The Project
The Baybayin Library is a French non-profit organization created in 2019 by Tristan, Madeline and Leah, two French and one Filipina, with the aim of positively contributing to local life in Siargao.
Deeply attached to the island and its inhabitants, and faced with the massive growth of tourism, they wanted to offer the local community a project dedicated to them.
A place which would provide young people with a comfortable space in which to study, with computers, school books, and a workspace; which would promote children’s development and learning through fun and creative activities; where awareness-raising initiatives could be organized around key themes such as education, health, and environment.
A project that could evolve and adapt to the needs of the community and provide the younger generations with tools to help them develop in a changing environment. A project that could also support children on their journey towards a life where they would be actors and, why not, creators of a more sustainable and united future.
What better place than a library to carry out this mission?
Books are a lasting resource that offer those who read them the opportunity to travel, learn, understand, imagine, and discover a multitude of fictional and real stories; to open themselves up to an almost infinite number of perspectives, cultures, and ideas. Books are allies that promote openness to oneself and others, from an early age.
So what better host than a library to carry out this project?
The Baybayin: the alphabet that lends us its name
Baybayin is the name of the alphabet used in the Philippines before the arrival of Europeans in the archipelago. It means “to spell” in Tagalog. Giving this name to the association therefore seemed obvious, respecting the founders’ desire to promote the best of Philippine culture.