2-day Outreach for Taal Evacuees
Feb. 22-23, 2020
Last January 12, 2020, Taal Volcano erupted and a lot of
people living nearby were affected. We even experienced Ash Fall here in Metro
Manila on a Sunday night.
On the following days, relief operations from the
government, private companies and individuals flooded in. Donations and
different campaigns or fundraisers for the victims and evacuees kept coming.
The true spirit of Bayanihan for the Filipinos was once felt again on a crisis
like this.
I found a Facebook Post looking for volunteers and sponsors for
a two-day outreach that will focused on kids affected by Taal and a medical
mission. And so I joined this group which called themselves as Tanglaw or Tayo
ang Ilaw (We are the light). Tanglaw in Tagalog means light.
We raised funds and collected donations for a month and the
day finally came!
Saturday, February 22, 2020. Day One.
One fine Saturday morning, I finally got to meet all of them
and at past 10 am, we were already on the way to Batangas. Our first
destination was at Talisay, Batangas.
It was a private resort of a local official that they
temporarily converted into a relocation site for almost 100 families.
This day’s program consisted of the following:
-
Repacking of school supplies
-
Medical Mission
-
Buying, prepping and cooking for everyone’s
early dinner
-
Puppet show, short film watching for kids, Arts
and Crafts and distribution of School Supplies.
-
Feeding
Volunteers were assigned to these different activities and
we just enjoyed the busyness of this day. After all, our goal to help was
fulfilled.
Repacking of school supplies. Because of the
donations from generous and kind souls, we were able to pack 500 sets of school
supplies! Thank you so much, dear sponsors and donors!
Medical Mission. We have volunteer nurse and doctor
on the team and they were able to serve more than 60 patients. We also brought
donated medicines and vitamins. These has been distributed to those in
need.
Puppet show, short film watching for kids, Arts and
Crafts and distribution of School Supplies. We also have some teachers on
the team! We were in charge of the activities for more than 60 kids. We had a
puppet show, then short film watching and Arts and Crafts. Kids enjoyed all
these activities that we prepared for them.
School supplies were distributed as well during this time. And theme of our Arts and Craft for this day was Dream Art. They have to write their dreams on the clouds given to them. Most of the kids wanted to be a teacher. Why not? All dreams are valid!
We let them know that whatever trials they are facing right
now, they have every right to dream and eventually make it come true. Through
this activity, hopefully we also let them realized what their dreams really
are.
Never stop dreaming, kids!
Buying, prepping and cooking for everyone’s early dinner. Most of the boys on our team were in charge of the food. Hats off to our volunteers who went and bought in the market, prepared the food and cooked for everyone.
We were done by past 6 in the evening. We left the place
with a happy heart. Kids and their parents gratefully bid us goodbye. We were
also grateful for letting us help them.
The team had dinner at Tanauan Batangas Market wherein we
tried Gotong Batangas. It was my first time to try it and I guess I will never
try it again. Ha-ha. Sorry, no offense meant.
Luckily, one of our volunteers have an available house for
rent that we can stay for a night. It was in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.
We were all got tired because of the activities that we did
for this day but we were happy knowing that we were able to give some love,
time and effort to those in need.
Day 2. Sunday, February 23, 2020
After a hearty breakfast, the team was already on the way to
our next destination. And that was at Balete, Batangas. It was another
relocation site for Taal evacuees. I call this as temporary tent city.
This day’s activity was the following:
-
Grouping of kids
-
Short film watching
-
Arts and Craft
-
Distribution of School Supplies
-
Lunch Time
-
Medical Mission
-
Dinner and Back to Home
Grouping of Kids, Short film watching, Arts and Crafts,
Distribution of School Supplies.
We borrowed a nearby covered court where will conduct our activities for the kids. There’s a lot of kids compared to yesterday that most of our volunteers need to handle at least 20 kids each.
We borrowed a nearby covered court where will conduct our activities for the kids. There’s a lot of kids compared to yesterday that most of our volunteers need to handle at least 20 kids each.
We grouped the kids according to age range so we can manage
them well.
Just like yesterday in Talisay, kids experienced the short
film watching and the Arts and Crafts. We also distributed to them the school
supplies.
We also had some games for them while they are waiting for
their turn to watch the short film. Since we have hundreds of kids for this day
and we only have a limited space for the film watching, we did it on a batch by
batch.
After they watched and school supplies were distributed, we
finally proceeded with the Arts and Crafts. We called this the Dream Art
wherein the kids were instructed to write on the clouds what are their dreams.
Never Stop Dreaming. This is our message for them. That
despite of the crisis they are experiencing right now, they should never stop
dreaming and life must go on.
Snacks were also given to them before they went home.
Lunch Time.
The whole team had a lunch a nearby lomihan before going on
the second part of the program which was the Medical Mission.
Medical Mission. Our volunteer nurse and doctor were
able to serve again more than 60 patients and some of the volunteers who are
not even in the medical field assisted.
Thank you so much Team Tanglaw for a two-day outreach well
done!
I was happy and privileged to be part of this team. It was
nice to meet new people again and to be friends with them! Until our next
project!
