iSchools: Making a difference in the life of an OFW’s wife

By Viveth N. Gonzales


Seven kilos of rice or three and a half kilos of pork every month are the additional provisions Tiya Ning have for her family of seven children. This is what the three hundred pesos each month she could save for a twenty minute-call or nineteen text messages to her husband working in the hot and lonely land of the Arabs.

Luningning Resontoc or Tiya Ning in her barangay is a wife of a plumber working in Saudi Arabia since 2003. She is a woman who, just like any ordinary woman, could not have a goodnight sleep without receiving a call or text message from her husband or she calling or sending text message, at least twice a week. With this little caprice, she would spend at least eight hundred pesos cellphone load each month which is quite a big slash in the family budget of P7,000.

What makes a three-hundred peso saving extraordinary? How could Tiya Ning save such amount intended for calls to her hardworking and loving husband?

“Thanks to the iSchools Project,” says Tiya Ning beaming with joy.

Before the iSchools project came to their barangay, Tiya Ning’s only acquaintance with information communications technology is to her 3310 cellphone. If she could only see computers on television, how much more of the Internet? The iSchools has made a difference in their families!

iSchools’ impact

Paulba National High School in Paulba, Ligao City is one of the fourteen recipient schools of the iSchools Project chosen in October 2007. It received 22 computer units with one-year free Internet subscription for use by the students, faculty, principal, and the community after school hours.

The iSchools is one of the projects of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology that aims to strengthen classroom learning and instruction by expanding access to various sources of information like the Internet. Foremost, it aims to bridge the digital divide.

The project likewise involves the participation of the community in ensuring the safety of the computers after school hours and the use of the Internet for a minimal fee, to better ensure the sustainability of the project.

PNHS and the community agreed that any member of the community can use the Internet for a minimal fee of P15 per hour.

This is when Tiya Ning took advantage of the project. Among others, she is the most benefited since she is a wife longing for her OFW husband.

A challenge

They say it’s hard to teach old dogs new tricks. But not Tiya Ning. She would learn everything if it’s worth it.

At first, she was too frightened to even try touching the keyboard. It was an entirely new experience for her. Also, it was like trying to reach the crater of Mount Mayon and looking at the scenic spots down after a dangerous climb. Finally after two weeks, she was able to learn surfing the net and chatting with her husband abroad.

“It was all worth the effort,” says Tiya Ning.

Making a difference

The iSchools has strengthened Tiya Ning’s family bond. She could spend quality time with her children while chatting with her husband since they would accompany her in the Computer Laboratory for hours. She does not have to worry about time constraint since a P15/hour chat twice or thrice a week with her husband is more than enough to express her longings for her husband.

Tiya Ning’s life is like any other woman in the barangay who is a beneficiary of the iSchools. But the great impact of the project in her family is all that makes the difference.


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