Global Peace Festival Foundation
Philippines
University Students and Officials celebrate 3rd Global Peace Festival Day in the Campus by giving to GPFF-ALS Communities
2nd Global Poomashi in the Philippines Carries Intercultural Friendship and Service to the Local Communities
“Last Saturday was indeed a memorable experience for me. The first time I talked to my partner, Gwang Ho, he immediately confessed his lack of proficiency in English. Still, we were able to know much about each other,” recalls Romeo Antolin, GPYC student leader in Philippine School of Business Administration when asked about his experience with Global Poomashi, an international youth exchange program that aims to engage young leaders from different countries to work together in addressing social issues while recognizing each other as members of the same human family.
“I’ve learned that race, age, or nationality is never a hindrance to the ability to sympathize and care for another,” Romeo added. Romeo, who is also the President in one of the GPYC university chapters in the Philippines, is among the twenty two Filipino volunteers from different colleges and universities in Manila who were able to work with twenty two young Korean volunteers for the Manila activities, which includes a charity project in an elderly home, and a public campaign in a mall to support the Alllights Village Project.
Together, the Korean and Filipino volunteers in Manila shared the experience of a family to abandoned and bed-ridden grandparents in GRACES Home for the Aged. They helped feed the elderlies their lunch, listened to their stories, and also shared the greeting cards personally made by the students from Alllights Villages.
A Korean word which means “exchange of work,” this year’s Global Poomashi - the second in the Philippines, engaged youth volunteers in a 3-day community service, a 2-night home stay experience, charity project, public campaign, and recreational activities.
For three days and two nights, the Korean and Filipino volunteers in Nueva Ecija, divided into two teams, Rizal and Llanera in Nueva Ecija, stayed in the Alllights Villages for the community service project and home stay experience.
“I definitely felt like we’ve known each other for a long time even though we’ve been introduced two days ago; It felt like I have just welcomed a daughter who stayed out of the country for a long time,” shared one foster mother.
Moreover, the Global Poomashi participants performed a flash mob and pledge sign up campaign in SM Centerpoint, one of the most crowded malls in Manila, to raise the awareness on Alllights Village Project and gather more support from the urban areas.
Prior to meeting the Manila volunteers, the Korean volunteers also worked with twenty two representatives of Sangguniang Kabataan in Nueva Ecija. Sangguniang Kabataan, or SK, is the Philippine youth legislature in every local village or community that acts as the local youth program and projects implementation partner of the government.
While in the villages, the volunteers helped paint the multi-purpose halls, construct bookshelves, and taught character education activities, eco-bag painting, Korean traditional sports, and soccer to the children in the local schools. Through this experience, the Korean volunteers learned about Filipino culture in the community and family values through their foster families and Filipino counterparts. Moreover, both volunteers learned to challenge themselves to go beyond comfort and difficult situations in order to achieve greater goals to help the striving communities.
"There is nothing like this program that heals people's mind. I was so healed through this Poomashi program, I felt like I was away from the real life. Now, even though I'm back to the real life, I feel different. I feel changed. I think I can heal other people just like the way I was healed through this program,” shares Jin Ree Jeon, an English Language student from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Korea.
The 2nd Global Poomashi in the Philippines is co-organized by GPYC Philippines and GPYC Korea in partnership with Global Peace Foundation, Province of Nueva Ecija through the leadership of Governor Aurelio Umali, Local Governments of Rizal and Llanera in Nueva Ecija, Nueva Ecija Provincial Youth Development Council, Bayanihan Youth for Peace, and, SM Cares Youth and Children’s Welfare Program who also donated 140 eco-bags for the project.