Monday, December 8, 2014

Doing a Service Learning Activity is a Life-changing Activity




“People always take and take and in order to give life a balance, people should learn how to give. People can give their 3Ts- their time, talent or treasure.” –Romson Velez, Incumbent President of Rotary Club Pasay Silangan

This was the statement the incumbent president of Rotary Club Pasay Silangan mentioned in one of the rotary’s meetings I have attended. This same statement became an embodiment of a life-changing experience I had with the service learning activity I and my groupmates have conducted.

Last November 28-29, 2014, our group held a service learning activity at the Bridge Builder Foundation with the help of the Rotary Club of Pasay Silangan in partial fulfillment of our subject in Lasallian Business Leadership, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility. On the first session (November 28, 2014), we discussed business and entrepreneurship with the children of the foundation with their parents. We started the lecture with an opening prayer followed by the introduction of ourselves. It was a surprise that everyone participated and two of the children volunteered in a warm-up exercise. An inspirational video was shown to draw the attention of the audience and to gain the momentum of the discussion. It was about Nilo who was a janitor before but because of hard work, has become a successful real estate dealer.

Having watched the video about Nilo and his journey to success, we instructed the children and their parents to envision their dreams and draw it on an illustration board. This will serve as their dream board that will set their goals in life and will guide their actions towards their dreams. On this activity, we discovered that some of them wanted to become a pilot, a dancer, a singer and most of them dreamt of having a decent home because that is the very necessity of these homeless people.

Building their hope that someday they could too become successful, we also showed them the pictures of some of the business tycoons nowadays who came from a poor family. We also told them short stories about their lives and these business leaders’ characters which could inspire further the children and parents and for them not to lose hope and that they can too escape poverty.  

Understanding that this service learning activity could be a one-time activity, we seized the opportunity to teach these children and parents the basics of business—how to start their own business which is related to their passion and a business that will attract their interest. Most of them chose retail as it is common along the area near Baclaran church. We suggested that they can arrange a consignment with stall owners through reimbursing the cost of their products when already sold so that they would not need to shell out money for capital. Some among the audience responded that they are more interested in making and selling crafts like the one that the foundation is currently working at for the parents which is making and selling pillows.

A mother from our audience complained that she continuously experience losses in her selling and we found out that it is because that she does not control her expenses and she does not account her personal expenses separately from her selling expenses resulting to her shortages. This is a dilemma already foreseen by our group which is why we also opted to include the basic principles in accounting and costing in the concept-teaching session. We simply taught them how to correctly cost their products and how to add mark-up that will still gain them a profit. We also reminded them to list their sales and to account for their expenses so that they can monitor their cash flows. Illustrative examples were presented to assess their understanding of the lesson and we are happy of the results.

Having a profit, cash flow and knowledge in basic accounting and costing is not enough without the discipline of saving and having a financial literacy that is why we encouraged them to save for their future and prioritize their needs first before purchasing a non-valuable item.  

We also shared the benefits of doing business as a source of income for one’s self and also its contributions to the economy and our country. Believing that these children and parents will become businessmen someday, we also communicated our learning in business ethics for them to aspire for a business that will challenge their moral values, a business that will manifest integrity, and care to the people and environment by discussing to them the La Sallian “Triple Bottom Line” – Profit, People and Planet.

The second session was all about honing the skills of the participants in making cards and lanterns out of recyclable materials. Prior to the session, the children in the foundation were told to make cards for their therapy—not for the benefit of the foundation to make profit. However, thinking that these cards could be sold, we arranged a business plan with the foundation and with the rotary whereby the proceeds of the cards sold will be distributed to the less fortunate children in the community so that the children who made the cards would feel that they could also extend help by making such cards.



Resolving the issue on the capital and money issue, we decided to use recyclable materials instead so that these children will not always think that money needs to be involved in doing business. On the other hand, Ms. Roslyn, the head social worker of the foundation asked us to enhance the creativity of the children and the people under the foundation in teaching them in making lanterns because they are planning to conduct a contest in lantern making in the community for their Christmas project.

Our group incorporated a sense of competition on the card and lantern-making activities by declaring a winner who best projected their creativity using recycled materials from the ones that we handed to them and from the recyclable items which we asked them to bring as assigned. We gave prizes in the form of food (bread, canned goods, and noodles), sanitary items (soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste and cologne), and piggy banks (to encourage saving) for the winners and for every participation from the audience. Candies and food were also distributed to those smaller children under the foundation.

Overall, the service learning activity went well and the participants showed their gratitude by giving thanks to us speakers and facilitators.

A Service Learning is said to be: 1. experiential or action-learning; 2. a method by which people learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully-organized service experiences that...meets actual community needs in collaboration with the school and community; 3. provides structured time for a person to think, talk, and write about what he/she did and saw during the actual service activity   (Sawyer, 1991); 4.provides people the opportunities to use newly acquired academic skills and knowledge in real life situations in their own communities; 5.enhances what is taught in school by extending student learning beyond the classroom; 6. Learning by doing must be performed in combination with critical reflection on experience; and 7.helps to foster the development of a sense of caring for others (Lasallian Business Leadership…ppt 1).

What I with my groupmates did this November, 2014 is a service learning activity and I think this activity has brought me a lot of insights and has impacted me more than what we expected for the children and their parents to learn.

Ms. Roslyn, Head Social Worker

I salute Ms. Roslyn and the other social workers in the foundation by taking pride on their work to care for people beyond themselves and their families. They set aside their worldly ambitions to transform the lives of these street children and help their families attain a decent life. It is inspiring to know that their dreams are more for the community they are serving rather than for themselves. I also commend the founder of this foundation for building such a noble foundation uplifting the lives of the poor and the needy and who also fund for its projects.

The Rotary Club of Pasay Silangan

It is heartening to know that there is an organization of people who are willing to help earnestly without asking anything in return but to extend and give back for the poor and to the needy. These are groups of people whom I have a first impression of arrogance because most of them are wealthy and who are known in the society, which I have mistaken to put such labels on them until I was able work with in them in this activity. They are such humble and kind-hearted persons.

The Children and Parents under the Foundation

My deepest gratitude to these people because they taught me to be always grateful of what I have right now and for me to avoid complaining in life because they showed me the reality that there are people who have less and yet appreciates life more than me. It was a warmth experience meeting them and socializing with them especially at our first encounter that they smiled at me, greeted me and the children made a “mano” to me. They were so polite and welcoming. I believe in them and what our group shared and did could somehow be a guide and serve as a starting point and that they can be secured with the help of the Rotary. They gave me memories which are more than the pictures we have taken with them.

It is fulfilling to serve and uplift the lives of the needy. I learned that serving people for the betterment of humankind does not always take the form of giving money and it takes more than that. I can contribute my time (my precious resource), my talent (my gift from God) and my treasure (my accessories here on earth) for the poor. In this service learning activity, I felt the need to give balance on my life by giving myself more by being socially responsible and by thinking others rather than myself. I could say that helping people and integrating human development through my deeds can be the greatest legacy I could give in this life.  
  

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