They call me Kuya Edel, sometimes Sir Edel. They often told me that they realized many things from my lectures and were inspired by my life. The truth is, I was the one learning so much from the youth leaders and sponsored youth of Children International Manila…
and so starting from today; I will give accounts to all the youth who came across my life and left remarkable impact in my thoughts and actions.
Let me start with this simple story.
And he dreams again!
I think he never said hundred words for a day in his life except probably when he was required to sing the National Anthem when he was young. This was a joke of course.
But this is quite true to Gio (not his real name) one of the pioneer youth educators for our reproductive health advocacy campaign that started in 2005. When I interviewed him, he only introduced himself and gave more nod and head shakes than straight sentences and clear questions. It was very obvious to me that he will have hard times doing the task of a peer educator; he had insecurities standing in front of a crowd that’s why he speaks so low and always looking down, he didn’t even demonstrate any skills in art or show any creativity. Many people were asking why I included him in the list of the educators, I always respond by saying “at least he is there… meaning he likes the program… that’s why he’s there!” I hope it did make sense that time.
I discovered that he was very much interested in skateboarding and rock music which are way beyond my reference and so we rarely have conversations. I only learned things from him through the stories of the youth leaders who happened to be his neighbor or schoolmates. Just like many youth, he faced challenges in his life; he enrolled in college and had to stop after few months.
He attended our life skills training called Youth Empowerment Seminar or YES for out-of-school youth in our partner communities. There were group sharing, teambuilding activities and some sort of presentations. In one of that, he became our Retro Hunk for his outfit.
Despite of that rare expression, he was still a man of few words. However, I soon realized that his carefully chosen words were only trying to cover his unexpressed deep pain.
He shared to his youth facilitator his thought about being an out-of-school youth, his life with his friends, about the music they make and some other things that we never thought would come from him. His life was put in danger in quite some times; he tested and experimented in many things.
In high hopes and spirit, I prayed that he would pick-up some thing from the seminar that he can use in dealing with his life. And he never failed me.
After the seminar, I looked at the evaluation survey that he completed and I almost cried reading it… there imprinted in plane letters and color were words that made up a thought that changed my life. In the question “what are the most important thing you learned from the seminar?” this was his reply:
“I learned to dream again!”
I could not define exactly what I learned from that script but now, every time that I am down or I failed in my ways, I will remember Gio, and then I dream again!
---
I think he never said hundred words for a day in his life except probably when he was required to sing the National Anthem when he was young. This was a joke of course.
But this is quite true to Gio (not his real name) one of the pioneer youth educators for our reproductive health advocacy campaign that started in 2005. When I interviewed him, he only introduced himself and gave more nod and head shakes than straight sentences and clear questions. It was very obvious to me that he will have hard times doing the task of a peer educator; he had insecurities standing in front of a crowd that’s why he speaks so low and always looking down, he didn’t even demonstrate any skills in art or show any creativity. Many people were asking why I included him in the list of the educators, I always respond by saying “at least he is there… meaning he likes the program… that’s why he’s there!” I hope it did make sense that time.
I discovered that he was very much interested in skateboarding and rock music which are way beyond my reference and so we rarely have conversations. I only learned things from him through the stories of the youth leaders who happened to be his neighbor or schoolmates. Just like many youth, he faced challenges in his life; he enrolled in college and had to stop after few months.
He attended our life skills training called Youth Empowerment Seminar or YES for out-of-school youth in our partner communities. There were group sharing, teambuilding activities and some sort of presentations. In one of that, he became our Retro Hunk for his outfit.
Despite of that rare expression, he was still a man of few words. However, I soon realized that his carefully chosen words were only trying to cover his unexpressed deep pain.
He shared to his youth facilitator his thought about being an out-of-school youth, his life with his friends, about the music they make and some other things that we never thought would come from him. His life was put in danger in quite some times; he tested and experimented in many things.
In high hopes and spirit, I prayed that he would pick-up some thing from the seminar that he can use in dealing with his life. And he never failed me.
After the seminar, I looked at the evaluation survey that he completed and I almost cried reading it… there imprinted in plane letters and color were words that made up a thought that changed my life. In the question “what are the most important thing you learned from the seminar?” this was his reply:
“I learned to dream again!”
I could not define exactly what I learned from that script but now, every time that I am down or I failed in my ways, I will remember Gio, and then I dream again!
---
Mula kay Kuya Edel
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