Volunteering is not something that is for everybody. This is true. Some people don’t want to volunteer. Some people, if you try to bring them to a red cross Ondoy relief operations or to a GK Expo, they will just decline. Although one might think that some exposure might just be the ticket for them, that once they try out volunteer work they might like it, this is not always the case. Dragging them into those things can sometimes be disastrous.
I have had some volunteer experience recently in the Philippine national Red Cross foundation for the relief and rescue operation of the Typhoon Ondoy victims (or Ketsena as the storm is internationally known). It was just was so tiring to be in that kind of environment and not wanting to be there at the same time. I thought I would feel that warm and fuzzy feeling that everyone who volunteered seemed to have. My friends who were also Gawad Kalinga people (they organized the GK Expo) dragged me into the whole affair.
That’s when I started to realize just how bereft I am of morals. And I was saddened by this fact. I didn’t know what to do. Maybe it was just because I couldn’t empathize with the victims because I was never such a victim. I have always lived a life of comfort and privilege. This was so frustrating. That was when I decided to try volunteering again. Then I registered as a full time Gawad Kalinga worker. It was a decision that changed my life.
Now I can see more of what is happening outside of my white bread world. There are simply hundreds and hundreds of people who are suffering in our country. I can now share their pain because I have seen it with my own eyes. Now I am part of the organizers of the GK Expo. I encourage everyone to join in the effort to raise our fellow poor Filipinos from the quagmire of poverty. It really does feel good in the long run.
I have had some volunteer experience recently in the Philippine national Red Cross foundation for the relief and rescue operation of the Typhoon Ondoy victims (or Ketsena as the storm is internationally known). It was just was so tiring to be in that kind of environment and not wanting to be there at the same time. I thought I would feel that warm and fuzzy feeling that everyone who volunteered seemed to have. My friends who were also Gawad Kalinga people (they organized the GK Expo) dragged me into the whole affair.
That’s when I started to realize just how bereft I am of morals. And I was saddened by this fact. I didn’t know what to do. Maybe it was just because I couldn’t empathize with the victims because I was never such a victim. I have always lived a life of comfort and privilege. This was so frustrating. That was when I decided to try volunteering again. Then I registered as a full time Gawad Kalinga worker. It was a decision that changed my life.
Now I can see more of what is happening outside of my white bread world. There are simply hundreds and hundreds of people who are suffering in our country. I can now share their pain because I have seen it with my own eyes. Now I am part of the organizers of the GK Expo. I encourage everyone to join in the effort to raise our fellow poor Filipinos from the quagmire of poverty. It really does feel good in the long run.
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