After many days of training, Deaf Awareness Days and completing surveys across Cebu city, the team were eager to jump straight into their work placements. Everyone was looking forward to creating activities, bonds and memories with the incredible people at these placements.
There are 6 work placements, located across Cebu City, working in the Deaf and Person With Disabilities (PWD) communities ranging from schools, organisations and rehabilitation centres. VSO has been working with these partner organisations over multiple cycles now, and this batch of volunteers are keen to make their mark. It’s difficult to describe the work placements in general terms, as everyone of them is different and unique to the next. Their characters will come to life, when the volunteers share their stories later in this blog. February 4, was definitely the nail biting and exiting first day of placement. With saying that, every placement opened their arms to the volunteers and embraced their presence. Every placement had an orientation with their Volunteer Placement Supervisor (VPS), to gain a better understanding of what their placement mission, focus and aim was for the Deaf and PWD communities. Now was the time, to put our newly learnt Filipino Sign Language (FSL) to the test. For many of the volunteers, introducing them self was the easy bit, but trying to remember all the students/clients names and sign names became the first challenge that we faced.
As the days moved on into the first few weeks of placement, we really began to understand each of our placements and where our support is needed. For DSWS Women, they supported a Family Fun day event, playing lots of energetic games with prizes and creating a great positive environment for team work. Other placements, especially those in schools, found creative ways to teach fractions, the alphabet and English words to Deaf students of all ages.
After our Mid-Phase Review (check out the blog, coming soon), we were more enthusiastic than ever to get back to our placements and continue our work. GVSP volunteers had their Leadership workshop which was a flying success with a generous sponsorship from Krispy Kreme and many active Deaf participants. DSWS, trekked across different areas of Cebu to give Deaf Awareness talks and teach Filipino Sign language, every day of the week, which had a huge positive impact on the local communities. The team had a roaring success with their Community Action Day at one of the work placements – First High School for the Hearing Impaired. Here, the team completed the wall murals previous ICS volunteers had started. After a days hard work of painting in the sun with the students. The very next day the students and volunteers placed there carried on the painting. They found every spare wall throughout the school to paint positive murals about such topics as health and science. There are many artists here in Cebu!
It’s now coming to the end of the work placements for us and what an eye-opening experience it has been. A long the way, we have been fortunate to be a part of a two way information exchange between the team and the Deaf community. We support each other for positive growth. With every amazing journey, there is always a mountain to climb with challenges to face. It is these challenges which pushes us to develop ourselves to support the growth of social inclusion of the Deaf and PWD community.
Below, these words have been written directly by the volunteers at each placement. I hope their words come to life for you and you can share our journey.
First High school for the Hearing Impaired
Describe your work placement.
A school for hearing impaired students aged 13-20.
How did you feel at the start of your placement?
Sarah: “I felt terrified. I wasn’t confident with using FSL. And the Deaf people I had met tended to call me fat regularly. To add to that I heard Angelo tell the teachers I am a fast learner. And that I am not. But I also felt very exited that I will be able to improve my confidence and knowledge of FSL!”
What volunteer-led activities take place at your placement?
Sarah: “We led activities such as healthy living session where we spoke to all of the students about healthy lifestyles and let them show us what there impression of a healthy lifestyle is! We also did scouting and survival skills with the girls. This involved teaching them knots and how to put up a tent.”
Best moment so far
Sarah: “Best moment so far would probs be prom, seeing them all dolled up and having so much fun and then dancing! They were so good you would have never of guessed they couldn’t hear the music!”
Something you would like to achieve before the end of placement.
Sarah: “That would be the wall painting”
A funny placement story.
Sarah: “Maybe watching all of the boys fighting over Evie and giving her love letters.”
The Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS) Women
Describe your work placement.
Zaffy: “DSWS Women. Working with female clients aged from 16 -42. A government run centre for women.”
How did you feel at the start of your placement?
Zaffy: “Very apprehensive. We were aware that previous cycles had disappointed our placement in the past and we were worried we were already coming into a work place which had a negative view towards us. Luckily this was completely unfounded and the employees and clients were incredibly welcoming. Due to the sensitive nature of our placement there was an expectation that our work could be emotionally draining and we were well prepared for this eventuality. However we found our work placement to be a positive and colourful work environment with wonderful people. It was very hard at first trying to get out clients to feel comfortable around us and tell us what activities they wanted to do but a couple weeks in and they’re happy to approach us with ideas.”
What volunteer-led activities take place at your placement?
Zaffy: “During our time at DSWS Women, we mainly focused on building up the clients confidence and team building skills. We did this by playing a lot of games designed to promote interaction and trust. The great thing about this was they made the clients trust us more while also letting them have some fun. One of our first activities was getting the clients to draw a flag that represents them. It was inspirational to see how so many of them showed so much ambition, drawing themselves as wonder woman or finishing school. Other activities we led were scavenger hunts, piñata making and breaking, wish jar making and sign lessons.”
Best moment so far.
Zaffy: “The best moment so far has been the family day. During this time we played lots of games and had a celebration. It was great to see all of the clients so happy and involved.”
Something you would like to achieve before the end of placement.
Zaffy: “Even something as simple as the clients telling us they enjoyed the activities we put together for them would be great. We are also planning to raise a continuous campaign with the aim to raise awareness against emotionally abusive relationships and encourage people to spot the signs so they can have a healthy relationship with their partner. The team is planning to make a proposal for the future cycles to implement.”
A funny placement story
Zaffy: “That day we played Bahay, Bata, Bagyo (House, Child, Storm) and the ladies got so into it and some of them didn’t understand some of the rules very well so we had to run around the place. Also when we played the scavenger hunt and everyone struggled to look for all the things in the list.”
Area Vocational Rehabilitation Centre (AVRC)
Describe your work placement
This is a centre that offers a wide range of vocational courses for People with Disabilities.
How did you feel at the start of your placement?
Ryan: “Initially, work was quite slow. In fact, I wondered what there was to be done. Volunteers were only doing two or there courses per day. As for me, my courses were all on mornings. The actually frustrated me a little since my potential wasn’t being explored. However, the placement grew on me and I soon learnt the meaning of ‘volunteer-led’. I soon started facilitating courses for which I wasn’t initially assigned and this was really helpful because it allowed the tutor to teach other courses since there was a lot of overlapping.”
Nikka: “I started to feel a very excited with my placement, because I really wanted to do everything with ARVC as my benefited, and I really believed in myself to help and support them as their needed and improved.”
Andrea: “So I started later than everyone else so had no idea what was going on, had no idea who was there or what I was doing but after the first day of watching everyone I saw how enthused everyone was and was really happy”
What volunteer-led activities take place at your placement?
Ryan: “I facilitate courses such as Daily Living Skills and Personality Development, I supervise Script Writing (Braille) and Spelling for the Blind. I also assist Nikka with staff training in basic FSL. In my free time, I sometimes teach two of the boys algebra which they enjoy doing so much that they keep asking me for more and more questions.”
Nikka: “I am just a volunteer like teacher, learner and leader role. I taught them in FSL for staff and Deaf students the most than others (course/s), and I really learned in Gardening and Craft & Arts from Deaf student to teach me how to do useful. For volunteer/s that I just assisted them as supported their course/s.”
Andrea: “All of our activities really come from us, what we want to teach what the pups want to learn and that sort of shenanigans”.
Best moment so far.
Ryan: “The best moment so far has to be the Valentine’s Day celebration in which volunteers participated. I read the story of Saint Valentine as one of the first items on the programme. We all collectively carried out another item on the programme; we danced the Macarena, undoubtedly out of time, which was in it’s own way entertaining, we also facilitated games such as the Tomato Dance, Pass the Squeeze and one where they had to dance around a piece of paper which after each round kept getting smaller and smaller. At the end of each round, they’d have to position themselves on it. It was quite funny to see some of the participants posing on one leg while holding their dance partners off the ground. Then it came to my favourite bit; food, and ice-cream which the other volunteers didn’t enjoy. I had four cones, need I say more?”
Nikka: “For the best we shared to talk about the stories during a class, and we shared to interact with staff and handicap through all times.”
Something you would like to achieve before the end of placement.
Andrea: “I would like to achieve the goal I set the class, which was to make a portfolio of writing for them.”
Nikka: “One thing I need ARVC to have interpreter, and workshop/s for the Deaf. Because I really want them to learn everything the benefited (full-aware). ”
Ryan: “I definitely would like to improve my basic FSL. I have so little contact time with the Deaf given that most of my courses are for the blind. I am not sure how that happened but it just did and I love them to bits! The result is that my basic FSL is a bit poor. I would also like to learn a bit of braille. I supervise the students not knowing if the work they are doing is right or wrong. It takes so long to correct it, usually the tutor would take the scripts after and check them but I feel since I deal a lot with the blind as well that it would be very useful for me to learn a bit more of it. I would also like to officially establish an employment network between the massage studio employing the blind and AVRC II before leaving. I feel really really pleased that the massage studio already would like to interview several of the AVRC’s blind graduates in Massage Therapy.”
A funny placement story.
Ryan: “Well this isn’t exactly a story but I renamed the dog Pretzel? Her real name, we only recently found out, is Sexy. So we just call her Sexy Pretzel. I guess one funny thing about her is that, despite her posh lady like ways, she is so lazy that she drags herself on the floor to get food in front of her :)”
Nikka: “I was interested in fun with Deaf students when we shared the stories, because i loved their feeling fear. that is my unforgettable!”
The Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS)
Describe your work placement
Yoyo: “The Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS), located in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City is primarily responsible in the processing and issuance of PWD ID’s. It is also responsible in assessing the PWD’s eligibility for financial assistance. DSWS is a front-liner of the Government’s social welfare activities so the compound is busy most of the time i.e. distribution of monthly allowances, distribution of goods/groceries, conduct of seminars, etc.
We are directly supervised by Ms. Cely Dacoco, a highly energetic woman who is so motherly to us. Ms. Cely is very supportive of our volunteer work. All of our workmates in the “department” are PWD so we get a grasp on how to work with them; most have orthopedic disability but we also have a Deaf and a mentally-disabled person.”
How did you feel at the start of your placement?
Yoyo: “We felt very welcomed when we first arrived at DSWS. Ms. Cely was very accommodating, as well as her staff.”
What volunteer-led activities take place at your placement?
Yoyo: “Initially, we planned to conduct Basic Filipino Sign Language (FSL) lessons to the immediate family members and friends of the Deaf in each barangay. The rationale of this activity is to enhance the communication in each household. However, it was difficult to convene the family members as most of them have work on weekdays. So George and I thought of conducting Deaf Awareness Talks and Basic FSL to each barangay instead because they themselves have at least one Deaf within their community. We have been roaming around Cebu City, with the help of each barangay GAD Office, to give Deaf Awareness Talk, Republic Act 9442 Talk, and Basil FSL Lesson. With that, we hope that we are contributing for a more Deaf inclusive society.”
Best moment so far.
Yoyo: “The end of each session is actually one of the best because everyone expresses their gratitude and appreciation of what we have been doing. But I would also like to share my experience at barangay Babag.
I consider our visit to Brgy. Babag as one of the best moments. Barangay Babag is considered as one of the country-side barangays in Cebu and it takes 30 to 45 minutes travel from Lahug. Ms. Stela, the GAD Focal of Brgy. Babag was kind enough to arrange everything for us; she convened the members of the PWD organization, picked us up at JY mall and dropped us onto our next barangay, prepared snacks for everyone, provided lunch (where George got to try goat meat), and gave us a bouquet of flowers, which is the primary commodity in Brgy. Babag. The scenic view going to the place is an added bonus, including its cold weather.”
Something you would like to achieve before the end of placement.
Yoyo: “I have already achieved what I wanted for my work placement, which is an appreciation by the participants of the sessions we have been conducting.”
Funny placement story.
Yoyo: “I find it funny everytime Ms. Cely comes to our table and tells that George looks like a guy named “Elvis.” We asked who Elvis is but she just didn’t know because it was her granddaughter who said that. Apparently, her daughter said “Harry” of One Direction and not Elvis. Until now, I am wondering why she remembered Elvis when the name is not even close to Harry. She also said that George looks like Harry Potter. Hahahaha”
Zapatera School
Describe your work placement.
An elementary school.
How did you feel at the start of your placement?
Allen: “Nervous. Anxious about what would happen.” Poppy: “Yeah and excited.” Soph: “Yeah, scared, worried the kids wouldn’t like us or take us seriously as teachers. Especially as our signing was limited.”
What volunteer-led activities take place at your placement?
Soph: “Some teaching of lessons. And on Fridays we have P.E day and that is always led by us and the student teachers. We play games, do sports, (Allen: cook food) and have a jolly old time.”
Best moment so far.
Allen: “Dancing and performing with the kids at the student teachers leaving party.
Soph: “I couldn’t name just one. But there’s a moment that sticks in my mind. It was when I spent quite a while after class going through some fractions with a boy, and he got it. He understood it. It was so rewarding.”
Something you would like to achieve before the end of placement
Allen: “Teach a whole subject in sign language. Without any help.”
Soph: “Yeah, I think I would agree with that too.”
Allen: “And have all the students fully understand.”
Poppy: “That’s the same for me too”
A funny placement story
Soph: “So a brilliant one was on our p.e day. It was one of my students birthday, so we threw a party for her. We were playing music and had all the kids dancing. However they only started dancing thanks to our brilliant teachers, who stood up Infront of everyone happily eating their cake, and preceded to do some fantastic booty work. With a bit of belly dancing thrown in also.”
Gualandi Volunteer Service Programme (GVSP)
Describe your work placement.
An organization to support and empower the Deaf Community.
How did you feel at the start of your placement?
Yang: “I felt very excited to finally just start the placement work but also quite anxious to deliver the help that is truly needed for GVSP.”
Jade: ‘’At first I was quite disappointed. I had been assigned to writing letters, and I’m not about that. That is something that doesn’t interest me in the slightest. But after discussing it and spending time in the placement I came to realise there was a lot more to it than just letters. I was able to really get involved with the Deaf community and found I had a lot more exciting work to do :)’’.
Kris: ‘’ At first I wasn’t really pleased with what I was told I was going to be doing, I was expecting and wanting to be doing more active work, outside speaking face to face with people, But my role at first was to help write letters. The next few days it was slow but when it got started we were asked to help with producing BTS infomercial and anti-rape kit instructional videos. I was happy with that as the BTS campaign is fighting to stop sexual abuse, something that I am eager to help with.”
What volunteer-led activities take place at your placement?
Yang: “Workshops for hearing students (Deaf Awareness and Basic FSL), Deaf Leadership workshop, training for lead staff of Krispy Kreme Cebu(Deaf Awareness and Basic FSL) , meeting with a city councilor for the Deaf Disaster Assistance Team-Disaster Risk Reduction, few meetings with private companies for future partnership with GVSP, informercial (Break The Silence), etc”
Jade: ‘’Oh so many, workshops, seminars, connecting with organisations. Yang would probably be best to ask this question too, she doesn’t have a memory like a goldfish unlike me’’.
Kris: “We have had a lot of activities to deal with at GVSP but they have all been enjoyable. We have attended seminars, Hosted workshops and had meetings with producers from the film academy!”
Best moment so far.
Yang: “Best moment so far would be the recently concluded Deaf Leadership workshop and being able to tie up with Krispy Kreme for the said event. Not only they sponsored free donuts for everyone but they also welcomed us to conduct a training for them. Yay! It’s a Deaf Awareness and Basic FSL training for the managers and lead staff from the different Krispy Kreme branches to make Krispy Kreme a more inclusive for the Deaf establishment.”
Jade: ‘’ My best moment within placement so far has been that I made a recognizably good suggestion for the anti-rape kit, a high frequency personal attack alarm, which they had never heard off!’’.
Kris: “To give one best moment is quite had for me, I have enjoyed so many if the activities but I have felt that the workshops we have held have been the most beneficial for us, and the deaf community!”
Something you would like to achieve before the end of placement.
Yang: “I would love to create ties with private establishments as much as I can for future partnerships with GVSP. Invite them to be involved in projects and for them to be more inclusive for the Deaf through undergoing trainings about Deaf Awareness and Basic FSL. As of the moment, I am creating a directory as I try to contact different establishments (hotels, food businesses, etc) and endorse this directory just before I leave. Also, I have spoken to some staff about my interest to spread awareness about the group in Manila and help in little ways (fundraising, etc.) and so before I leave, I have to talk to them again and let them know I am serious about it and so we have to keep in touch.”
Jade: ‘’ Before the end of my placement I’d like to be able to say I have made real friendships and connections within the Deaf community as well as had some great ideas that have sparked further ideas’’.
Kris: “Before the end of the placement I hope I can have things ready and in place for the next batch of volunteers so they can get started as soon as they get here, I feel that would be more productive”
A funny placement story.
Yang: “The funniest so far would be the time when I went to the city hall to look for the councilor who’s managing the disaster risk reduction committee. This is to link the city government with the Deaf Disaster Assistance Team. I bravely went inside his office without setting an appointment and there were around 7 staff members inside. I asked this man if the councilor is inside his room and he said yes. He then asked for my purpose and told him that I badly need to talk to him but he couldn’t just let me in so still asked for me to talk and talk and after pitching in everything I can think of so he can just let me speak to the councilor… he then revealed that he actually is the councilor and finally invited me inside his room. Lol. That explains why the other people inside were grinning while I was trying to be extra passionate about my cause. Haha”
Jade & Kris: ‘’Haha well we have both agreed one. Which was when Janice and us had to film a sign language invitation to all the Deaf Leaders and Organisations for an upcoming Deaf awareness Workshop that all of us volunteers were holding. It was so funny I swear we must have re-filmed the video about 15 times because we kept messing up, misspelling our names, laughing or just being plain stupid. In the end we got it! Thankfully’’
Team Leaders’ Placements
Between this duo team, they support all 6 placements. Their role is to be a support network for both the volunteers and the work placements. They adapt their role regularly depending on what support and guidance is needed in the Cebu Programme.
Lisa: “Being able to support three of these placements has been a fantastic opportunity for me and I am loving being a part of the Deaf community – they are awesome! The volunteers I have supported have been creative, patient, friendly and dedicated. Also, the staff, clients and students at these placements have been such a joy to work alongside. I have truly loved watching the bonds grow between the volunteers, students/clients and staff and I know the goodbyes are not going to be easy. They have had to all think carefully when planning activities, and consider communication and disabilities. Just last week, AVRC had a sports day for all the clients – Deaf, Visually impaired and physically disabled. There was coconut shy, a maze, three-legged race and of course the egg and spoon race. All volunteers have put their footprints on the path of international development here in Cebu, and the next volunteers will continue the path by adding their footprints.”
