Monday, April 10, 2017 11:06 PM 0 💬

The afternoon sun was slowly coming to a descend after the lectures, as we started another major activity - the one that we've put our all into. All of our preparations to raise funds for the last months, all of our labor in selling empanada at school and at the hospital during our duty, the effort in organizing and selling tickets for Synergy, all our energy exerted to visit every hardware store in the city, has finally paid off. We have distributed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to our beloved farmers.

We have spent the last weekend buying PPE for the farmers, such as boots, industrial masks and gardening gloves, on our prospect hardware stores. Yesterday morning, the whole group woke up early and prepared to run errands around Iloilo City. Good thing that we have Raf’s car to transport us all comfortably to our destination. However, we have encountered several problems during our shopping. The industrial masks we were supposed to buy had stock shortage and the gloves we had anticipated to buy was already out of stock. So the day that we thought would go smoothly as previously planned, turned into a chaotic adventure. We had to find substitute brands and alternative stores in order to push through with our major event. Nonetheless, with our teamwork, we found solutions to the difficulties we encountered. But the day does not end after that. We has to transport everything we bought back to the sitio. Luckily, a friend offered his private car to transport the boxes of boots but we had to carry all the other remaining PPE through habal-habal. The experience was quite challenging and very tiring but the whole team was pumped up and excited to distribute the products of our labor, the farmers' PPE.


We were all very hyped and were looking forward to the reactions of the farmers when they would finally receive our gifts. All of the green bags with the industrial masks and gardening gloves inside were lined up in front of the room and all the pair of boots were labelled with the name of each of our recipient farmers. As the whole venue started to be packed with farmers, we can really feel the aura of excitement filling the room. Time came when their name was being called one by one for them to come up front to receive their PPE, we could really see the happiness painted all over there faces. Smiles were plastered, Thank you's on replay, bliss was in the air. We can really see that the farmers are beyond thankful for the blessing they have received. Some were uttering multiple words of appreciation, others even hugged some members of the group to show there gratitude, and almost all of them said that they were more encouraged to work on the field. Although, the only response we gave them was just a simple, "You’re welcome, po" and a smile, it was unknown to them how much they also have inspired us to work harder to help them, how much we appreciate their reactions and how much it pushes us to utilize all means to help them help themselves.

It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving,
but like morning light, it scattered the night and made the day worth living.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

We have all gone out of our comfort zones to help the unsung heroes of our society. But this is just the start of our journey in helping them achieve a safer workplace and in turn, a healthier community. As much as they would say that we are changing their lives, they should also know that they are also changing ours by letting us become part of theirs.

Labels: Highlights