Looking Back

Coming from a not-so well off family, community service wasn’t that much observed. Of course, we needed to strive for our own survival. I remember that I had to help my mom very early in the morning to set up our little stall in the public market before I go to school. I even had to sell bayongs or native woven bags to my teachers for additional income. In short, I was part of what society politely calls, the “less fortunate”.

Through the years, because of my parents’ hard work, we were able to crawl our way to a better life. And we would like to help the people that we were once us. That motivated me into volunteering and of course the fact that I’m a member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls (IORG), an organization for young ladies which engraves the sense of service to humanity and leadership, and a student of De La Salle University.

IORG taught me charity. I have first experienced volunteering through this organization. Although, I can’t fully remember what, when and where it happened, I can still remember the feeling of joy every time a person smiles and says thank you for whatever good deed I have done.

In college, I was mandated to take either ROTC or CWTS for my NSTP course. At first I wanted to choose ROTC for the fear that CWTS was only going to make us sweep the streets. However, I was enlightened during the orientation that CWTS was going to focus more on volunteer work and finally decided that this would be more fun than marching in lines all day long. My block was assigned at Batasan Hills in Quezon City. We were visiting the place every Saturday for two terms and to be honest, it was quite tiring. We had to go back and forth to Taft and Batasan riding a jeepney for an hour and a half. But who said community service was an easy job? I say, it’s something fulfilling.                                                                                         

source: www.flickr.com 

Little did I know that I’d realised there were actually people less fortunate than I am, during my childhood days. There were families unable to eat complete meals a day. Some can’t even send their children to school or even get their own decent clothes. Knowing this fact awakened my senses and I learned that I am really fortunate. Fortunate enough to hear thank you’s and see smiles.

Volunteering doesn’t need to be grand. All it takes is a genuine intention of making the world a better place or at least make a person smile. Anyone can make a difference even by little actions, but of course, with a pure heart.

Contribted by:  Rowelyn Balilo, BS Business Management, De La Salle University Manila