Journal # 19: Initiative to Take Action

August 9

            Our country has suffered greatly for the past couple of days.  A lot of Filipino citizens lost their homes due to the flood.  However, I am glad to share that DLSU students have been taking initiative to help our brothers and sisters.  By donating food such as rice, canned goods, dried fish, etc, and non-food such as clothes, plastic sheets, sleeping mats, blankets, etc, many Filipinos will have a better life.  Monetary donations can also be accepted.  I hope that this devastating event in our country will open the eyes of every single Filipino to take better care of our environment.  The picture below is the poster made by DLSU USG, entitle Sagip Metro 3.

Journal # 18: Bagyong Helen

August 7

            Bagyong Gener just left our country a couple of days ago, but now Bagyong Helen is here.  Last night, it was raining extremely hard and a lot of DLSU students were stranded in school due to the flood in Taft.  This is horrible! My thesis group was supposed to go to RCBC Plaza in Makati to meet our thesis adviser last night.  Good thing we did not push through with the meeting or else we would have been stranded in Makati! Instead, we are all currently stranded in our thesis mate’s condo.

            I woke up early today because of the sound of the rain.  As much as I want to go back to sleep, I couldn’t anymore because I was so bothered with everything that is happening all around our country.  Twitter, Facebook, and the news in the television shows the high floods in different places.  One even said that this could be “Ondoy Part 2”.  That statement scared me! In times like this, we are all worried about our Filipino citizens.  I guess what we can do right now is pray to God for the safety of everybody here in our country. 

            This picture absolutely scared me to death. I hope no one gets hurt from this horrible typhoon. L

Journal # 17: Triple Bottom Line

August 6

            During our class today, our topic revolved around CSR and the environment. The Triple Bottom Line approach absolutely struck me the most throughout our discussion.  I came across this lesson in the past, and I believe that every company should live up to this in order to reach sustainability.  This Triple Bottom Line is made up of three factors: economic, ethical, and environmental.  It can also be related to “People, planet, and profit”.  It is evident that the goal of every company is to gain profit; however, they must consider two other things, such as the equity and fair business practices and practicing sustainable environmental practices. 

On top of this, we discussed in class that our mother Earth is forgiving and it can heal itself given time.  But despite this, we must realize that we are the ones devastating our surroundings and we should be considerate of our actions. We must always remember that if we do not take care of our environment, we will lose all our resources.    

Journal # 16: NO COSORES

August 1

            We did not have any COSORES class this week.  But instead, we were tasked to watch The Inconvenient Truth and answer several questions regarding the film.  I actually already watched this film when I was still in High School, and I can honestly say that it’s a great movie to watch because it shows us the alarming realities of our world today.  Global warming is extremely controversial nowadays, and every human being must be fully aware of what is happening in our environment because these changes are due to human influences.  We, humans, are mostly responsible in producing greenhouse gases that drastically worsens global warming.

            In our worksheet, we were asked about what ways we can reduce our individual effects on climate change and I would like to reiterate/quote my answers in this post:

“I believe that every human being living in this world must be fully aware of the consequences of his or her actions, particularly in relation to global warming.  I extremely agree with Al Gore’s statement, “I felt that what we take for granted may not be here for our children”.  If each person continues performing actions that contributes to the devastation of our environment that affects global warming, the future generation are the ones to suffer.  Global warming is deeply worsening every minute here in the Philippines, and so, we must take responsibility in mitigating the effects of global warming in our country for the sake of our future generation and our environment.  With that, we need to reduce our individual effects on climate change.  In reality, there are numerous things that we can do to help fight global warming and climate change.  Three ways are as follows:

We need to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  Every person should reduce waste by choosing reusable products instead of disposables.  We should be disciplined and purchase items that will not harm the environment.  We should recycle paper, plastic, newspaper, glass and aluminum cans.  Doing this can help us save carbon dioxide annually. In addition, we should also segregate our waste by differentiating food waste, which can be composted, from those that can be recycled. 

Save electricity and fuel.  If ever we are not using any of our appliances, we should always unplug them to save our electricity.  We must learn how to use the “off” switch because by simply turning off the lights, television, computer, etc can reduce global warming.  As much as possible, it is best to use natural lighting during daytime.  In addition, we can save fuel by simply walking or biking to our destination to save fuel and at the same time, it is good for one’s health.  Also, you can simply adjust your driving style to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. When purchasing a car, we must consider its energy and fuel-efficiency.  Regular maintenance also helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions.

Conserve water.  We should always turn off the faucet when not in use.  Leaving the faucet running for at least a minute amounts to 9 liters of wasted water, which is very precious for our world.  One can also take quick showers to lessen the consumption of water and energy.”

We can actually do numerous things in order to save our world.  However, it is always best to be fully educated with what is happening first, and then we can start taking action. As a matter of fact, it is not difficult to be environmentally friendly, we just all really have to be disciplined and be mindful of our actions at all times. 

Journal # 15: Program Flow – Visit at RAC

July 22, 2012

           

            Two days ago, we visited RAC and I already made a journal entry about it however, I just simply wanted to post our program flow for the entire day.      

12:00-1:30 Journey to the Venue

1:30-1:40 Set-up of place and introduction

1:40-2:40 Pastillas Making

2:40-3:00 Pastillas eating and discussion

3:00-3:30 Break time and interaction with the kids

3:30-3:45 Intro of next activity and set-up

3:45-4:45 Egg painting

4:45 -5:15 Awarding of Best eggs and discussion

5:15-5:35 Clean Up

5:35-6:15 Talk with personnel and kids, review of today’s events and the kids’ reactions; discussion of plans for next meeting

            I can honestly say that those 6 hours spent at Reception and Action Center made me realize how lucky I am to be in this state of life.  Before we conducted this service, my group already decided that we will conduct activities that will cater to improving the living conditions of these unfortunate Filipino citizens.  We were extremely touched upon seeing the smiling faces of the children at the center, and seeing how much they are enjoying while learning value-added activities from us.  I can say that we were able interact with these less fortunate individuals and create a lasting relationship and memories with them.

            Our project objectives are as follows and I will explain how we were able to achieve each of these through our visit at RAC:

•              To interact with and learn from the children in Reception and Action Center

o   All of the activities we prepared for the children at RAC allowed us to fully interact with them and create a good relationship with them to make them happy.  As we spoke to them, we were able to learn how difficult their lives are and how they cope with their daily life.

•              To be able to impart knowledge and offer Lasallian service to the people living in Reception and Action Center through tutorial sessions

o   We were not able to hold tutorial sessions during our visit, however, as much as possible, we integrated everything that we have learned in school in the activities we held for them.

•              To be exposed with the realities of our country and truly understand the importance of helping our society

o   Having a mini discussion with the children opened up our eyes towards the realities of our country.  It is through their life stories wherein I realized how unfortunate these people are and how much they need my help to at least, improve their state of living.

•              To enhance the living conditions of the individuals living in RAC through donated clothing and toiletries to impose good personal hygiene

o   We donated some toiletries and clothing to the children in RAC.

•              To teach the children value-added activities that can be their source of income in the future

o   We were actually commended by the administration of RAC because they saw that our activities were actually value-added. It does not only provide fun and laughter among the kids but they have important lessons to be learned, as well. 

Journal # 14: VISIT CANCELLED :(

July 21, 2012

            My group was supposed to visit RAC again for the second time today; however, we had to cancel our activity due to the storm.  We already planned everything for this visit.  We had all the games and activities in mind, along with the food, prizes, and give-away for the children.  The time of our visit was supposed to be from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon.  In fact, we already promised the children in RAC that we will visit today and they were all excited for this day.  As a group, we decided to accommodate more children tomorrow since we will be having interactive games, which will for sure be extremely fun.

Unfortunately, when I woke up at 7:30 am, I was shocked to see how hard the rain was.  On top of that, Taft was already flooded, as well!  As much as I did not want to cancel our service learning visit at RAC, my group decided to cancel it because we were worried about our safety too.  Our parents were worried about us since there might be a possibility that we can get stranded in Manila, due to the rain and flood.  The picture below shows how flooded Taft gets when it rains extremely hard.

            It made me realize how horrible the state of our country is in.  It seems as if the Filipinos do not even care about our environment.  First of all, I think that the government is the main person to blame for the flooding in the Philippines.  They already know that our country is always hit by horrible typhoons, and so, they should take the initiative to improve our water management.  Our dams should be maintained properly or constantly improved, so that they will not easily collapse, which may result to flooding.  Also, come to think of it, our roads would not be flooded if we, Filipino citizens, are responsible enough to take care of our wastes.  A lot of people just throw their garbage in the roads, which blocks the flow of water upon draining.  We really need to work on this as soon as possible because this is ruining our surroundings.

              

           

Journal # 13: Reception and Action Center Visit

July 20, 2012

            This is a life-changing day for my group!  We spent our entire afternoon at the Reception and Action Center (RAC) wherein we conducted value-added activities for the children living in that shelter.  It is located at Lions Road, A.J. Villegas St. (formerly Arroceros) Ermita, Manila, which is adjacent to the LRT Central Station.  The location was very convenient for us to go to because it is near De La Salle University.  Therefore, as soon as we finished our school activities, we immediately went to RAC.  When we got there, I immediately met up with the officer-in-charge of RAC.  She was very accommodating and she made sure that everything was ready for us to conduct our activities.  They prepared the room and the tables and chairs that we will be using for the entire afternoon. 

            Here are pictures from showing the venue:

            Prior to the activity day, I called Ms. Chris (officer-in-charge) and she asked me how many children can we accommodate.  My group decided to accommodate around 20 kids, preferably girls because girls usually do the activities that we were planning to do.  And so, when the room was all set up, all 20 girls came down from their rooms upstairs in their purple shirts.  Everyone seemed so eager and excited to meet us.  As they were going to their seats, I actually felt like crying.  I just felt so bad for each one of them and yet, I do not know exactly what to do to help them.  However, I know for a fact that our visit in RAC will enhance their lives at some point.  We may not be able to change their situation, but I know that we will, indeed, be touching their lives as well. 

            As planned, we taught them how to make pastillas.  Grace, my group mate, is very inclined in making pastillas, therefore, she was the one who handled this session.  The rest of us assisted the children with the ingredients (Nido powdered milk, sugar, condensed milk).  As soon as everyone finished making their pastillas, we all bonded and interacted with the girls while eating.  Some little boys joined us in our activities as well, and so, we made more pastillas for them to eat.

            Afterwards, we also conducted an egg painting activity.  For this, we prepared prizes for those who will be able to have the best output.  My group mates and I saw eager each person is to win the game.  Here are some of the painted eggs the kids made:

           

While we were doing this activity, we had more time to interact with the children and talk to them about how they are doing and what they are feeling.  This made me extremely sad for them.  My first question to them was “Ano pa gusto niyo gawin?”  One kid answered me saying, “Gusto ko makalaya dito!”.  Another one said, “Para kaming nasa bilangguan”.  Most of them really want to leave the place to be with their family.  I thought this place is a temporary caring shelter.  Why do most of the children not feel the care that RAC is giving them?  Despite all those comments, one boy told me that he was already released by RAC months ago, however, he decided to come back because this is the only place wherein he gets to eat regular meals. 

Another topic that we talked about with the children was about their admission.  Based from the children’s responses, they are currently in RAC because either they were caught doing drugs (solvent) in the streets or they did something bad, like stealing.  They informed us that their life in this place was quite sad because no one really visits them.  With that, they were very happy upon seeing us visit them.  Even if we only had several activities, we were still able to put smiles on their faces and made them learn something new that they can use in the future.  The officer-in-charge of RAC even commended us for conducting activities that were value-added. 

I believe that this service learning does not only help the children from RAC but also, helps us improve as Filipino citizens.  My entire group realized that what we did is only one-step in helping our unfortunate brothers and sisters.  We hope to help more people in the future and eventually, I believe that we can still continue to make a difference in our country.