06 JULY 2006

Musings on the JVP Batch 26 Midyear Seminar
By Mayette Galang (JVP Batch 16), Formation Staff member for Batch 26

It has been three weeks since the Midyear Seminar of JVP Batch 26 as I write this. The volunteers are now in their respective areas of assignment doing their job, among them teaching indigenous schoolchildren, facilitating meetings for and between people's organizations with the local government, and advocating causes both on the national and local level. These are such exciting times for them given the state of our country, and being part of the batch, it is exhilarating for me as well!

Five years after leaving the JVP Office as Program Officer for Volunteer Service (POVS) and ten years after my volunteer year, I am back helping the Volunteer Service Program now as part of the Formation Staff for Batch 26. One of the questions I asked myself was, “Am I too old for this?” when I received the invitation to be part of the staff. On the other hand, it was a privilege to be invited – the year of service is a special time for the volunteers and to be part of the group tasked to assist them in their journey is always a worthwhile experience. But it also entails additional responsibility that might hamper my present academic load. In the end, I chose to serve again and I have never regretted that decision. It has been a lovely six months spent with them, a blessing I cherish everyday and that inspires me while I go on with the everyday busyness of my student life.

This is not my story but theirs.

Effective Service

The Midyear Seminar officially started with the session, “Kumustahan”, where all of us tried to convey our feelings of the moment. The changes in the volunteers became more evident in the days that followed – from work evaluation, skills enhancement sessions to relationship sharing. I got a glimpse of their lives in their areas: their struggles and defeats, their successes no matter how grand or small, their personal growths and their moments of being held back.

They opened up and shared their frustrations with unresponsive students, the joys and difficulties in being a 24/7 houseparent, having a demanding boss, the tiresome wait for things to happen, the strange behavior of a demented housemate. They shared experiences from the mundane to the exotic. They sometimes also sought help. But mostly, they sought a listening ear, a comforting pat on the back, a hug, a simple affirmation that a batchmate, a POVS, or a member of the staff could provide.

One could see and feel their brokenness and growth – in their eyes, in the way they speak to you about the people in their area, in yearning for rest, and quite expectedly of this batch, in wanting and looking forward to going back . In the end, they know that they have a job to do, nay a mission; that the time spent in the Midyear Seminar was but necessary to rest away from the area so they could all look back together as a batch and assess their respective situations better with each other's presence. And that's what effective service is all about. Batch 26 lives and breathes it: every cell in their bodies wants to accomplish more. To them, magis is a gene and not a mere adage of an Ignatian principle of striving to do more and better for the common good and for God's greater glory.

God must have been simply smiling when these twenty-eight people were born because it seems that they all accepted their lot in life – to serve and continually do so in spite of everything. They have such big hearts you could not help but admire them for giving more and more each day.

Laughter As Well

Watching them after five months is a joy to behold. They each had their own versions of heaven and hell the past months, but when they waded to the sea during their rest and recreation and started doing their favorite “Shark Attack” icebreaker, there was pure joy as if the year of service had not caused them any hardships!

On the one hand, they had changed, and yet, on the other, they remained the same. They continue to give their all in their areas of assignment as well as in group presentations in their batch seminars, games and even in arranging themselves to form and capture in photo the number “26”. They can still dance to the tune of Humayo't Ihayag (a religious song which literally translates to “Go and Proclaim”) with fervor in spite of some forgotten dance steps from when they danced in the Mission Mass in May. They still sing O Baby Ko (batch song composed by some of their batch members) with the spirit of oneness of the batch. But this time, they have more songs and more numbers to present with each other.

I realized that I have never encountered an entire batch of volunteers so freely and openly giving of themselves not just to each other but also in the way they do their work in their area - from the stories they shared in the Midyear Seminar and from the letters in their email group! No wonder, despite the hardships, it was still a fun Midyear Seminar for all of us.

Looking Ahead and More of the Waiting

I miss them already. Those five days in Cebu made me realize that I am lucky to be part of their staff; that their presence in my life no matter how fleeting, is enough to remind me that there are still good people out there willing to share themselves to make life a bit easier for our countrymen.

But a lot of things are still waiting to happen in the remaining four or so months ahead. The lessons learned from the previous months as well as the midyear skills enhancement have hopefully armed them with the necessary know-how to overcome any difficulty that lies ahead. And by God's grace, I do not doubt their continued success.