Personal: "Bahay Pangarap"

By far the most amazing experience ever! This community service program is a requirement for my Theology and Religious Education class. We had our service in the Archdiocese of Manila Ministry on Ecology Earthcare Services Resource Recovery Center where they segregate garbage collected from different schools like De La Salle College of Saint Benilde. The people who worked there were people who used to live in the streets because they ran away from their homes or they didn't get the jobs they were promised here in the city. 

That small space with the roof and walls in the picture above is their office and receiving area. We were asked to build a staff house for the people who worked there. A house that they didn't have in the streets. We were the first batch of students to build it and I thought it was going to be bad because we won't know what to do most of the time because we were not skilled enough.

My group was assigned to help with the roof so we were mostly inside the house-to-be. We helped carry all the plywood in the house. The guys fixed the lumber together to support the roof. Paula and I carried all the unwanted wood and other stuff out of the house! Yes, so much heavy lifting which I took advantage of. The other four girls were fixing the knotted wires.

During our lunch break, they dropped us off at a small restaurant and left us there for about 30 minutes. I didn't eat food from there though  because thanks to my groupmates they had food to share so I had that instead. Just bought water, read my book and put my head down. After the break, more people joined us in the house-to-be, it got crowded in that small space so it was impossible to do anything because most of the girls were just standing and watching. It was fun when we had to throw rocks at the useless glass though which was going to be the filling for the flooring. Best feeling ever! After a while I piled some of the hollow blocks with cement. That was my first time! 

I'm very thankful that my university gave us this chance to serve people who get the least attention and need the most help. Thanks for reading! I wish I can share everything with you but I can't put it all to words.