The Sun Crew | Charity Siargao

The Sun Crew is building brighter futures for the children of Siargao.

We are a registered charity based on Siargao Island, the surfing capital of the Philippines.

We exist to empower women and children with the education and skills they need to have better futures and to create sustainable island communities.

We believe educating women and children is the key to creating effective, lasting change and this belief forms the foundations of our programs.

Rays of Change

SUSTAINABILITY

The ocean provides rural island communities with food, income and ultimately life and preserving the ocean is at the heart of Sun Crew's mission.

The Sun Crew is educating a generation of children to be custodians of the natural environment. These children will pioneer behaviors to protect their communities from environmental degradation.

The Sun crew also works at a grass roots level to build sustainable island communities. This is done through eco-education, segregation and up-cycling initiatives. These aim to close the plastic loop and remove waste from oceans.

EDUCATION

Education (and resources!) are the keys to addressing poverty and plastic pollution in rural communities.

The Sun Crew is working to ensure that children have the skills and education necessary to alleviate poverty and build brighter futures for themselves and their communities.

The Sun Crew uses surfing as a tool to motivate children to pursue their education.

EMPOWERMENT

Empowering women and children with knowledge, skills, and opportunities is the best way to create effective, lasting change.

The Sun Crew gives young people the skills, opportunities, and self-belief they need to defy expectations.

We believe that it is not a lack of will, but a lack of resources and support, that prevents women and children from reaching their potential. Our programs aim to provide these missing aspects and empower women and children to lead their communities to brighter futures.

How it all started

The Sun Crew began as a community project in 2017. Local Siargao surfer Wemar Bonono and an Australian tourist decided to do something about the large number of children not attending school, often found sitting on the beach watching tourists surf.

The children's love of surfing was apparent and they decided to use surfboards as an incentive to get them to attend school. The Smart Sustainable Surfers program began! As a team, they brought over more than 50 boards, donated by surfers in Australia, and within the first year of the program school attendance had improved by 100%. The Sun Crew was recognised as one of the best youth programs in the nation with a TAYO Award in 2018.

The Sun Crew become a registered charity in 2019 and has continued expanding its education programs since.