Welcome to the blog of ABCD, the college-based Simbahayan of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters. The acronym is a fusion of the initials from Artium Baccalaureus (AB) and from Community Development (CD). This blog is the avenue for announcements and narratives of the ABCD and its affiliate Academic and Non-Academic Organizations. This is a non-political, non-profit advocacy and community development program. - "ABCD - Building Lives, One Letter at a Time"
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Monday, May 10, 2021
HALILIHAN: Wika ng Bayanihan 2020
HALILIHAN: Wika ng Bayanihan, A Thomasian Drive for Change
This pandemic time has fostered fear among Filipinos, revealed the injustices in the country, and disrupted the lives of many. The emerging challenges in these trying times, likewise call for the need to be human, even in the midst of a crippling pandemic. Much emphasis must be placed not only on human rights but also on our competence and commitment to human duty: one driven by compassion and empathy towards those who need it most—values that are notably embedded in the Thomasian identity.
HALILIHAN: Wika ng Bayanihan, as a fundraising event and donation drive, is produced by the UST English Language Studies Society as a Community Development project for the Academic Year 2020-2021. 'Halilihan' is a Filipino word that means "to bring about change," which describes the meaningful change the project aimed to provide to the lives of the indigenous learners and teachers of our partner community: Sta. Juliana National High School (SJNHS) in Capas, Tarlac.
Indigenous children around the world have historically been denied the right to embrace their own heritage and identity when pursuing inclusive education. As student leaders prompted by these significant Thomasian values, we aspired to spark change and to make a significant mark on the lives of our beneficiaries—our often overlooked and marginalized indigenous brothers and sisters. Through HALILIHAN, our purpose to raise funds from the initiative with the help of distinguished partner local brands, Tala by Kyla and Hiatus Manila have produced a great amount of proceeds that were used to provide suitable teaching and learning materials essential for the institutional learning of the community in Capas, Tarlac.
‘Halilihan Collection’ in collaboration with Hiatus Manila (@hiatus.mnl)
Photos by: Hiatus Manila
One of the brand partners, Hiatus Manila, is known for producing stylish, voguish and inspiring sweaters with trendy pieces of embroidery designs that hold the biggest impression when wearing. Believing that fashion is a self expression through art, it gives aesthetic vibes that can hop to millennial’s culture. ‘The Hiatus x Halilihan Collection’ for a cause helps raise public awareness towards the Indigenous learners' educational challenges in Capas, Tarlac. The proceeds of this collection were used to provide adequate supplies of learning and teaching materials for the community.
'Halilihan Collection’ in collaboration with Tala by Kyla (@officialtalabykyla)
Photos by: Tala by Kyla
From the most substantial brand partner who has the largest contribution to the fundraiser, Tala By Kyla, produces custom jewelry with lasting beauty, fashionable design pieces and exceptional craftsmanship that will be treasured for a lifetime. The purchased products from the ‘Halilihan Collection’ with Tala by Kyla were customized from the culture and symbols of the indigenous community as the project’s beneficiary.
In the hopes of raising awareness on the struggles of indigenous learners in the country, HALILIHAN: Wika ng Bayanihan also sought to promote inclusive education for everyone especially with the struggles individuals go through from remote learning in the new normal. As an organization that values the beauty of our diverse culture while preserving indigenous languages, and seeks to empower the marginalized through inclusive education, HALILIHAN strived to emphasize the grassroots perspective of indigenous learners with the pursuit of educating people and elevating their everyday educational realities and challenges.
Photos by: HALILIHAN: Wika ng Bayanihan
Last March 2, 2021, The HALILIHAN: Wika ng Bayanihan team has packed 531 sets of school supplies for the indigenous learners and to the teachers of Sta. Juliana National High School in Capas, Tarlac. With all of the donations, The project was able to provide ample educational materials for all 531 students and teachers of the community.
On March 13th, 2021, the first batch of donations arrived in Sta. Juliana National High School, Capas Tarlac.
Photos by: Liezl Sanchez (School Principal)
Photos by: Janet Cura (Supreme Student Government Adviser)
The valiant and passionate teachers of Sta. Juliana National High School showcased their full excitement as they received their tote bags with teaching materials provided by HALILIHAN.
A total of 511 indigenous learners and 20 teachers of Sta. Juliana National High School was able to receive various learning and teaching supplies from the fundraiser. Initially launched in the last month of 2020, on December 14, the journey of HALILIHAN was not all smooth sailing, for its planning and implementation took almost 6 arduous months as the project ended on March 13, 2021 after transporting the last set of donations to the community. UST-ELSSOC’s Community Development team continuously worked on this project as it was important for the organization to disseminate the educational reality of the Indigenous learners in these times to raise awareness and to reach a great number of people to contribute towards this initiative.
Through the HALILIHAN team and the help of our partner brands and those who generously supported our cause, the drive amassed a total of:
Php 298,368.60 of funds
Despite the initial doubts, the team’s hard work together with the overwhelming support that the project received directed for our purpose, has allowed us to successfully provide enough school supplies and duplicating machines for the community of SJNHS.
Indeed, through the Filipino’s shared language of compassion and the spirit of Bayanihan, great change can be fulfilled regardless of the endless limiting barriers that may come our way. Today, and every day, we continue to strive for better realities for learners everywhere. Dahil ang para sa Sta. Juliana, ay para rin sa bayan.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/halilihan.fundraiserph
Instagram: @halilihan.fundraiserph
Twitter: @halilihan_ph
PROJECT DETAILS
Beneficiary: Sta. Juliana National High School — Capas, Tarlac
Date: December 14, 2020 - March 13, 2021
HALILIHAN PROJECT TEAM
Project Heads:
Adrianne Milla
Marygrace Cariaso
Creatives:
Daniel Juanga
Public Relations/Communications:
Brittany Kirsch
Rozene Adremesin
Marketing:
Keanah Ycasas
Blessy Gelomio
Niña Nangel
Project Officers:
Bianca Budomo
John Paul Javier
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
The Theoretical Component in the Budget Forms
The budget part of a project proposal in our institution contains a Theoretical Counterpart. These are values that are not really used, consumed or spent. At first, I was weirded out with this, and asked the then Director on what this is about.
As explained, these are theoretical values given to volunteers such as volunteer students working in a community development project, volunteer faculty spending time to help, the same with administrators, alumni, and of course, members of the community who helped in making the project come into fruition. I was still stumped, if these are volunteers, why are there amounts? I had an 'aha' moment of insight on the explanation that yes, they are volunteers, doesn't mean that their work does not have value.
In an accounting perspective, if these were not volunteers, so how much did their work clock in? Because they're volunteers, the project got to save this particular amount, and that adds to a former unseen value in the work.
I find it as an 'aha' moment. So, we don't really budget that amount, we don't raise that amount, we don't release that amount, because these people volunteered. It's not that we are slapping money on volunteer work, it's that we're giving justice to the act. Yes, no amount of money can equal such volunteer work. But for one, it simply satisfies the basic accounting of savings. For example, when I conducted research on the social and economic value of zero-waste practices on solid waste management. People may not be earning from zero-waste, but people can save money. More so, there are by-products of a community system of zero-waste. This is what the theoretical accounting does.
That's just one, it's also a reminder of justice. The scenario harks back to my freshmen days as an MA Political Science student and I had Prof. Maria Jesus Izquierdo in Social Justice, Ethics, and Care special visiting professor course. In one of our readings, was the injustice of care such that mothers who are not gainfully employed but are housewives have the potential for abuse or to not be cared for simply because they do routine, unrecognized volunteer value. Yes, they do it voluntarily. It's up to us to give these value, to remind people of such, and thus to advocate for a community whose volunteers have value.
The same applies to one of the principles of ethics. Prof. Maria Carinnes Alejandria discussed the principle of justice in a faculty meeting on research ethics, saying that when we ask an ambulant vendor for time during an interview, then we take that person's time from his or her livelihood. The same applies to community work. Yes, again, I iterate, they volunteer. Thus, it's for us, the beneficiaries, the stakeholders, to ensure and advocate that volunteerism becomes a welcoming condition for our fellow volunteers.
Friday, January 29, 2021
Monday, January 25, 2021
Community Profiling Brgy Sibulan During CHED Course in Community Engagement and Organizing Batch 2019
This is a narrative in pictures of a community profiling conducted at Brgy Sibulan, Nagcarlan, Laguna. It is one of the university's successful communities and was chosen to be the site for immersion and community profiling under the Commission on Higher Education program for the training of future community development coordinators. This is the second batch of trainees and I was fortunate to be chosen to be funded for this. My team was tasked to do political, social, and economic profiling, and our team chose to use participatory mapping and transect walk as data collection tools.
Following are pictures of the community profiling where my team met w select community members, youth, women, government, etc. to map out nodes and lines of power in the community to help map out the political structure. We would ask participants for existing points of power (i.e. government offices, residences of government officials, places to go to when in need, etc.) then we have them write each on Post-its and place on a map in the barangay hall (thankfully they had a geographic map on the wall).
Here are close up views of the data on the mapping.
The day after the participatory mapping, we met different community members for a transect walk. Here we went on an interview tour on the main streets of the community both noting the data from yesterday's mapping, and asking questions on economic and political resources.
Once data was collected, we used appropriate modes of analyses. For the participatory mapping, we analyzed by tracing the locations and by graphing the institutions and organizations. We did the same for economic resources. Once done, we conducted a SWOT analysis on these data. below are pictures of the team working at the community's chapel.
During our training, our mentors asked us for materials that we would want to request for the immersion. A guide though was that we have to use non-technological materials since we're doing field work. Hence aside from the Post-its, we had lots of yellow paper for notes, Carolina, Manila papers, and colored markers along with some tapes and scissors.
Below are pictures on when we were still doing in-classroom training, note the use of Manila papers for our class presentations.
Data once organized were laid out in presentation form for presentation to the community for validation. These materials once validated were given to the community as a parting gift, adding to the community's tools.
Since we were undergoing training, we also had preliminary presentations before our mentors and some community representatives to help iron out the data. One very important advice we received from our mentors was to make the presentation audience friendly, use visualizations, graphs, pictures, instead of being wordy (words belong more to the presenter and less in the visual aids). After the preliminary presentations, we continued to perfect the materials for the validation presentation to community stakeholders.
On our last day, we presented the analyzed data to the community. We had several groups of stakeholders and each gave constructive comments if not affirmations on the data as presented above. Below are pictures of the validation presentations.
When we got back in Manila, our team got together via FB Messenger and through Google Docs to create to manuscript of the community profile. For UST-AB Student Community Leaders, the resulting manuscript in the link below.
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