VIANCA: AT YOUR SERVICE

Vianca Cleans the backyard garden.

 My motto in life is “TO BE OF SERVICE TO OTHERS.” Nobody taught me this lesson but I find great joy in helping other people; be it in lager scope or simpler ways.

 

            With this vision, I joined the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. It is an organization which aims to develop young girls and young women to be progressive, dynamic, patriotic and God-loving through the use of non-formal educational methods and techniques.

            Girl scouting makes a difference in my life. I gain confidence, build camaraderie and most of all; it has been an avenue of my mission which is to emerge in community outreaching. Oftentimes, we conduct community services such as clean-up drives, tree planting, rescue operations and non-formal educations.

            I am a plain member of the organization, but that does not mean, I work less. Every time, I offer my service, I give my best. I understand I earn nothing from doing these things; but I don’t care because doing these things makes me happy. It makes me feel complete and satisfied.

            Since Girl Scouting has motivated me to be a community servant, one time a flood struck in our place. It was around ten o’clock in the evening of June 26, 2009. It was sudden. Villagers panicked as the water rushed inside their homes. We immediately put our things on elevated places. And after which, I do not know what has drove me but I found myself on other homes; helping other people. I gathered the little children and brought them to a safer place while their parents were busy with their things. I made them feel calm by leading them to pray hard to God for guidance and for keeping their families safe as they struggle in the flood. We sang worship songs. We had a small sari-sari store; I took some instant noodles and cooked, fed these to the children. They were hungry and they enjoyed eating. I do not want them to be traumatized due to the disaster that occurred. When the water subsided, I delivered the children back to their families.

            On the next day, everybody was busy cleaning their places. The flood brought a knee-high mud into each home. And during these moments, one place would be left devastated; the Leon A. Garcia Sr. Elementary School, my school. On my way, I convinced the other available Girl Scouts to accompany me to the school. I was glad many answered to my call for there were five Girl Scouts joined with me. When we arrived their, teachers soaked into the mud. They were helpless. We helped them in our best way. We scooped the mud out of the room; we washed the furniture and assisted our teacher in any way they want us to be of help. We tried to salvage the school documents since these are important. I was concerned with our school because I do not want learning to be delayed. The school should be prepared the soonest possible so that we could have our classes resume.

           

During the flood, I found out that most of the flood debris was garbage. After a month, I organized a “Canal Brigade Campaign” in our school. We cleaned up the canals in our community. We removed the materials that caused the clogging. We gathered the garbage that could be recycled such as plastics, bottles and iron-made materials. We sold it to a nearby junkshop. We bought “merienda” out of our earnings from the garbage.

But what has inspired me during the time we did our clean-up drive? Other community people joined with us. They brought their broom sticks, bolos and shovel. I did hope that these would be a beginning of a good practice and they would make this act a habit because this could be a big help for flood control and prevention; as well as it promotes sanitation in the community.

With all these efforts, I was awarded Girl Scout of the Year in our school. I never expected such commendation for all I know I did all those things for the love of community service.

The Taal Village where I belong is a depressed area. Due to poverty, some young children are not able to attend school. I make it a mission that some of my time especially during Saturdays or Sundays to gather these children and teach them simple lessons such writing the alphabets, singing rhymes and learning good habits (washing hands, brushing teeth, etc.). I know I am not as knowledgeable like my teachers (but I will soon because I want to become a teacher someday). These simple acts of mine were just a way of helping these children so they would know simple things which I believe could help them someday. However, when I become a teacher, I would be a dedicated one. I aim to lessen illiteracy. I want very child to learn. This would be my purpose in life.

When my teacher told me that I would be a candidate for this search, my impression was I do not fit for this. I am a simple person who does simple things. But I know there are lots of simple people like me out there. It’s an honor to represent them. And I hope to inspire other people.