ESPOIR School Of Life is a non-profit organization that provides free education to underprivileged children at the heart of Brgy. Lobogon, Del Carmen in the Philippines.

The first school is located on Siargao Island. The site is on a Gawad Kalinga (GK) resettlement area, whose community members were identified as landless persons living in danger zones who had little to no means to sustain themselves.  

Espoir, “hope” in French, means hope for the children, hope for their families, and hope for their generations to come. Hope starts with the children, with the right education.

Espoir was founded by Frenchman Nicolas Gontard and his wife Bellce Gontard in 2016 with the help of its Directors Amy Dallison, Elizabeth and Martin Roces, Father Raphael Siapno and Pamela Arcangel.

The location of the school was decided after consulting the Department of Education. The local government of Siargao Island and the Gawad Kalinga (GK) NGO gave access to land to Espoir in the GK village of Lobogon to build the school.

Director Amy Dallison and Project Manager Joel Chamberlain spent a considerable of time pro bono in Siargao in 2016. Amy was in charge of establishing first contact with the local government and the DepEd, setting the curriculum, writing the school rules for students and the “sweat equity” program requiring parents to contribute time in exchange for a free education for the kids.

Joel was the Project Manager in charge of the construction of the first classroom and gardens, testing various design elements and eco-friendly products to establish a standard for future buildings.

The first classroom was called AMEL, a combination of their first names, in recognition for their unselfish contribution to ESPOIR.

The initial investment was made by Nicolas and Bellce Gontard to cover the construction of the first classroom and the first year of operations. The objective was to ensure that external funding and donations would only start once the project was well under way, with the NGO registered, the first classroom built, the first teacher hired and the first school year completed.

Nicolas and Bellce will continue to inject money every year, but due to the size of the project which will provide education from Kindergarten (K) to High School (Year 2) to potentially up to 300 students, donors and sponsors are needed for the long term sustainability of the project.

Create a culture of belonging through a community development model and deliver liberating programs and projects to provide inclusive education to underprivileged learners in a safe and healthy environment.

We envision a welcoming and inclusive community providing self-sustainable opportunities to improve quality of life through free quality education.