Hi AIESEC,
I would like to tell you about my great experience of last summer.
I went to the Philippines, Davao City, and did a development internship in the Woman’s jail of Davao City and tutored kids in SOS children’s Village.
It looks like a weird combination, but I had the best time ever. When I arrived in Davao, an AIESEC-er of the LC picked me up from the airport. He brought me to a hostel, where I spend the first night together with a Chinese girl who also arrived on the same day. Unfortunately it seemed to be that the organisation which I initially should volunteer for, cancelled my internship due to organisational reasons.
As AIESEC always says; ‘Take initiative!’ I lived in a house with five other girls. One of them was working at the Woman’s jail, I asked her if it was possible to come along. She asked her chief of Gawad Kalinga (the voluntary organization) and it was done, I could volunteer in the woman’s jail.
Woman’s jail
We were asked to set up a project for social and psychological activities in the jail.
Gawad Kalinga restructured the jail in 2009. New cottages for the woman were build and new facilities came, so that they could live there in more human conditions.
My roommate, Olivia, and I were the first group of people who entered the jail as volunteers for this organisation. It was an impressive experience, because most of the woman didn’t see any foreigners ever. I’m a tall, blond girl with a really white skin, so that was even stranger for them… The women in the jail are mostly there for dealing drugs, because they needed the money to support their families. For their costs of living, they are dependent of friends and family. There are women in the jail, who don’t have friends and family or any visitors to support them. That is why, besides social and fun activities we wanted to organize something to support them financially. We organised a talent show, the women were singing, dancing etc. and we invited all AIESEC-ers and exchange participants.
At the end of the show we asked for donations, so that we could buy the women shampoo, coffee, candy and fruits. It was fun to organise such an event and the women were so grateful. I learned a lot of these women; although they are in jail they are so hopeful and care about the good things in life and friendships. The women shared a lot of stories with us and I am grateful that they shared their experiences with us…
SOS Children’s Village
The project in the jail only lasts for around 4-5 hours a day, so I asked around for another project. A lot of the exchange participants in Davao city were volunteering at SOS Children’s Village. SOS Children’s Village is a project who creates a family for orphaned or abandoned children. These children live in a house between 8 and 11 children and there is one surrogate-mother. As you may notice, 11 children is a lot to handle for one mother. That is why the EP’s are there to help them. As a SOS-tutor you are the tutor of one child, I was the tutor of Mickey an 11-year old girl. The EP’s helped the children with their homework, played with them and gave them some special attention when needed. The children loved it that we were there with this group of EP’s. They loved the extra attention and shared their stories with us. Mickey had some problems to concentrate on her homework, so I thought about some activities to trigger her to do her homework. I made a scrapbook with her, with pictures, stories etc. When finished school we first worked on her scrapbook, after that we did her homework. A nice combination and the scrapbook is a nice remembrance of our time spend in Davao. With some of the EP’s we thought about doing something special for the kids and the mother of the house we were volunteering. Some of the children never went to the beach before, because they don’t have the money to go there. So we took the children to the beach and we all together had a great day.
Filipino-style
Besides the projects, there was some leisure time which I spend in Davao City and I also travelled a little bit with some other exchange participants I met in the Philippines. I visited the islands Cebu, Malapascua, Bohol and Luzon. The Philippines are really big, they have great beaches, but also nice mountains and beautiful rice terraces. I can tell that almost all of the Filipino people are so nice.
They kind of admire Western people, because we are ‘the American dream’ and we can travel and do everything we want. But although there is a lot of poverty, Filipino people are very satisfied with their way of life. Filipinos are also very relaxed; when you decide to meet at 3 o’clock, don’t be surprised when somebody shows up at 4 o’clock…
Filipino people eat rice as breakfast, lunch and dinner and they eat with a spoon and a fork instead of a knife and a fork. In most of the area’s they do not have flushing toilets and they do use toilet paper, but you have to bring it yourselves. Most Filipinos are catholic, but Davao is a catholic city on an Islamic-Island. A lot of people think that Davao City is unsafe, because it is on the Islamic-Island. But actually I felt safer in Davao City then in Tilburg... People recommend to not go outside of Davao, because of the Islamic-danger. I agree with that, but Davao City is so big that there is a lot to do in the city and you can spend your time at all of the surrounding islands.
The local committee was very nice, they organized a lot of dinners and joined a lot of activities we organised by ourselves. But, the committee is not working very efficiently. When I arrived and I did not have an internship, they were more relaxed and did not take any action to provide me an internship.
Of course, it was not a problem to organize something myself.
I also had to arrange my accommodation myself, because they told me that I should stay in the hostel for a few days, but I rather wanted to be already with the other EP’s, so I arranged something myself. It is just the way you want it, you can wait for them to organize something, but I prefer to take action and do it myself. That is why we had dinner every night with a nice group of EP’s and did a lot of activities during the evenings and weekends.
There is a lot of poverty in the Philippines, but we, “Western people”, are quite rich there. During my stay in the Philippines I saw a lot of poverty, when I was in Davao and during travelling, but also a lot of richness, like going to the mall, cinema or have dinner in a luxury restaurant and go out every night. In Davao it is possible to do almost everything you want.
Experience
I met a lot of great people, AIESEC-ers, EP’s and a lot of local Filipino people. I did not want to miss anything and I am so glad that I had this experience. I tried to have no expectations before I went to the Philippines, so that I should not have a shock or something like that. I was enriched by the project at the jail, because it was a very special project.
I have an advice for all the people who are going on an internship; take action and be creative! There is a lot you can do, but arrange it yourselves. I did not expect to meet so many, great people and I am thankful to have this experience via AIESEC.
When you read this story and thinking of going on an internship via AIESEC and have any questions about a development internship or about the Philippines and Davao City you can contact me! I like to talk about the great time I had and hope you will have such an experience too.
Thank you AIESEC for this great experience!
Regards,
Sandra van Buren, Tilburg
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