This is a love story, my own love story and I
am writing this on a very significant day of my life. Today, marks a year after
I took the board exam for social workers. Thus, writing this account came in a
perfect timing. This is truly a good venue for me to reflect what had
transpired after a year. This is also a
good venue to look back on the experiences acquired and lessons learned in the
past years that had made me appreciate more the profession I had chosen: social
work.
I was born on
January 20, 1991 in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental. I came from a poor family and both of my parents
did not finished schooling. We cannot even afford to buy all our needs and we
have not enjoyed the comfort in life. There are so many things and experiences
that were denied to me and to us. But the reasons that made me feel powerless
are the same reasons that made me feel capable enough. Those reasons inspired
me to exert more efforts and to value whatever I have within my reach. I could
not just worry about myself but also for my family. I became aware that sometimes my mother cannot stay with us for weeks
because she has to work as a farmer in the distant mountains; that there would
really be tough times when my father cannot bring home even a single peso and
that empty pots and plates were true. So that was what poverty means- no new
clothes, no allowance, and no electricity. Yet going to school penniless or
studying for tomorrow’s examination under the street posts outside the
convenience of our house (because we haven’t pay the bills) were not reason to
take the wrong road. I know that my situation was not the worst on Earth. The
saddest day of my life came when I was fifteen years old. My father died. I was
filled with fears and regrets. The future even turned more unclear. But I have
to move on.
At the right side is me, being carried by my mother
My future becomes uncertain because
even though my schooling was fine, a scholarship would still not guarantee an
easy college life for me. While most of my classmates were full of dreams and
plans, there was I, unsure of everything. What course will I take up? Who will
finance for me? Then, it was time for Him to work out His plans. I remembered
praying that night nine days after my graduation. I could not find for exact
words to say because in the first place, I don’t know what I’m exactly asking
for. That was my last night home for God will be opening a new door for me and
things will never be the same again. I was helped by the Calvary Chapel
Children’s Home, an NGO in Bacolod City with a residential home catering to
more than 150 children with various needs and coming from different
backgrounds. It was in there that I had that there is a course known as social
work. I stayed there for almost seven months. Then, during the second semester
until I graduated in college I stayed with the Tertiary Capuchin Sisters of the
Holy Family Home. The nuns were also mostly social workers.
In my college graduation speech, I remember
saying, “In
my life, I had experienced staying in several houses, asking the help of so
many people for a shelter, before finding a true home with the sisters. If I
stopped along the way, just because somebody discouraged or misjudged me or
just because all I had was three pesos in my pocket or just because I did not
had school shoes to wear, then I had not given justice to the life that has
been extended. Don’t give up and be easily shaken because there are so many
more in life that are not yet revealed to you- things, events, people and
feelings you will only attain, experience, meet and feel if and only if, you
will survive what you are handling now…”
I felt a need to look back on few memories of my still young life
before I’ll be able to reflect on my social work experience now because I think
such will inspire me more and convince me that events in my life is really
leading me to become a social worker. I remember during our graduation a line I
heard which may not be written this way but spoke of a similar message. It
says, “embrace your profession, the profession you have worked hard for several
years, the profession you have fought for and will live for, the profession you
will you die for.” Such words were so strong, so powerful and so passionate:
just like love. This leads me into a realization. The moment we began to feel that we wanted to
spend our time and our talents in knowing more about our profession and in
acquiring skills so that we know how to practice it better, we do so not
because we have to but because we have already fallen in love with it. Our
profession becomes our vocation. It is not just like love anymore, it is already
love. It is love in its truest form.
The instrument that social workers used a lot
are our own selves and so we must be aware of who we are and what process we
are going through so that we will be able to help more our clients. When I started working in Coalition Against
Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific, I was remembering the passion of my fellow
youth especially young women in pursuing their limitless dreams. I was
remembering the vast number of the youth especially those coming from the poor
provinces that are pushed to take the risks of leaving their hometowns in
search for a better future for themselves and their family. Until now, I am
remembering how the dire economic situation of our country obliged them to
start working young or to give up their schooling. I am remembering how many of
them were deceived by traffickers who take advantage of their vulnerability---
how many of them find themselves trapped into modern forms of human slavery, of
forced labor, of debt bondage, of prostitution.
I am also remembering how the systems of
patriarchy, of the concepts that men should use women, of inequality and
commoditization of women’s body have continuously victimized us and made us
more exposed to trafficking and all forms of exploitation that goes with it.
Those systems are huge and have penetrated our lives for so long. Those systems
are our enemies and so we must battle against them if we want to win our fight
against trafficking. I had fallen in love in pursuing our advocacy, but just
like many other love stories, it was not also a swift journey. My love too, has
been put into so many tests and challenges. I tried to hold on. I had been
trying to change myself so fast in the process, but I had to save myself too
for I felt falling apart, and so I eventually let go after almost eight months.
Presently, I'm in Virlanie Foundation, a non-government organization
helping street children. I am grateful to God because of the opportunity to be
able to help many children as they build their dreams and create memories that
they will remember until old age. In deciding where to apply, my priority is to
choose the one where I will have someone to supervise me. Though my salary now
is far from the salary I’m receiving before, I can really feel that I am happy,
that I am making an impact. Well, it made me realize that this is not about the
money or the position. This is about feeling dignified and valued. I am glad to
have a supervisor who encourages me and guides me as I continue to learn. I am
glad because I can openly raise my concerns to her without being nervous.
Every person has an inherent power that may be characterized as
life force, transformational capacity, life, energy, spirituality, regenerative
potential and healing power. The act of
empowering re-awakens or stimulates someone’s own natural power. This is one of the essential assumptions in
the strength perspective in social work. It is also from that perspective in
which I had seen myself as a young social work practitioner. In the process of
empowering others, that is waking up their dreams, inspiring them to pursue
such dreams and to decide to work hard for those dreams, my own power is also being
stimulated. My dreams are also awaken, my energy also being stirred. Such power
is sustained because it does not come from me personally. It is sustained
because it comes from God. Social work is responding to God’s invitation to be
a light to others. It is a power that gives and heals because it comes from God
who gives and heals. Thanks be to God for a very fruitful first year as a
practitioner! I know He will continue to be there in the years to come as I
continue to journey in this vocation I had fallen in love with. I know this
love is meant to endure and triumph...
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