Joye Kallgren and Jim Allen sitting near the Pacific Ocean.
Jim: Because of P-Global, Joye and I traveled to Tacloban City, Philippines, to work for three weeks at their Department of Social Welfare and Development Office. Working here allowed us to do various development projects for the city, giving us experience in many areas. From housing relocation surveys and medical missions operated in the native language to feeding and finishing a center for street children, we stayed busy and gained an entirely new perspective on the world.
Providing a meal to a local neighborhood after a Catholic children's procession.
Joye: Another amazing side to this trip was the insight into Filipino lifestyle by living with an upper-lower class family. Because of this experience, we learned to appreciate simple luxuries like hot water and a toilet seat. We were, however, provided with two home-cooked meals a day and tasted many amazing and unusual dishes. Also, I had six darling children living in my home providing me with Waray-Waray (the native language) lessons whenever I wished. After three weeks, we had become part of the community and were renamed Ate Joye (older sister) and Kuya James (older brother) by all the children in our neighborhood, appropriately named Bliss.
Joye Kallgren goofing off with some young friends at the Bliss volunteer center.
Jim: We spent the majority of our work days completing a Street Children Development Center, which seeks to improve the lives of the street children while cleaning up the city. Because these children, most of whom are orphaned and unwanted, beg on the streets, most people in Tacloban think poorly of them. As we found out, whatever money the street children do receive, they spend on rugby, a shoe glue, which curbs their hunger but kills their brain cells in the process. The new Development Center hopes to take these children off the streets and provide them an education and a safe environment so that they can learn to be sustainable.
Jim Allen serves as a pharmacist at a medical mission.
As official workers for Tacloban City, we had to opportunity to meet and play with many of the street children. Though we were initially intimidated, it took but a few minutes before we realized how beautiful and innocent these children were. They would commonly imitate us and follow us around. One small boy even asked me to adopt him. Experiences like this are not forgettable. Now when I hear global poverty statistics, I think of these children instead of the numbers, and it all becomes much more real.
Joye: Since we have returned, we have continued to support the Street Children Development Center by trying to raise money and awareness. The strong personal connections that we made with so many people taught us much about the hard work of local Filipino volunteers to improve their community. Because of this, our hearts will remain forever tied to many of the issues/causes that we volunteered with, and we hope to continue to keep in touch and keep ourselves and others informed on the progress that is being made. Furthermore, both of us are looking forward to making new connections as we continue to seek out other global opportunities.
