The Escuela Taller de Intramuros is giving young men and women from poor families the opportunity to learn skills and earn a decent living.

MAKING the transition ? and transformation ? from "tambay lang" (just idle and unemployed) to "scholar dyan sa Escuela" has changed the outlook, and hopefully the future, of Ralph de Sagon, a 24-year-old resident of Barangay (village) Concepcion, a depressed community in Malabon.

Being a student at the Escuela Taller de Intramuros, Sagon relates, keeps him in a classroom, "nag-aaral ng academics," in the morning, and in the workshop the rest of the day. At the end of which, he hopes, he will be able to find work with decent earnings to help his family.

A classmate, 25-year-old Morad Sultan, candidly shares that before this opportunity came long, "wala akong ginagawa at wala akong mapuntahan" [I wasn't doing anything and I wasn't going anywhere].

The "opportunity" is the chance given by the Escuela for 57 young men and women from poor families in Barangay Concepcion to learn vocational and livelihood skills that can help them find employment and become more productive.

The Escuela Taller de Intramuros, the brainchild of the Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional Para el Desarollo (AECID), is an international "franchise." The agency sets up campuses in various countries to address unemployment issues among young men and women by providing a better learning environment for the students, who are taking up courses in general construction (carpentry, electrical wiring, plumbing), as well as specialized fields such as painting, masonry and woodworks.

The AECID recently tied up with The Angel Brigade and World Vision and held a groundbreaking ceremony last May 13 in Malabon for its new project, the reconstruction of the F. Tiongson Building and the launching of a Livelihood Training Center within the compound of the Concepcion Elementary School.

The aptly-named "Angel Brigade" started out as a motley group of volunteers formed in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, and has since expanded into a wide network of dedicated volunteers, donors and organizers. From typhoon relief operations, the Brigade decided to move into a second phase of outreach activities, this time focused on rehabilitation and livelihood. In this partnership, it will take charge of the training of the teachers in the Livelihood Center.

WorldVision, an international relief and development organization, served as the liaison between Barangay Concepcion and the two groups.

Max Bernardo, village chairman of Barangay Concepcion, said many of the scholars who come to class at the Escuela are from families that teeter dangerously on the poverty line. Thus, they do not have the means, or would otherwise not spend their limited and precious funds on education for now.

"Some of them live on rice squirted with toyo [soy sauce] on a daily basis," he says. "So a lot of hopes are really tied to this project."

The Livelihood Training Center's entry into the area has been greatly welcomed by the residents, especially the students? parents who occasionally lend a helping hand to build the center. The school, supported by a system conceptualized by WorldVision, is adequately funded, probably far better than many upstart scholarship programs around the country.

In a community where families live on less than a dollar a day, even basic education is a luxury. While before, many of its young and otherwise productive young adults couldn't see beyond their "tambay" days, being part of the Escuela give them a place to go, and not just for now.

For more information on Escuela Taller de Intramuros call (632) 5251986 and 5276623 or email etintramuros@gmail.com To find out more about The Angel Brigade and its projects call (632) 897-0383 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php
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