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world. And no one did it alone. Every
volunteer worked with the people in
the communities, many of whom were
volunteers themselves. There were
other organizations involved on the
ground, too. Most importantly, there
are all these people who continue to
do the work after the volunteers have
gone home.
The world is still broken in many
places, and there is a great amount
of work that remains to be done. And
yes, sometimes it feels overwhelming
to consider how much of the world
needs to be put right, and how small
and insignificant your own contribution
must seem. In South America, I was
taught the Creolese saying
“
Dutty by
dutty, build dam” —
dams are built by
handfuls of soil. Everywhere we went,
I kept hearing this, phrased differently
perhaps, or in other languages, but the
idea was always the same. This is how
we fix the world: little by little, by doing
our own part and coming together.
To find out more about VSO, or
how to become a volunteer, visit
respected) priority seats for PWDs,
but the primetime news broadcasts
also had sign language translation.
And, in Bogo, we also got to ride
along as PWDs were given free
door-to-door rides to the municipal
halls to register for the upcoming
elections.
In Samar, we spoke to men who
used to make their living illegally
as loggers. Now they were trained
forest rangers and eco-tourism
guides taking care of the Carood
watershed and running a popular
torpedo boat attraction that is
bringing new revenue to the remote
communities.
In Bulacan, there are youth
volunteers working with the local
government units to help bring
down the teen pregnancy rates in
the communities, aiming to give
young women a fair shot at life. In
Marawi, we listened to fishermen
who are still able to practise the
sustainable fishing methods left by
the last volunteer who lived and
worked with them on the shores of
Lake Lanao.
It would be a more captivating
story, perhaps, if there were a hero
in each one of these stories. But
the reality is richer, more complex
and far more inspiring. The VSO
volunteers who were sent into these
communities are not merely heroes:
they were people who just wanted
to be fully fledged global citizens,
lending his or her skills to one of the
many tasks needed to build a fairer
M A K I N G A D I F F E R E N C E
Top to bottom: A
seaweed-drying
project in Cogtong
Bay, Candijay,
Bohol; boys in Lake
Lanao learn to fish
and row their own
boats at an early
age; another day at
work in the lake
