Our discussion of civic engagement in last week’s issue stirred conversations among Service-Learning colleagues and friends who are committed to the cause of serving communities, particularly the marginalized sector. Service-Learning is a teaching methodology that integrates civic engagement into the academic content of a course of subject.
They shared how community service, spurred by the spirit of volunteerism, has shaped their lives and those they have mentored.
Writing of volunteers, one person who stands out in my stream of consciousness is Ma. Lourdes ‘Malou’ Eudela, who, since her grade school days until college life at the University of St. La Salle, where she earned her Psychology degree, has been active in community work.
In December 2011, she went to Iligan City as part of the Sending Response team of the university that rendered volunteer relief work for typhoon victims in coordination with the La Salle institution in the Mindanao city.
“That sparked my humanitarian career,” she recalled.
A year later, making use of her behavioral science background, she returned to Iligan City to help as a mental health practitioner to extend psychological support as team leader in evacuation centers under the Health Organization for Mindanao, a local NGO.
Those experiences spurred Malou to pursue further studies that, eventually, she earned her Master of Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development degree in 2019 under a scholarship grant at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia.
Despite her hectic academic schedule at Newcastle, she found time being part of the U of N Volunteers Organization, which extended, among others, assistance to university partner communities in running their programs and even cooked food and gave them for free to students.
Malou’s long list of other volunteer work is awe-inspiring. Among the highlights is her stint with the United Nations Volunteer under the UN Office of the Resident Coordinator in the Philippines
“I supported the Office of the Residents/Humanitarians Coordinator in the Philippines, contributing to ensure coordination and leveraging of interlinkages between the two sides – humanitarian and development.”
This was part of the overall strengthening of the humanitarian-development-peacebuilding nexus approach where short-term emergency interventions are interlinked with longer-term recovery, be it COVID-19, disasters or conflict, she further said.
She has worked in the Red Cross and the United Nations in various capacities since 2012 to present.
Earlier, in 2015 and 2019, she was appointed by the Japan Cabinet Ministry to be the discussion facilitator in DRR and Environment and Sustainability for the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program.
She shared that, like any type of work, there are difficulties encountered. “It can be overwhelming. I had difficulty managing my time to address the various demands asked of me,” she said.
How did she overcome these difficulties? “I had to slow down, prioritize things, and manage my time well…” she said, adding “I take some breather when it already feels overwhelming. It pays to remind myself of my limitations as much as my potentials.”
Today, Malou is an established development and humanitarian practitioner whose focus is on disaster risk reduction and resilience building, mainstreaming the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in development programs, and advocating for mental health.
She has just concluded her Cotabato-based development work – as UNDP project analyst on conflict transformation in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and is moving to Manila first week of October for a new assignment – with the United Nations Population Fund.
Malou may have gone a long way in her humanitarian work but she looks back with fondness to where the spirit of volunteerism began – at home.
My parents – Norberto Eudela, who worked with the construction unit of Victoria’s Milling Company, and Rosario, a City Hall employee – always extended help to people in need who came to our home for help, she recalled, and they always took me with them when they volunteered in community work as Couples for Christ members.
“Even until now, they encourage me in my community work and pray over me whenever I have deployments,” she added.
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Volunteerism does not go unnoticed.
The United Nations has designated a day – every December 5 since a resolution was adopted by the United Nations in 1985 – as International Volunteer Day.
The day “pays tribute to the frontline, selfless public welfare workers who also assist organizations in the fulfillment of formidable foals, like societal, environmental and economic ones.” It is an occasion “to celebrate and thank people around the world who dedicate their precious time and efforts to voluntary service.”
The theme of the celebration this year is “Solidarity through Volunteering.” The theme “aims to gather all people to volunteer work for social and economic development” and to transform people’s mindsets toward building a better world.
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Another Lasallian active in community work is Dexter Ian Tabujara, who heads the USLS Christian Service Learning Program unit.
Ian shared that his current community engagements have been spawned by community exposures and integration activities during student days.
“Listening to people’s stories in their own communities connects us to the realities on the ground – on their state as marginalized sectors, like urban folk, farmers and farmers,” he said.
“Reflecting on all these,” he added, “metanoia (or change of mind) took place that consequently I have committed myself to serve and empower communities.”
The Lasallian community worker said he is “happy to share entrepreneurial knowledge and skills to the poor for their SLED, or sustainable livelihood and enterprise development.”
Sharing reactions from those he mentors in community-related service, he said students highlighted the realization of “appreciating the hard work of their parents when they personally witnessed how microentrepreneurs do their best to send their children to school.”
Consequently, he added, students learn to value what they learn from their relationship with community partners. “They are more appreciative of things that they have upon realizing others’ needs and that they want to continue their volunteer work to serve more.”
On a similar note, Malou shared the impact of volunteerism on her personal as well as professional life.
“I have been more grounded in how I view the affairs of the world and the people in it. My previous volunteer engagements allowed me to interact with many individuals from all walks of life,” she said
Volunteerism provides an opportunity to build one’s sense of worth and capability. “Volunteering is a great opportunity to form one’s character. It allows us to see the world beyond ourselves – that there is a big world out there where some people’s needs match what we could share or give,” she added.
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Indeed, volunteerism and civic engagement offer life-long impact to those who engage in community work.
Dr. Enrique Oracion, director of the Silliman University Research and Innovation Office, and my long-time Service-Learning colleague, shared: “A person who has been exposed to working with certain communities beyond what a task requires as a student or as personal engagement would someday see paid employment or business as an exertion of quality service or product, meaning, there is a willingness to put extra value to work and unconscious effort to offer the best.”
He affirmed Malou’s attributing to family life the beginning of one’s civic engagement.
“Socialization in the family, reinforced by the school and community, nurtures a person desire to engage in volunteer work.”
Having parents, directly or indirectly, engaged in community work or extending assistance to people in need matters, Dr. Oracion said, adding: “The opportunity provided by school for students to engage in community service reinforces it.”
A supportive and appreciative community also furthers the desire of a person of helping others in helping themselves, he further said as he underscored that “the favorable results of volunteer service expands its practice.”
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The discussion on the impact of service in people’s lives brings back to mind the International Service Learning civic engagement I helped coordinate in 2014 as a post-Typhoon Haiyan (Haiyan) response in Negros and Panay. The engagement was initiated by the Hong Kong-based United Board for Christian Higher Education.
More than 200 Service-Learning and volunteer students and faculty from all across Asia participated in the conference and actual rehabilitation work in Iloilo province and the cities of Roxas and Sagay.
A study I conducted, which I later presented in a Service-Learning conference in Taiwan, showed the overwhelmingly positive effects of the 10-day experience not only on the participants’ academic and personal life. In summary, they said that it was equally significant that “scores of young people, of different cultures and tongues can gather and work together using the language of volunteerism, service and love for others.”
We have a heightened sense of international harmony and have become better citizens of the world, they said.
A long-term volunteer and Service-Learner and ISL participant, Karla Panganiban, who is now a top executive in a Taiwan information technology company, put it succinctly when she said: “Community engagement and volunteerism can be physically and emotionally-tiring but, at the end of the day, as you lie down reflecting on the day’s rigors, you suddenly realize that the exhaustion is nothing compared to the feeling that you have done something in keeping with the call of Jesus for us to do something for the least of our brothers and sisters…that by itself is truly rejuvenating enough for you to look forward to another occasion of service.”
Malou extends an invitation to prospective volunteers: “It is always a privilege to volunteer. If you have the opportunity to do so, do it. It will be a great learning experience for those who have committed to sharing their time, effort, and resources through volunteering.”
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Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. (Isaiah 58:10) – NWI
