Service-Learning Research Workshop in the Philippines

Last week, my colleague, Dr. Lin, and myself went to the Philippines to run a workshop on research for a group of staff from Catholic universities.  It is organised by De La Salle University for Uniservitate, a global organisation of Catholic Universities for Service-Learning. 

So far, over the years, I have visited 4 major universities: University of Santo Tomas, University of Philippines Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University.  All among top universities in the Philippines, one public and three Catholic, all active in service-learning in some form.  I have also met the staff from many other universities, through conferences and workshops.  I am getting a picture of a strong, pervasive culture of service across the universities in the Philippines.  This probably has a strong correlation with the strong Catholic faith in the country.  Service is a strong and distinctive feature of the Catholic faith.  Hence Catholic educational institutions has a big competitive advantage in terms of the implementation of service-learning.  The staff, from the most senior to the most junior, come convinced of the merits of service. 

That is what we found among the 60 participants of the workshop.  Everyone is so enthusiastic and passionate.  They ask questions, answer questions and volunteer information, making it such a rewarding experience.  The Philippines does not have a lot of extreme poverty such as exist in many sub-Sahara African countries.  But it does have quite a bit of poverty similar to many developing countries.  One distinctive feature is the extreme amount of typhoons, particularly during the summer months.  Hence storm and flooding associated damages and sufferings.  Another, which I was not very much aware of, is the large number of indigenous ethnic groups, in the mountainous areas and many thousands of islands.  Some of the rather remote.  But there are also many that are quite close to populous cities such as Cebu.  Hence there is real need for basic necessities such as electricity (solar panels!) within an hour of large cities.  Water is plentiful, but clean water is also an issue.  Even the tap water in hotels is not suitable for drinking. These are some of the issues being tackled by service-learning.  Many lessons from the projects being pursued. 

It is perhaps fair to say the practice of service-learning is well entrenched.  But there remains a need to strengthen the academic learning aspects of service-learning programs.  Many service-learning programs are not integrated into the formal credit-bearing components of the academic programs.  Some service-learning courses (subjects) are created by embedding a service-learning project into an existing academic course (subject).  These projects can be of a wide range of type and rigour.  Some require less than 10 hours of work from the student, including fact and requirement finding, proposal development and execution.  This approach may meet with less resistance.  However, it is unclear whether such light-weight programs can provide a transformative learning experience for the students.  

On the research and scholarly activities related to service-learning, the experiences vary quite a lot.  Some are looking into relatively rigorous studies.  For example, one aims to study the reception, adoption and impact of the materials produced by the students involved in advocacy projects.  Others are in a relatively early stage of development.  

All in all, the enthusiasm demonstrated by the participants in the workshop is very encouraging.  It is hope that workshops such as these, the conferences being organised, the Teacher Development Courses, the Asia-Pacific Community of Practice, and other concerted efforts can help to strengthen the quality of the SL programs.  We are also hoping that the richness, diversity and innovation in the region can be brought to the front more, drawing the attention of and also contributing to the world-wide community.  These are exciting times.  

What do people eat in the Philippines?

I have not been to the Philippines too often. Somehow, I have been here twice this year.  Looking back, every time I come, it is because of Service-Learning. To put it in another way, I might not have come if there is no service-learning.  There is something there to think about.  

I love to eat.  Some random observations of what and how people eat.

Pork belly seems to be a favourite.  Prepared in many ways.  Deep fried.  Stir fried. ….

Sometimes washed down with beer.  Perhaps the local Red Horse.  Brewed by San Miguel.  The company that made San Miguel.  Who else?  

Lots of prepared street food.  Wrapped in banana leaves.  Or something else.  

Many many people grab a quick breakfast from street vendors of all kinds.  Very often rice-based, with some meat.  There are many sausages that are quite sweet. 

Sweet is the thing.  Many things are sweet.  Not just desserts. 

These are just some random observations of course.  I haven’t really been here for very long.  I do wish to come back more.  The people here are really passionate about service-learning.  We have already started some projects here, and are planning more.  

Rwanda Morally Restorative

Doing our service-learning project in Rwanda is really good for the soul.  After many months of preparation, we arrive in the village.  For 2 weeks, 200+ people from multiple  countrie/regions are focused on installing solar panels for families without electricity, and creating exciting fashion combining African and Chinese characteristics with modern skills.  

For 2 weeks, we are away from home and office, do not have to attend meetings, delay many non-critical tasks, and concentrate on just one common goal.  In the field, during the day, the Internet is barely accessible, limiting us to simple text messages much of time.  Even when we are back at the guest house, run by a bunch of Catholic nuns, the Internet is not very dependable, with limited bandwidth.  That is rather restrictive and annoying, in normal circumstances.  Here and now, it can be liberating, giving us an excuse to delay responding to not-so-critical demands.  We survive, and even thrive.

Here we are surrounded by simple living.  In the village, many houses consist of 4 mud-brick walls and little more.  Many have no beds - they sleep on matts laid directly on the muddy, uneven packed earth floor.  Clothes hang on a line strung across of the room - there are no closets.  Toiletries consist of one or two tooth brushes shared by the whole family.  Food consists of a pot of beans, potatoes, cassava, etc., cooked on a three-stone stove.  Lives can be as simple as that.  Even back in the guest house, accommodation is clean but spartan. Food is simple, nutritious but not fancy.  Here, we are not continuously reminded by luxurious apartments, sumptuous buffets, fancy sports cars, impossibly slim bodies, and all forms of extravagant living.  It is liberating to realise that those are not really important “needs”.  

For 2 weeks, we put aside our differences in ethnic origin, culture, language, faith, economic status, gender, sexual orientation and much more.  Instead, we focus on achieving the common goal - tangible benefits for a community in need - that we believe is bigger than each of us individually.  Differences, too often, divide us, in life.  Here, rather, they intrigue, challenge and excite.  Because there is a common goal that unites us. The choice is ours.  

It is not something forced on us.  Instead, we choose to do it out of our own free will.  Why?  Because we feel it is important enough, exciting enough, worthy of the 2 weeks of simple living, even relative hardship for some.  The time and circumstances here encourage us to consider what is truly meaningful in our lives.  What do I really want?  What do I really miss?  Am I fulfilled ultimately from comfort, money, status and power?  Or is it relationships, creativity, realising potential, positive impact on people? What is it that motivate us?  What price am I willing to pay?

Most of us come back from Rwanda feeling tired physically, but invigorated spiritually.  Here is why. 

Care for Children (Rwanda)

For the third time, and third year in a row,I went to visit the children in the Care for Children (Rwanda) program and their families.  The program was set up 3 years ago between African Evangelical Enterprise Rwanda and Jubilee Cares Ministries of Hong Kong.  

For approximately 300-400 USD a year, one can sponsor a child to stay in school.  The money pays for school supplies, meals at school, medical insurance, and small scale income generation (such as buying a pair of goats, chicken, …).  

I try to visit the children whenever I am in Rwanda and can find a bit of time.  They are in a district roughly 4 hours south west of the capital Kigali.  Hence each visit takes one full day.  This year I have two of my colleagues with me, because we are also investigating the possibility of other projects in the area.  

In the past two years, I would visit around 4 of the children at their homes.  This year AEE brought around 15 kids and their parents to a school.  We are able to listen to testimonies from some of the children as well as their parents.  The kids even challenged us to a game of volleyball.  

They have such touching stories it is difficult not to be moved.  On the one hand, it hurts to hear their struggles. On the other hand, we are encouraged by the progress they are making.  A girl, C, that my family sponsor, lives with her mother, in a rented room.    They were so poor that they didn’t have their own clothes (they had to borrow from others). They were given a cow by the government but the cow died after giving birth to a calf, which was subsequently stolen.  They persevere and from the income generated  from other sources (including a pair of goats and some chicken) they are able to buy some land.  They are now doing much better and C is going to school regularly.  T

There was another girl, K, that my family also sponsor.  She is one of 6 children.  They  have no beds, but sleep on a matt on a floor of dirt (I have seen it last year).  K could get barely one meal each day.  She could afford only one note book for all the subjects that she studied.  That made it very hard for her to study.  Now they have a mattress to sleep on.  She has a notebook for each of her subjects.  She is eating better and in better health.  She is now top of her class.  How can one not be moved to want to help? 

Two years ago, we visited a father and son.  They lived in a dilapidated house which seemed on the verge of falling down any minute.  The boy showed us the tattered clothes that he wore because the sponsorship gave him new uniforms for school.  Before that, he found it difficult to go to school because he did not have proper uniform, was often hungry, and bullied for being poor and poorly dressed.  This is a common theme that he hear again and again.  Basic education is free in Rwanda.  But there are other factors that cause children to drop out of school: lack of uniform and school supplies, money for lunch and medical insurance, poor health due to lack of food and nutrition, bullying by other students, …  The sponsorship goes a long way to alleviate these challenges.  The father said he knew time was tight and many parents wanted to speak.  But he wanted to thank the boys sponsor.  They have since fixed the house, and the boy is now attending school regularly.  

The mother of another girl runs a small business.  Sh buys unripe fruits, and sells the fruit for a profit when they ripen.  She gave us each a ripe, sweet banana as a treat.  In Rwanda, most bananas are green and not sweet.  They are relatively inexpensive, usually cooked and eaten as a starchy staple food.  The yellow, sweet bananas, eaten as a fruit, is much more expensive and relatively uncommon.  The fruits, hence, are their livelihood, which enable her daughter to stay in school.   We, of course, pay her for the bananas.  We actually bought up all here unripe avocados to bring back to Hong Kong.  At about one-tenth the price we pay in Hong Kong for avocados.  

The mother of yet another girl, A, is a self taught village tailor.  Her husband passed away and left her with 4 young children.  She used to borrow other people’s sewing machine to make a living.  With the sponsorship, she bought a big, whose manure generated some income.  One thing led to another, and she has now bought tow sewing machines.  Having taught herself to sew by watching other people, she is now hiring and training other people to sew.  She is using her living room as a show room for her small sewing business.  She is now going to church regularly and feels comforted.  A couldn’t take notes earlier, because of the lack of a notebook.  Now she can, and is doing better in school. 

There is much in common among their stories.  But there is also a great variety of self initiative, individuality, resourcefulness, persistence, gratefulness, and joy.  

Along the way, we got to meet some of the Child Ambassadors.  They are volunteers in the community who visit the children regularly, and help to put them on the right track.  They are the unsung heroes who are seldom heard from, who make the program function.  

AEE also took us to visit a Savings Group, a kind of self-help group.  Where a group of ~20 families, usually more women than men, who group together to collectively save some money, take out small loans to start a small business, send a child to school, etc.  Here we see the spirit of the community, people helping each other.  They don’t have much.  But they have each other. Which is more than can be said for many other people.  

400 US dollars per year is roughly 250 Hong Kong dollars per month.  That is less than many people spend on a good meal in a restaurant in Hong Kong, less than the cost of a buffet at a decent hotel (quite popular in Hong Kong - just see how many hotels offer it).  For such a modest amount, one can help a child stay in school in Rwanda, potentially transforming their lives, and that of their families.