The long view

This week is about people who measure their work in decades, not campaigns: two teachers in the Philippines, and the co-founder of a children's charity in the Mekong region.

Two Filipino teachers were honoured for work that grew from their own communities

The Metrobank Foundation named its 2026 Outstanding Filipinos at a ceremony in Manila on 4 September. Among the teachers: Dr Emmanuel Guarde of Oriental Mindoro, who spent 16 years on culture-based education with the Alangan Mangyan community, helping to set up a primary school and bring in sanitation, solar lighting and health care. And Sheila Marie Amigo of Zamboanga Sibugay, whose physics lessons built from low-cost and recycled materials grew from 15 learners to more than 3,000 students, with over 200 teachers mentored along the way. The award programme itself was started in 1985 by a businessman, the late Metrobank chairman George S.K. Ty.

Why it matters to us: the best education work we have read about is led by teachers from the community itself. When Oriel looks for partners, we plan to start with teachers like these and ask what they need, not arrive with our own answer.

Source: Daily Tribune, 11 September 2026 · award history: The Manila Times, 12 October 2026

"A drop in the ocean?" A founder answers the question every small charity hears

Child's Dream was co-founded in 2003 by Daniel Siegfried and Marc Jenni, a former banker, and works with children and young people in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. In a recent "From the Founders" piece, Siegfried takes on the donor question of whether their work is just a drop in the ocean. His answer is to count honestly: 1,457,390 people reached since 2003, 4,800 high school and 1,208 university scholarships, and about 1 in 391 young people living in extreme poverty worldwide. He calls the "drop" argument an oversimplification that can become an excuse to do nothing, and describes change as a marathon, not a sprint.

Why it matters to us: we will be a small foundation too. The honest reply to "is it enough?" is a clear count of what was done and for whom, kept for years. That is what our public ledger is for.

Source: Child's Dream, 25 August 2026 · founders' background: Roche, 2023

This week at Oriel

We published a fuller About page, with our four commitments and how to reach us, and gave every page of the site its own share image. We are still preparing to launch in January 2027 and are not taking donations.