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| Volunteer Corner | |
21 January 2010 For the past six months, I have been a Peace Corps Response Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity Philippines. I have found the job both inspiring and rewarding. First of all, I support the mission of the organization, working to ensure a decent place to live for all. There is a great need for housing for the poor in the Philippines! I have had several occasions to visit squatter homes along the Pasig River and the floodway from which the Habitat homepartners are being relocated. I have also had a chance to visit some of the new home sites in Metro Manila and in Calauan, and the residents seem much happier in their new homes. As a Resource Development and Marketing Strategist, my assignment was to work on an overseas fundraising strategy and the communications for it. I developed a list of prospects to target and wrote appeal letters for some of the targets. I was in the process of sending out some of the appeals when Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng hit. Then the scope of my assignment changed and I was involved in the Disaster Response effort. As I put it in an article for Impact, the Peace Corps Response newsletter:
I helped to develop the comprehensive proposal for Habitat’s Disaster Response effort and to send it out. At the same time, I continued my appeals letters. They laid the groundwork for future efforts and resulted in some donations. I also set up meetings with some potential donors and established relationships there. One funder found me through my blog and agreed to fund a water proposal that I had written. I was the primary contact for some Habitat for Humanity International visits, which should result in a continuing relationship. I helped out at the Asia-Pacific Housing Forum that was co-sponsored by HFHP. Another rewarding aspect of my job was organizing a Habitat for Humanity build for fellow Peace Corps Volunteers participated. Eleven volunteers moved gravel and sand, made concrete interlocking blocks and painted for three days. I am organizing another build for my last Saturday as a PCRV, and it has inspired me to organize a build for a Katrina-affected area when I get back to theU.S. I helped out with secondary projects as well, including two Manila Bay cleanups (one on International Volunteer Day) and informal consulting at the sites of other PCVs. I helped share my experience through a blog and through correspondence with a high school class back in the U.S. I had the opportunity to share some of my Morocco experience with people here as well. Both cultures are known for their hospitality, family orientation and their food! The staff here at Habitat for Humanity has been friendly, welcoming and helpful and I will miss everyone here. This has been a great experience for me and I hope it has been for Habitat for Humanity Philippines as well!
My Experience as VIDA Volunteer Volunteering work is worth sacrificing and HAPPINESS as well. My Stories Before And During My Time Of Service As A VIDA Volunteer 06/04/09 Volunteer Helps Children Prepare for Disaster 03/13/09 10 January 2009 Very sincerely, 03/12/09 Reflections of a Pax Christi/VIDA Volunteer
As I look at what I have achieved despite it all, I feel awed that we are still here and all my worries and weariness disappear. Seeing the innocent and trusting smiles of the children, gained good reputation in the community…the PCLI standing strong and continuing to grow, giving quality education to indigent children, and knowing fully I am a big part of it, gives me the resolve that poverty is not a hindrance to serving fellow poor Filipinos. Being a VIDA volunteer really gives me this pride no one can ever take, as I join with the rest of heroes I admire in every VIDA around the Philippines. 03/12/09 VIDA Volunteer Assignment My work as a VIDA Volunteer working with the Asset-based Community Development with Equity Foundation (ABCDEF) in Dipolog City is full of challenges and fulfillment. Work with mostly Subanen marginal farmers in far-flung mountains is not your regular 8-hour job for their concerns are varied and their resources meager. I assist in the conduct of capacity-building activities and in seeing to it that inputs such as vegetable seeds, seedlings, farm animals provided by the Foundation would help ensure the improvement of their environment by way of improving their farming system and increase their livelihoods.
VIDA Volunteer May Grace Maboloc My life as a VIDA Volunteer and working with the Wand Foundation in Misamis Oriental is full of challenges. Why? It is because this is my first entry into real fieldwork directly dealing with farmers. The pressure in work is vastly different from school. Working in rural and mountainous areas is not that easy since you need to walk several kilometers just to reach your destination. Sometimes I want to quit but wanting to challenge myself that I can do things on my own and to facilitate change in the local communities especially in the area of natural resources management motivates me to strive and to continue my journey. The smiles of the people I worked with and the satisfaction in their faces showing their improved uplands and local livelihoods helps me to have this feeling of triumph. May Grace Maboloc, VIDA Volunteer, Wand Foundation (formerly Local Empowerment Foundation) Libertad, Misamis Oriental. www.wandphils.org
The best thing about being a volunteer Do you recall Renaldo Lapuz, the Filipino contestant during a recent season of American Idol whose song "We're Brothers Forever" became a YouTube hit? That song, and the passion with which he sang it during his audition, describes very well my experience being a US Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to San Vicente, Camarines Norte, in Bicol. From this unlikely friendship grew a two-and-a-half-year journey of not only personal friendship but professional growth, as well. By Christmastime, 2006, thanks to this guy, I'd become a member of the church choir, had become a member of his barkada, and even attended his family's annual reunion as his guest. He helped me integrate into the community. John shared with me his dreams for the school, for the students, as well as his own professional goals. He had a lot of good ideas, and he thought I could help realize them. By January, 2007, together we attended our first project design and management training offered by the Peace Corps, the result of which was a grand proposal for a school library building with books and a reading program for the school. With the help of the principal and in partnership with the DepEd's iSchools program, our library project became a multimedia center, doubled in size, and gained 21 new computers. I couldn't have-nor would have-done this without my partner John. The Peace Corps recognized John's talents, as well, and on three different occasions invited him to be a co-trainer with me on project design and management trainings for other volunteers and their counterparts, and even once for a group of GPTCA representatives from Mindanao. We didn't stop at the library building, though. We worked together to solicit books, train my English teacher counterpart to become a librarian, and organize a reading program. With my help, John learned how to become more proficient on the computer and how to use the Internet for research. Our next project was to procure sewing machines for the garment technology class and launch a livelihood project that focused on making products from recycled juice packs. John, our principal, and I scoured the province and region together for sewing machines before heading to Manila to buy what we needed. Once we had those, the principal was able to find even more machines for us that needed to be overhauled before we could use them, which we did. Now we have 13 machines in full production as our students master the skills of garment technology, and creatively recycle what used to be trash into income-generating products. Today, John is enrolled in a master's degree program in education administration and has designs to become the next principal of our high school; currently he's the head of the newly-created technical-vocational education department. Through all of this, my friendship with John has grown into one of brotherhood. We're brothers forever now. Of course, there's the library and the sewing machines as physical "legacies" of what we accomplished, and seeing our students voraciously reading in the library and producing all kinds of neat things on their sewing machines is reward in and of itself, but what is really special to me is having found my best friend in the unlikeliest of places, and knowing that we accomplished this together, and that we've both changed each other's lives for the better. That's got to be the best thing about being a volunteer. Volunteer Work with IOM In the past few months, International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been leading the way along with DSWD Region V staff to institutionalize and streamline the work of the Protection Cluster in Bicol. IOM co-hosted a two-day workshop with staff from UNICEF to analyze the function of the protection cluster and to identify gaps in the fulfillment of this function. It was established that the four major areas of Protection concern in Bicol are Child Protection, Rule of Law and Justice, Safety and Human Rights Violations, and Land, Housing and Property Issues. Representatives of all the agencies active in Protection issues participated including Provincial PNP and PSWDO from Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Masbate, Sorsogon and Albay. The workshop provided background knowledge that the term "Protection" encapsulates the assurance of all human rights: physical, social, political and civil. It also created a work plan that DSWD can follow as lead of the cluster to strengthen the capacity of the cluster in the areas which were identified as gaps. IOM has also helped guide the Protection Cluster through contingency planning workshops at both the provincial and regional level. These activities have helped the cluster member agencies to not only address current protection issues occurring but to plan for the possibility of future emergencies. The creation of a Terms of Reference for the Cluster on the Regional level as well as guidelines taken from international standards to be used in an emergency situation have been IOM's contribution to institutionalizing the work of the cluster. The Bicol Protection Cluster is leading the way as a model of how the cluster approach can function on a regional level. Volunteering is an amazing experience "Hey Joe', I hear when passing the banana vendors on my way to work. They call me Joe since they think I am American, because I am not Asian looking. The school kids ask me what soap I use, so they can buy it as well and become white as me. Very funny since I like to be tanned. Since September 2006 I am a VSO volunteer working in the Philippines on the island Mindanao. As organizational development and resource mobilization advisor I work for Kapamagogopa, a Muslim sending volunteer organization. This NGO educates young Muslims with a bachelor degree to become peace weavers. After that they will be working in their own field as a volunteer in NGOs that work for peace and development. Since 5 centuries there is conflict and violence here in Mindanao. A lot of indigenous Muslim tribal groups are excluded of social basic services and development. Because of this and other problems, different rebel organizations have been set up, against which the national government is fighting protracted wars for a very long time. My work is very interesting and my colleagues are very passionate in their work. Integrating is going well, and in case of cultural differences my colleagues and I laugh! Sometimes we have misunderstandings in the language. The word 'yes' is '0 0' or you just move your eyebrows. It took me a while to understand that decisions were made already during meetings, since I was waiting for a 'yes'. Now I look at the non verbal communication and facial expressions. I have learned a lot from the four women I work with: Mari, the executive director, Lalai, the project manager, Bebe, the finance officer and Girlie the finance and administrative assistant. Since the organization is very young, only set up in 2004, it is still looking for funding and publicity. I shared my skills in this field and one of the activities was to write a book on the significant changes made by the Muslim volunteers in the communities where they work. Together with my colleague Lalai I traveled to the communities where the volunteers worked to interview their beneficiaries. Traveling was not always easy, since most communities are in the rural area. They consist mostly of some bamboo huts, surrounded by rice plantations, banana trees and coconut trees. To me coming from Europe where we dream of blue sky with lots of sun and living surrounded by coconut trees, the communities look very idyllic at first. However, the inhabitants suffered from war and natural disasters. Their livelihood consists of selling rice cakes door to door or peel coconuts for richer farmers. To reach the beneficiaries to be interviewed for the book, we walked long distances through nature or sometimes rode a habal habal, the only means of transportation in these areas, a motorcycle that carries up to six people. Sometimes we had to be protected by soldiers, a very strange feeling. In Pantar, a small village, elections were being held, which often evolves in conflict and violence. The inhabitants did not feel safe at that time, so military camps were set up in the area. For our own protection, we walked between military on the way through mud and grass lands to the bean plantation of a farmer that we were going to interview. During our walk I was wearing a head scarf, long sleeves shirt and long pants, to not look too different between the Muslims. It was an interesting experience. The book is finished now and we are all proud of it, of all the changes these volunteers made. My placement is now almost finishing and I feel like a split personality. It is really great of course to go back to the Netherlands and see my friends and family again after such a long time. But I know that I will really miss all the friends I made here, my colleagues, the fresh fruits, the excitement in my work and the beautiful country of the Philippines. Luckily nowadays communication is getting easier worldwide through internet, so I will be still in contact with my friends from here. I am sure that if I am back home, I will always remember my volunteering experience as a very amazing time of my life! If you like to know more about Kapamagogopa Inc. you can look at: www.ki-volunteer.org |
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I am placed as VIDA volunteer at Balay Integrated Rehabilitation Center For Total Human Development, Inc. (BIRTH-DEV, INC.) from 1 September 2006 up to the present. BIRTH-DEV, Inc. is a Non-Government Organization based in lligan City, Lanao Del Norte. In my three years of experience, I could say that I am so blessed given this opportunity to extend my help to the people in the served communities of my host organization of which one of the beneficiaries is my own Barangay Napo, Linamon, Lanao Del Norte. 
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and a servant of my husband and to our two children. Time came that Sr. Patrocinia A. Labordo, BVMC (CHC Former Directress), had visited to our place. There, she was meeting with the indigent family because she wanted to help their children. In wanting of seeing the nun, I left my work for awhile just to meet her. Later on, she said that she was looking for a teacher in Daycare. My neighbor was the one, who introduced me to the nun. Then, the Directress told me that she wanted to see me at 7:00 a.m. in the following day to CHC and also brought the required papers for perusal. So, I started to work my assignment as a teacher in Daycare last 01 August 2006 in CHC. But not yet considered as a VIDA Volunteer. 
"It has been really rewarding to see how the workbooks have evolved over the past couple of months, and it's truly a project that we can be proud of," says Smail, who joined her colleagues in presenting the books at a dedication ceremony in a relocation center for families displaced by the typhoon. 
I believe each one of us has our own mission in this world. As for me, volunteer work started during my 3rd year in college. I was attracted into volunteering as catechist to Grade 6 pupils in a public school under Sto. Niño Parish. Balancing my time between roles of a working student (my parents could not afford sending me due to financial difficulty) and that of a volunteer catechist for two years till I graduated had been surprisingly a very enjoyable part of my life where I proved to myself that I can still serve while working to earn for my studies. I also came to realize that poor as we are, it has never been a hindrance to offer my time and talent to those who need. Little did I know it was a remarkable foreshadowing of what the next phase my life of service would be-- a volunteer teacher and later volunteer principal in the Pax Christi Learning Institute (PCLI). IDEAS helped establish PCLI in year 2000 so that poor children can have access to quality education of which I was one of the proud pioneer teachers (and the only remaining till now). Though neophyte, I braved the challenges of starting a new school with lofty dreams amidst the impoverished rural milieu. Thanks to my previous volunteer work with elementary pupils, my experiences gave me handy learning which helped me cope with my new job. Many challenges (I have learned to call problems as challenges rather than problems because I believe problems are opportunities being opened) have formed me through the years hence making me the stronger and wiser person that I am now—the drive-you-crazy attitude of difficult children whom we later discovered only need the care not given by their families, nagging parents who easily put the blame on us, maximizing our creativity and resourcefulness due to meager budget, stretching the meager allowance I re
ceive to the point of sacrificing myself for my families needs, and even tougher when I later had my own family while I still owe to help my extended family…and then lately, adjusting to my big role as the school principal. In all these trials, I saw the strengthening of my faith that God never abandon me. He has given me buttress through inspiring mentors like Teacher Mina and Mam Babes, my supportive husband, Arnel and cute kids-Lynneth, LJ and Enzo, two of them are already studying in PCLI. 
