It was a warm summer day, no different from any other the past two months. I had just arrived from a much needed vacation trip abroad. The life cycle of Manila continued just as I had left it, the same busy polluted streets, the same struggling people, but to top it all off, everyone was getting ready for another very long, excruciating school year. I had received a welcoming message from Miss Melanie Abo, a professor from the Social Action Center in St. Scholastica’s College Manila, to come into her office and help sort out school supplies to be given to less fortunate communities. I had thought to myself that this was just another incentive for me to pass my previous NSTP class and look like a goody-two shoes in front of my professors. But why not? Little did I know that a flame had sparked within me, a flame, a passion, a source of meaning for life which would only continue to grow.

I was not sure what to expect as I stepped in the small van packed with school supplies, but I had thought to myself that it would be a good experience for me to get into some volunteer work and that I would probably be doing something less productive at that moment in time. I was also unsure of where exactly we were going but I treated it sort of as a free trip to somewhere I’ve never been before. Excited and anxious at the same time, I opened the window to let the fresh air into the van. I spent the remainder of the ride looking outside the window in awe.

 It must have only been thirty minutes before the scenery outside my window changed from tall, compacted buildings and smoggy air to green grass and wide open spaces. It was beautiful and it was a different side of Manila I had never seen before. The van jerked violently, up and down as we passed through a muddy trek that led us to a small skeleton of a building, waiting to be finished. We had finally arrived in Napindan, Taguig City, a small barangay in the outskirts of Manila, consisting of only two small schools and an estimated population of 11,623 residents as of 2007 (http://www.philippine-islands.ph). As I stepped out of the van with a hand full of poster paper, clear wrapping paper and bags full of other school supplies, I was greeted by the locals with a very large smile and open helping hands.

            The development of the small building was still in progress, the walls were gray and stony, the room was cold and open for just about anyone, or in fact, anything to come in and take shelter. As the building filled with local volunteers and people of all shapes and sizes, the atmosphere drastically changed. Everyone was so willing to help out each other, hand in hand, and I was deeply touched. We carefully unpacked the school supplies to prepare for the sale. It was a project of St. Scholastica’s College to gather donated school supplies and sell them at very cheap, reasonable prices to developing communities. After selling, the school was to give the profit of the sales to those communities- a very innovative idea indeed.

The school supplies were laid out carefully lay out on the tables in display for the customers of Napindan. A great, long line formed and the sale began. It was a true success as so many residents filled the room, to support the cause. The smiles on each child’s face that entered that room were unforgettable. It was a remarkable turn out. My mathematical skills were tested as I worked hand in hand with a local man at the cash register. It was a tedious and hard task, especially since there were so many people! At the end of our shift, after handling so much money and wiping the tables clean of school supplies, we had earned.. I can’t describe to you the feelings I had at that moment, but I can only tell you that they were feelings that could not match any feeling I had ever felt before. Not only had we earned money for the community but I had earned a new way of thinking, a new experience, a new set of friends, and a new perspective in life.

Over the last three years of living in Manila, I have grown accustomed to doing different things; and as I continue to live and thrive in my new home away from home, as I continue to walk the road less taken in this journey of life - which destiny has willingly placed upon my lap, I have instilled a new value system. I have learned (in no particular order) to eat, pray, and volunteer wholeheartedly. 

…our world as we know it would be exponentially different, not only in terms of communication. It would be unknown where we receive our sources for information and education. Life as we know it would have no books, great works of authors, no magazines - anything written - non existent to our world. Our culture would be forgotten, we would be confused and unsure about our past - where we came from, who made us, and why certain things are so. Questioning whether or not our society would be as educated and advanced as it is as its present state would be indisputable. Imagine a world where the earth is known to be flat, the existence of other land masses beyond the sea is a preposterous idea, and where people would be ruled by Christianity - one religion practiced. Imagine a world where freedom of speech sends you to your death bed and having a valid opinion is only relevant to those born into blue blood. The beauty and art of writing would be lost - an impossible idea. Manuscripts written by monks and papyrus filled with thoughts and ideas from great minds, such as Aristotle and Plato, to books by Stephanie Meyer, J.K. Rowling  and even Stephen King, would cease to exist. Imagine the injustice, the chaos, the ancient practices, the ways of thinking, the naivety…

Looking back on some old work I did for one of my classes. This is an excerpt from a final essay i had to write for principles of mass communication. Just rambling and thinking of how society has evolved from heavy machinery to slick light-speed computers and how communication is such a big deal in our world and how every single person would probably internally die without access.. just something to ponder upon. Thanks Johannes Gutenberg.

*Google: Printing Revolution, Johannes Gutenberg