NSTP (CWTS) Journal 6

In a War, We Plan First 

Before Making A Move

Today, I am a bit late because of an overtime in eating a very large waffle that seems very hard to digest. The moment that I saw that it is already 2 PM, I just left the one - fourth remaining part of the waffle there and started running not even thinking if it will be properly digest in my stomach. xD

Anyway, the time that I got inside the classroom, I still reached the opening prayer and thought that I didn't miss anything important so I completely forgot to ask for what the class did while I was still not around.

Since we did not finished the interview show last meeting, it is continued to be able to discover the lives of the different marginalized people that we might not know. It really left a message for me in what we can do for these marginalized people as they give their messages for us, lasallians.

After the discussion about these marginalized people, we watched a video about a news of murder of a student that was also said that the student was raped before taking her life which a tricycle driver and a policeman was said to be involved. We then analyzed the factors of such crime and what it is causing it which led to another activity where we divided the class into three groups and drew the causes of the topic which looked like a map or a spider's web. Our group's topic is "social disintegration" and we wrote our ideas in the board about it.

For the next activity, we were still in groups but made the groups smaller because the class was divided into four. We need to make a small barangay or town that we want to see but the challenge is, we need to use the things that we only have at that moment. Our group only have a few things but good thing, we still came up with something mostly, gadgets were used. The area coordinators judged our works, and it is still okay even if we didn't won.

Still on the groups, we enlisted the factors of the given topic to us. Our topic is about the weaknesses of the community. After the discussion of the groups, Sir Gian discussed the planning and made the planning with the whole class which is agreed by the whole class. It took a lot of time and took some time. We were dismissed at about 5:30pm. It was really overtime. At the prayer, I am a little bit of worried since it's becoming late and the sky already began to be dark, and I still to go home to my province using public transportation that it might already be dangerous for me to go home, so I was a little bit teary and already about to cry. But even though it was late, I learned moral lessons which is my take- home souvenir.

NSTP (CWTS) Journal 5

I Am Also Marginalized

And Experienced To Be One

Last meeting, we were asked to be in our groups, and choose our own president and will create our own SONA the will be delivered by the chosen president. We actually missed chances to meet so we have no choice but to ask Ayami to do it in impromptu. I was amazed that she was able to do it even though it was just like a surprise activity for her. I sure know that it was hard. 

We all received a paper that I may call special because it is really made for the day's activity. I wondered what the "I am" supposed to do in that paper. Sir Gian explained the instructions that we will write our names (or whatever nickname, or whatever people call us, or we, ourselves, want to be called, etc.) in there vertically arranged then write something that had changed in you. I was excited since I can design it the way I like it though it was kind of hard thinking of something that starts with the letter 'Z' which I had in my name.

The session was really getting fired up and enjoyable as we play a game that is somewhat similar to Kris Aquino's game which is "The Price is Right" where we will guess whatever the question asks for and the one that gets the closest answer will get a point. Two groups were formed for the whole class and it is divided by boys versus girls. Even though there is tension that is formed, the questions still strike me as it reveals the condition of the world and poverty in our current time and in the near future which warned and woke me up in the reality in the outside world that I didn't know and had no idea about it.

One of the most exciting part of this session is when we are divided into much smaller groups which consists two to three members that will portray, put themselves in the shoes and be the people that are written in the paper that they choose which are marginalized people. Our group chose the children at risk, where we defended and spoke for these children in an interview like show of Sir Gian.

We ended our meeting with that even though we weren't able to finish the interview show with every group. There are a lot of things that I weren't able to see while living in such a good "little world" that I know and I have but there are also these people that are living in a "little world" that is even smaller since they were marginalized and experiencing poverty which we are all in a crying mother earth.

NSTP (CWTS) Journal 4

How About Me?

This meeting, we started a bit late because our facilitator, is of course, late, but it's okay. It's not his fault. Going back, substitute entered our classroom and asked us to watch a video entitled "Canvass of Society". The title sounded familiar to me that it bothers me a lot to know what it is and based on it's title, it would most likely be connected to paintings because of the word "canvass". I usually get easily interested in some topics that has relation in music, arts, and something that is for kids.

As we patiently wait for the video to be fully downloaded, I and my friends had a little chat. At last, the video is ready to be watched. As the video started, I saw the painting of Christ in the "Last Supper" but it is different because instead of Him having supper with the twelve apostles, He is with different children. It then reminded me that I really have already watched the video which is also presented in the gathering that I attended on world youth day. That was about two years ago and I did not remembered most of the contents of the video but I actually remembered the feeling that I had after watching it then. Anyway, since I didn't remembered much of the contents, I just watched it again. And then again, I felt the same way back then when I first watched it. In words, I can describe it the feeling that I had with the words: sadness, disappointment, pity, fear, and hope. 

Last week, we had our exposure day as I described and discussed it in the previous journal. I am interested in what my blockmates experienced in our exposure. And so, a sharing was declared. Some of us shared their stories and described what the did that day.

Here, I said that I had different feelings about the clip and the explanation of those will give my conclusions. First, sadness, which I felt because there are still people there outside experiencing hardships while we or I, if I may say, are already lucky but still had some times that we are not yet satisfied with the things that we have. Now that we think about it, the people like them have no more time to complain and they can still smile and live their lives ordinarily that they don't even complain about their problems in life. Second, disappointment, in here, as I said in at the first, satisfaction. Another is we, who have the ability to help them are not doing anything for them, but we just continue to increase our greed. Disappointment in us, because they, who are already the less fortunate, seems that they are much close to God than us. We should go deeper and think about it more. Third, pity and fear are conjoined. I pity them because they are less fortunate and they always deserve to be equal with us that I also had fear for them that they might do dangerous acts or lose hope. Lastly, hope, I always dreamed and hoped for a better world. It sounds like impossible, childish and broad but take it seriously and think about it. =)