supplies.

August 24-26, 2013 Anahaw Elementary School and Lucban, Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro

TREK Papaya

The primary concern of the community is potable water so the group nally delivered the system needed for this.

We also donated medicine for common illnesses, which the community lacked plus of course, school supplies, bags and toys.

We also asked the students to write their Christmas wishes and we delivered. We also partnered with an school in Manila and their students gave school supplies.

December 8-9, 2012 Mapedya Elementary School, Papaya, Nueva Ecija

Our next project

Tinglayan, Kalinga August 23-25, 2014