What Batangas taught me

As part of our degree program curriculum, students are sent to partner communities to promote community development. In our case, we’re sent to San Juan, Batangas. We have been staying there since November 2012 but we go back to Manila every two weekends. We are immersed there until the third week of January 2013. In our community stay, we are expected to mobilize the community in terms of planning, implementing and evaluating health programs. We are also entailed to provide nursing care to five families following the criteria given to us. Aside from these, we are doing our community-based research as well.

Months before our community experience, I had been wishing to be assigned to a large barangay where I would be very much challenged without the person I least wanted to work with (let’s call her Arsi). I got what I wanted; I was put in a large barangay, a very challenging one based on the previous batch’s experiences, but unfortunately, I was grouped with that person I least wanted to work with – a greater challenge than what I expected. We are living in a foster house that’s better off than I thought and our foster family is very kind and accommodating, I can complain nothing about them. Our foster house is far from the center of the barangay so we walk our way to the center of the barangay or what they call as “Sitio Gitna” for 20-30 minutes. Here’s a brief description of the barangay. It has five sitios: Gitna (which is further divided into Gitnang Lagkit and Gitnang Pinagpala), Silangang Ilaya, Silangang Ibaba, Kanlurang Ilaya and Kanlurang Ibaba. The barangay is a combination of forests, palayans and beaches. Houses are very distant from each other particularly those not in Sitio Gitna so we walk to them under the sun (I’m happy being darker thinking that it was because of my Batangas experience). Walking was fun for me since I haven’t done such for a long time – I mean walking such distances with fresh air unlike in Manila.

I have been enduring the community experience with two of my closest friends and with Arsi. In the beginning, I was trying to be fair with her – I tried to get along with her in the nicest way I can thinking that my antipathy against her is due to the bias of her being not my friend AT ALL. I gave her the chance. I tried considering that she’s a city girl, that she’s getting to know us still – in short, she’s still adjusting just like me at that time. However, it seemed as if she was not trying to adjust. She was full of complaints – even in things where nothing can already be done, in things that she herself did. She was too dependent as if she cannot do things without someone to accompany her or to tell her what to do. In times that she worked, she did not work well – she did for mediocrity. She complained more than she worked. It was annoying, frustrating and distracting. Being the inexpressive person that I am, I tried to keep my rants to myself. I tried to avoid her so that I won’t be covered with the negative feelings again but I was not able to endure it. Before 2012 ended, I confronted her. I told her how I felt and how I did not want how she was acting or doing. I hoped for the best. I hoped that she’d consider what I said. It felt good. When our Batangas immersion resumed in January, I noticed that she changed although there are still things that I did not like about what she does such as being distracting when we had to work and being avoidant with work. I just hope that the same negative feelings would not be triggered this time.

The families that I handled were quite accommodating and very much available almost anytime. Their houses were indeed far but the walk was always worth it. The heat may be burning and darkening but it’s really okay. I enjoyed the long walks, the sun, the mud, the cows, everything. Our program implementation in the community in partnership with the local government, although stressful, was a good learning experience. Truly when you deal with people, everything is subject to change. Not all will happen as planned. Thus, backup plans are necessary.

What makes this immersion a great deal for me is the fact that I was chosen the group leader for our research. This is a big responsibility for me. Honestly, I kept myself inactive in batch activities, school organizations or group requirements in the past four years because I never saw myself competent of being a leader. I always prefer being just a member and doing the task assigned to me. I did not want more obligations, I did not want responsibility, I did not want the liability for a group. What mattered to me was that I did my part, the end. Now is not the same case. As a leader, I have to preside and facilitate meetings, delegate tasks, and communicate with those in rank. I also have to see to it that our outputs have substance and coherence. This is really a challenge for me not only because it’s a new thing for me but because I am working with different people, different personalities, different priorities. You really can’t choose who you work with and you have to learn dealing with it. So far, we’re not yet done with our research and I hope that we can bring out the best of what we can for this. 

ANG TAGAL KO NANG GUSTONG IPOST TO KASO HINDI KO MATAPOS-TAPOS KAYA MEDYO NAMADALI KO NA LANG TULOY.