A Canadian construction executive was the last person you would expect to help young kids break education barriers in a rural community in Victorias City.

But Gordon Nielson, owner and operator of "The Master's Touch" contracting firm in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, not only has spent the past three years teaching and providing free education to children through Morning Star Kindergarten School in Hda. Nena, Brgy. 14, Victorias City, he also helps ensure that students hurdle the elementary level, and hopes they earn degrees and eventually break the bane of society --- poverty.

Although it can only accommodate a maximum number of 30 students every school year, Morning Star also caters to school children from Haciendas Laguda, Francis and Emelou.

Last year, 100 percent of Morning Star students finished grade 1 at nearby Marilou Santiago Franco Elementary School. Twenty-four more kids ranging from ages 5 to 6 years-old, most of whom are children of sugarcane workers, graduated from the preparatory school in a fun-filled party at McDonald's in Bacolod City recently, which Nielsen says gives the children a taste of Western culture.

"You remember these kids and how they were 10 months ago compared to what they are now and see how much they have improved, I feel a sense of satisfaction, a feeling a paycheck cannot buy," Nielson, 38, who has been living in Bacolod for most of the past four years, told the DAILY STAR.

Social work runs in Gordon's blood. His parents exposed him at an early age to various cultures and the various faces of poverty by traveling to different parts of the world.

Though he did not have any idea about the Philippines, Nielson decided to join the "Christians in Action" contingent that conducted a medical mission in Bacolod in March 2001. He stayed here for two weeks and went back to Canada but the feeling of a need to help others in the Bacolod remained in him.

Nielson sold his equipment, withdrew his savings and returned to Bacolod, where he stayed for two years, going home in the summer of last year.

"What's good about Canada is that its easy to get back into business. It's easy to pick up where you left off," he said. In preparation for school year 2005-2006, Gordon went home to Canmore, revived his construction firm and worked 14-hour shifts for two and a half months so he could raise funds for the Morning Star.

Nielson's Bacoleña fiancée, Marie de Guzman, also teaches at Morning Star.

Hda. Nena, a rebel zone at the height of the insurgency problem in the 1980s and 1990s, is four kilometers away or a 20-minute tricycle ride from the Victorias City proper. Emilyn Reyes Jallorina, another teacher at Morning Star, said that some activities in the school, like Bible reading, are helping erase the culture of violence in students. In the first two school-years, Nielson travels using his big bike from Bacolod to Hda. Nena.

Nielson, who was first brought to Hda. Nene by Jallorina's sister, Rowena Arnaiz of Romans Christian School in Villa Angela, where he used to live, said he decided to put up the school after a survey he conducted in the area showed that access to pre-school education is one of the most pressing problems in the area.

But Nielsen said the mindset of parents that their children will end up working in the farm and need not take education seriously was a stumbling block. "We had to convince the parents," he said, adding that some of them compel their children to skip school during harvest time to help them.

Because it rains in the Hda. Nena almost throughout the schoolyear, some students, who live far from the school, find an excuse not to attend classes, he said, but he goes to their homes and makes sure they do go. Gordon also monitors the progress of his former pupils by visiting them at the Marilou Santiago Francisco Elementary School, about a kilometer away from Hda. Nena.

He also arranges a visit to MSFES for graduating pupils of Morning Star before the school-year ends to help them get ready for Grade 1. Nielson also holds gift-giving, feeding and vitamins distribution activities in Morning Star, noting that many students are malnourished.

"They taught my children correct values and attitudes. Everything is free so it is really a big help to our family," said Alicia Mayo, 38, whose two children Mark and Marvin have benefited from the free education provided for by Nielson.

"You cannot take knowledge and education away from them," she said.

Nielson has started to initiate moves to make the school self-sustaining just as his brother's organization had done in Africa. Morning Star aims to lease and operate its own sugar cane production with parents of each incoming class of children working five hectares. Nielson said the efforts will provide a sustainable source of funding for the school with profits expected to cover the total cost of running it.

Eventually, he said, he hopes to build another school and also get help from government officials. So far, Morning Star's only local donor is Bacolod businessman Harish Nandwani, who donated uniforms to the newly-graduated students.*CPT

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