The road less traveled
01/01/2009 16:45:00
A veteran development worker, Marilou Pantua-Juanito hopes to engage more Filipinos in VSO’s unique brand of service.
Choosing to go the less traveled path often leads to great heartbreak or indescribable rewards. Luckily for Marilou Pantua-Juanito, VSO Bahaginan executive director, it is the latter which she continues to reap.
“The growth of VSO Bahaginan has been phenomenal,” enthuses Pantua-Juanito. “Volunteerism is such a beautiful experience and I’m excited that more and more people are joining our cause and even more are learning the true value of volunteering.”
Pantua-Juanito has walked the walked, so to speak. As far back as the early 80s, she served in Occidental Mindoro as executive director and founder of the Mindoro Institute for Development for the empowerment of farmers at the grassroots level. It was through her work among poor Mindoro farmers that she first encountered a VSO volunteer, a British national teaching agricultural farm systems. She was surprised to realize that VSO volunteers were “skilled professionals”, something that distinguished the organization from the legions of others. Still, her own call to VSO would come at a much later date.
After a brief stint in Manila, Pantua-Juanito then devoted 11 years of her life helping rehabilitate Cambodia and its people by working for various NGOs as community development specialist. She recalls the effects of war, which she continually faced in her work, as devastating. Still reeling from the destruction left by the Khmer Rouge, many children were orphaned by parents who had been killed in a conflict that decimated an entire generation. At a later point, she worked as local capacity building adviser to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to build participation of villagers with local officials to develop their communities.
Like the communities she served, life for Pantua-Juanita and her family was very basic and humble. For baths, her family used basins outside their house like ordinary Cambodians. Birthdays were not celebrated—most people were unable to commemorate them. Yet her family learned that uncelebrated birthdays still held tremendous meaning. Now aged 17 and 12 years old, her kids still “don’t celebrate it [in the normal manner]” instead opting to donate for a particular community endeavor or outreach program on the day itself. In the Pantua-Juanito family, birthdays are about the person--not what he is to receive, but rather what he can give or share to others. She is of course exceptionally proud of her kids.
In 2001, Pantua-Juanito’s commitment to VSO finally began. Having devoted a good share of her life to Cambodia, she accepted the chance to return home as program manager for VSO South-South program in Manila. Pantua-Juanito was then the lone employee but as a firm believer in VSO’s mission of “sharing skills and changing lives”, she was determined to get VSO off the ground in the Philippines. Her hard work ended up paying off. When VSO Bahaginan moved from being a south-south program to an independent development agency, (it became an autonomous agency) she was appointed as its executive director. Starting off with just one person, the office has now grown to a staff of 17.
VSO is the only international development organization of its kind, which is committed to fighting global poverty and disadvantage via a wide range of volunteering development programs. It has over 1,500 professional volunteers in over 40 countries. Through VSO’s unique approach to international development, professional volunteers work hand-in-hand with local communities to make a difference at grassroots level.
VSO matches the right person with the right skills to the right place and the right program with each of its placements in various parts of the world.
While other charities have their own volunteering advocacies, VSO Bahaginan’s differs greatly because its volunteer assignments are tailored to the individual. Their Global Xchange Programme (GXP) is a short program that lasts for six months. Catering to students and the youth, it involves living in host communities in the Philippines and the United Kingdom for three months each in the given six month period. Meanwhile, the International Volunteer Sending program is for professionals who are willing to take a year or two off from their careers. Pre-departure training is given and includes an exercise that determines true willingness to leave behind loved ones for an extended period of time.
Initially, people think of volunteering as a way to give of themselves to various communities. But most volunteers end up coming away with so much more than what they initially brought in. They become intimately connected with the communities they serve and with strangers who eventually become close friends. Volunteers get a deeper perspective on life, gain insights into society and culture and discover a latent resilience in themselves.
“What we do here is brain gain, not brain drain,” says Pantua-Juanito. This is why VSO Bahaginan accepts volunteers from all professional fields except primary school teachers. “We have a shortage of teachers here in the Philippines, “ says Pantua-Juanito, “sending them out would be to our own disservice.”
The International Volunteer Sending program has had much success in the Philippines. So far, it has already sent over 400 volunteers to 34 developing countries on assignment in the areas of health, business, management, natural resources, education and livelihood development. VSO Bahaginan belongs to a prestigious group — along with the UN – as it is only one of two organizations in the country that sends volunteers abroad.
Despite being just over seven years old, VSO Bahaginan has a vast area of responsibility. It currently supports the National Volunteering programs of VSO in South East Asia, China, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu. It is also an active participant in Mindanao. VSO Bahaginan remains the only organization to send foreign volunteers to Mindanao for peace and development and interfaith dialogue. Finally, VSO Bahaginan also organizes programs to promote volunteering on a national level. Through forums and workshops conducted by returned volunteers, as well as a certificate course in volunteer management (Volunteer Program Development and Management or VPDM), VSO Bahaginan is working to make public service an integral part of Filipino lives.
Being known for bayanihan, Pantua-Juanito believes that Filipinos have a penchant for volunteerism, “We have the skills, not the money. This is considered Philippine’s development assistance to poor countries. Filipinos have the ability to empathize and adjust easily to others and to a situation. Filipino volunteers are more resourceful and are able to mobilize programs within communities.” But Pantua-Juanito feels that Filipino notions of volunteerism as being “tiga-linis, tiga-alaga, tiga-buhat, helping people cross the street, and other similar chores” are in need of updating. And that is exactly where VSO comes in.
As more and more Filipinos become advocates of genuine change, volunteerism awareness is on the rise. In fact, VSO Bahaginan is getting more inquiries about its volunteer programs. “I am positive that this will further pick up,” enthuses Pantua-Juanito. “Individuals, schools, organizations and corporations are beginning to reach out to us. “
As a living example of how volunteerism can change lives, Pantua-Juanito shares some of her greatest lessons from working in post-war Cambodia. She realizes that everyone is just a passerby in other people’s lives:
“The fact that we are passersby does not hinder us from contributing towards enabling a positive change in ourselves, in others and in society. Being somewhere for only a short while is reason all the more to forge paths out of poverty and disadvantage and towards empowerment.”
This continues to drive Pantua-Juanito at VSO Bahaginan, where she is committed to turning volunteerism into a well-traveled path for Filipinos from all walks of life.
