This
is a three-part series blog entry of my participation in our class
service learning as part of our requirements in this course. The
three-part series blog will focus on my experiences and reflections
before, during and after service learning. To check my first series of Service Learning Activity, kindly click here.
An Eye for Humanity
In my part 1 reflection, I mentioned that I would call the White Cross Orphanage as our target beneficiary for our service learning activity. True enough to myself, I did call them. However the requirements that we need to comply coupled with the location and the amount of time required for the visit would not suffice the objectives of our class. They mentioned that we are only allowed to visit their place for two hours only. Aside from this, my former college classmate and my parents mentioned that we might try to contact Hospicio de San Jose as it is more feasible for all of us in terms of location. I did call the place and similar to White Cross Orphanage, they only require us to visit them for two hours only.
Aside from trying to target orphanage, I kept my eye on Habitat for Humanity Philippines even before Leann would then confirm the initial plan of doing a CSR activity in their company. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that focuses on providing Filipino families a decent home of their own. [1] Since Leann mentioned that we could no longer do CSR with their company due to the company's rescheduling of outreach activities, I informed her about Habitat since I know that this is a non-profit organization in which I know that would be agreeable to all. Fortunately Leann was willing to communicate with the said institution and I'm glad that she was able to schedule us an outreach activity.
Although Habitat only allowed us to serve the community for four hours, we thought that it was already enough to suffice the six-hour service learning by splitting our time in Habitat and Hospicio de San Jose.
Torn between Convenience and Purpose
Sometimes people have a tendency to look what is in front of them, perhaps a sign of a desperate attempt just to get the job done. However, there are times wherein we are already not meeting the objectives, that is why it was a good thing that there is a proposal and our professor is there to approve it. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure.
Our professor approved our service learning in Habitat, but not for Hospicio. She mentioned that we need to have a sustainability project for our target population. Honestly, I know that we should make a sustainable project, but then like what I've mentioned, a desperate attempt on my part to get the job done blinded me of the real purpose of this activity. In addition, I know that our target population, which are the toddlers aged 1 to 3 years old cannot be taught sustainability activities. What could these toddlers do to help the community wherein these children need more constant guidance and not one time activity and allow them to learn from there? Again, it was a sign of prioritizing convenience without thinking of the real purpose of this activity.
Promises are Not Meant to be Broken
The good news is Habitat had another activity which would allow us to complete the six hour service learning that would be split in two different days. However, since I need to call the hospice to reserve a date of our visit in order to pass it in our proposal paper, which eventually got rejected, I was torn whether I should try to get away with it such as breaking a commitment, convince my fellow groupmates that we should attend this even if it won't be part of our six-hour service learning or just do it myself and shoulder the said materials (e.g. shampoo, soap, etc.) that would benefit the kids.
Fortunately, I was able to get an agreement among our groupmates that we would agree to still visit the children since I was able to voice out my concern such as informing them that we had to commit to a date before we mention it on our proposal papers.
Gratitude
We are informed that the group's contribution in the Habitat is to paint houses in Navotas and we are assigned to bring 2.5 gallons of white paint. The group encountered multiple dilemmas and the main problem of our group is how are we supposed to bring the paint from point to point without using train (fastest route and they do not permit carrying of flammable materials) or waking up earlier just to bring the paint on the meeting place (our meeting time is at 7am in the morning and my father would not allow me to carry 2.5 gallons of paint)? I've been trying to rack my brain on finding different ways to achieve this goal by delivering these gallons of paint. Thankfully, one of our groupmates Ryan offered his car to be used to transport all the materials that we need, including the donations that we would give to Hospicio de San Jose. Ryan's offer actually solved all of our problems since it would be easier for us to transport the goods with me buying all the stuffs that we need and him picking it up a day before the activity. We are all grateful to what he did since if not for him we might be wondering how are we supposed to deliver it to the destination.
As the saying goes everything has a reason. It is just that there are challenges that are trying to test us to see if we are still strong enough to believe that we could achieve a certain task.
Now we are ready for an adventure in Navotas, Manila and Batangas!
[1]Habitat for Humanity
An Eye for Humanity
In my part 1 reflection, I mentioned that I would call the White Cross Orphanage as our target beneficiary for our service learning activity. True enough to myself, I did call them. However the requirements that we need to comply coupled with the location and the amount of time required for the visit would not suffice the objectives of our class. They mentioned that we are only allowed to visit their place for two hours only. Aside from this, my former college classmate and my parents mentioned that we might try to contact Hospicio de San Jose as it is more feasible for all of us in terms of location. I did call the place and similar to White Cross Orphanage, they only require us to visit them for two hours only.
Aside from trying to target orphanage, I kept my eye on Habitat for Humanity Philippines even before Leann would then confirm the initial plan of doing a CSR activity in their company. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that focuses on providing Filipino families a decent home of their own. [1] Since Leann mentioned that we could no longer do CSR with their company due to the company's rescheduling of outreach activities, I informed her about Habitat since I know that this is a non-profit organization in which I know that would be agreeable to all. Fortunately Leann was willing to communicate with the said institution and I'm glad that she was able to schedule us an outreach activity.
Although Habitat only allowed us to serve the community for four hours, we thought that it was already enough to suffice the six-hour service learning by splitting our time in Habitat and Hospicio de San Jose.
Torn between Convenience and Purpose
Sometimes people have a tendency to look what is in front of them, perhaps a sign of a desperate attempt just to get the job done. However, there are times wherein we are already not meeting the objectives, that is why it was a good thing that there is a proposal and our professor is there to approve it. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure.
Our professor approved our service learning in Habitat, but not for Hospicio. She mentioned that we need to have a sustainability project for our target population. Honestly, I know that we should make a sustainable project, but then like what I've mentioned, a desperate attempt on my part to get the job done blinded me of the real purpose of this activity. In addition, I know that our target population, which are the toddlers aged 1 to 3 years old cannot be taught sustainability activities. What could these toddlers do to help the community wherein these children need more constant guidance and not one time activity and allow them to learn from there? Again, it was a sign of prioritizing convenience without thinking of the real purpose of this activity.
Promises are Not Meant to be Broken
The good news is Habitat had another activity which would allow us to complete the six hour service learning that would be split in two different days. However, since I need to call the hospice to reserve a date of our visit in order to pass it in our proposal paper, which eventually got rejected, I was torn whether I should try to get away with it such as breaking a commitment, convince my fellow groupmates that we should attend this even if it won't be part of our six-hour service learning or just do it myself and shoulder the said materials (e.g. shampoo, soap, etc.) that would benefit the kids.
Fortunately, I was able to get an agreement among our groupmates that we would agree to still visit the children since I was able to voice out my concern such as informing them that we had to commit to a date before we mention it on our proposal papers.
Gratitude
We are informed that the group's contribution in the Habitat is to paint houses in Navotas and we are assigned to bring 2.5 gallons of white paint. The group encountered multiple dilemmas and the main problem of our group is how are we supposed to bring the paint from point to point without using train (fastest route and they do not permit carrying of flammable materials) or waking up earlier just to bring the paint on the meeting place (our meeting time is at 7am in the morning and my father would not allow me to carry 2.5 gallons of paint)? I've been trying to rack my brain on finding different ways to achieve this goal by delivering these gallons of paint. Thankfully, one of our groupmates Ryan offered his car to be used to transport all the materials that we need, including the donations that we would give to Hospicio de San Jose. Ryan's offer actually solved all of our problems since it would be easier for us to transport the goods with me buying all the stuffs that we need and him picking it up a day before the activity. We are all grateful to what he did since if not for him we might be wondering how are we supposed to deliver it to the destination.
As the saying goes everything has a reason. It is just that there are challenges that are trying to test us to see if we are still strong enough to believe that we could achieve a certain task.
Now we are ready for an adventure in Navotas, Manila and Batangas!
Part 3 Click Here
Footnote:[1]Habitat for Humanity
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