A Life More Whole

— — July 20, or more commonly known to the GKA community as Taiwan Day, was a special day once more for the Soochow volunteers this year. They did not realize it, but that day, they were superstars. One word from any one of them, and the entire Gawad Kalinga Cox community would instantly be all eyes and ears. Everyone wanted to take pictures with the foreigners. When the volunteers started dancing, men and women, young and old would cheer. When they reached out to the kids, the children would hug them. It was like the cast of Meteor Garden come to GK Cox.

— — But these student volunteers are also beyond just foreign superstars who wave and smile at admiring fans. Terrisa, Clara, Mandy, Gshon, Sarah, Kevin, Ivy, Ruby, Mandy Jessie and Chrissie are also volunteers. Every parent they met, they tried to relate with. Every child they played with, they tried to befriend. Hours before, they cooked — many for the first time — to feed the hungry community, many of whom cannot afford a complete meal for a day. And before that, they had to review their own choreography as well as the songs they were to sing with the kids while riding the jeep.

— — English is not their mother tongue, so they had to practice their accents. In a place with very few fluent Mandarin-speaking persons, sometimes, they had to do everything on their own. But although everything was a challenge, they did not mind. After all, they said, they came to the Philippines to find themselves and to make themselves “more whole.” What drove most of them to rediscover themselves had been seeing hungry Filipino children on TV and online. Thus, they chose the Philippines when they applied as an international student volunteer for Soochow.

— — Just like artists, they had to go through a strict screening process before they could be international volunteers. According to their leader Terrisa, the application includes a written exam where the definitions of service and a good international volunteer are tested, then an oral exam where a panel of judges gives more difficult questions. Even before the volunteers even begun their work, they had already been through a big challenge.

— — Still, the greater challenge that could truly help them find themselves lay in the Philippines. They had already spent a day with Ateneans, a day interviewing in GK Shaw Keegan and three days working in GK Cox. After Taiwan Day with GK Cox, they were also to have three teaching days at Boystown and finally the Ignatian Build at Nueva Ecija.

As their teacher Nikki said in Mandarin, the volunteers wanted to “認識世界. 看到別人辛苦會知道自己的幸福. (Get to know the world. Seeing other people in difficulty makes us [them] realize the value of life.)” They were grateful GKA was able to serve a bridge way to the students’ wishes.

A Learning More Whole

— — Part of what helped the Taiwanese begin to find themselves more included the academic benefits they attained from each area immersion. As written in their booklet Fate with Manila: Chasing Our Dream, improving their English skills and tackling international social issues are among their goals in the course of their volunteer work. And, indeed they have developed their own insights, as they worked with wood and soil if not papers and books at slum areas each day.

— — They all suggested that GK should provide more focus on giving skills training to community members to help these members emerge from GK communities one day. According to Terrisa, this is among the wishes of the mothers the volunteers were able to talk to in GK Cox. She proposed teaching these ladies skills like making products like soaps that could be sold for a living, as like a project happening now in Olongapo.

— — Meanwhile, for houses, Kevin, who happens to be majoring in economics, recommended the use of 組合屋 (Zu He Wu) or a large apartment to house a lot of members who can one day emerge and whose places can be occupied by less fortunate ones then in the future. That way, he said, GK serves as a bridge for the poor to success. Thus, GK can slowly let them stand on their own along the way.

— — Working with GKA has been of great advantage to them. Besides forging new friendships, they were also able to discuss and exchange ideas about political and social issues with people of different roots and culture.

— — Seeing the system of GK as a whole, they said, gave them the exposure to more economical and cultural aspects that could help in their own social enterprises for their home country and other countries they might work with as well.

A World More Whole

— — As the special day full of fresh new experiences came to a close, there reverberating in the multi-purpose hall of GK Cox was the beautiful melody of two races, people of different social classes singing together as one. Naturally, there could be no song more fitting than Jackson’s “We Are the World.” As when the GK Cox community entered to welcome to volunteers, Terrisa and her teammates were in tears. The community had not only helped them find themselves but also made them more nationalistic.

— — They were happy to introduce their culture, and the wide smiles on the community members’ faces truly struck them. The fact that they were able to connect with everyone while even singing and dancing Taiwanese aboriginal songs was really something, said Gshon, who was also the host for the day’s program. “Hopefully, one day, GK Cox people and other Filipinos can go to Taiwan.”

— — Finally, Terrisa, who was here for the second time, said something different. “I felt like I was seeing old friends. I hope everyone will keep in touch,” she said before she proceeded to practicing her Tagalog. “Gwapo. Salamat sa pagkain. Masarap.”

— — Just like any other curious tourist, the Soochow students, according to GKA members, were eager to learn Tagalog to connect with Filipinos. They greatly love their home country and its friendship with the world.