Twice a week I go to the local public high schools to help with one of my NGOs programs for youth. It is an after school club to teach various life skills and values to the teens. I’ve been working with one of my co-workers to find activities, challenge games, and initiative games for each session.
We’ve done several challenging activities that the teens have really enjoyed, requiring teamwork, leadership, hard work, creativity, communication, etc. Usually we plan for about eight teens since that is about the average we have been getting each week. However, this time as we began the session, more and more teens kept drifting in the door. Both my co-worker and I kept sharing glances with each other of both shock and joy. I could see it in her eyes that she was surprised and also excited to see the youth continue to pour in. The teens must have really enjoying the activities the last few weeks and now more youth had become interested.
The energy and enthusiasm they brought that day overflowed into the activities and everyone was fully involved in the session and the processing discussion afterwards. It was a memorable day.
Afterwards, as my co-worker and I were heading to catch the jeepney, I turned to her, gave her a high five and exclaimed, “way to go partner in crime!”
“We had twenty kids today!” she replied, still in awe about our session.
And then a moment later she asked, “are you in a hurry Ate(ah-tay)? Do you want to get some BBQ?”
We’ve never really done anything outside of work before so I was excited to share some time with her and celebrate our success. It’s moments like these that remind me of what this experience is really all about – working together for a cause, building relationships, appreciating the little things, and just enjoying life.
The sun was setting with vibrant orange and pink hues, and we stood in the street watching the last rays disappear, enjoying some Filipino style BBQ street food.
Yours truly,
a girl who dreams
