Volunteer Sharing Session - as exciting as it sounds!

Wednesday morning I, along with 6 other AYADs and one of their mums met at SAGRIC at 9:30 to travel to San Fernando, La Union for a Luzon volunteer Sharing Session organized by the Philippines National Volunteer Service Coordination Agency (PNVSCA). http://www.pnvsca.neda.gov.ph And yes, to preempt this post- it was as lame as a Volunteer Sharing Session sounds. After waiting around the SAGRIC office for over 2 hours while our transportation was reorganized, we finally left at about 12 for the 6 hour ride up the northwest coast of Luzon. We arrived at about 6:30 to check into a dorm room and to have a very average dinner of rice and chicken with pink sauce (?!). Along with AYADs, there were volunteers from Korea, Japan, the US, Germany, Kenya and the Philippines. After dinner we all mingled a bit before pairing up and introducing our ‘new friend’ to the group.

Natalie, another AYAD at the Volunteer Sharing Session

The next day, after rice and fish for breakfast, we started a day of ‘fun’ in various discussion groups contemplating the role of volunteers in the Philippines. Perhaps it was because I was in a cynical mood, perhaps it was because I was the only volunteer placed in a government agency, or the only volunteer working on women’s issues, but I didn’t find my ‘governance’ group (who were all social workers??) particularly useful in considering my role as a volunteer at NCRFW. After another lunch of rice and fish, we again broke into regional groups to discuss ‘ways to network with other volunteers in the region’. Finally we broke for the day and all the AYADs went down to the beach to have a look around. Not being able to face another meal of rice and fish, we splurged and bought ourselves dinner at a beachside restaurant. We then returned to the ‘camp’ for more organized fun – a ‘social’. Fortunately for us they had put on some drinks and nibbles which went down pretty well. Some funky dancing went on before we decided to call I a night. The highly productive 3 days ended at lunchtime on Friday after a series of beach games in the super hot sun. Needless to say, we were all really eager to participate while getting burnt and dehydrated.

Our new in-country manager, Lynette, and Naomi, an AYAD in Los Banos at our 'alternative dinner' in La Union

Despite the really nice PNVSCA head, sadly the ratings on my assessment sheet weren’t particularly high- sorry!

posted by batik billy @ 2:34 pm