Facing the Facts: Community Social Issues

The photo is taken from the facebook page 'Marikeno'

We, Maria Josefina Mariano and Allysa Flores have been studying in St.Scholastica's Academy for a few years now. Since then, we have already been part of the community where our school is located which is in Marikina Heights, Marikina City. We spent most of our time within the vicinity. If we were to describe the barangay, it is not as big as Concepcion, Barangka, and all the other barangays in Marikina. Moreover, some schools are located within and this coming 2018, Malls will also be built. Regardless of how big the barangay is, the local government of Marikina Heights still sustain the needs of the people. They offer range of programs and services for the people, thus they guarantee that the people will be able to receive these.

Recently, we reached out to the barangay officials of Marikina Heights to find out what social problems commonly arise in the community and whether it is necessary that social workers step in to help alleviate these problems.

 The barangay is very worried about the prevalence of dengue infections and the officials have proposed a program that educates the community on dengue prevention and awareness. 

The officials also wish for more gender awareness program training. This program requires social worker because the will be working mostly with women from marginalized communities and part of the worker clientele are displaced, divorced, and pregnant women. 

The barangay wishes to start program training for more fire drills 

as well as more barangay-wide earthquake preparation drill, a necessity of living in Marikina since we are well above the Marikina Fault line. 

The barangay also wishes for a better relief goods distribution system or program during calamities. 

To conclude, these programs and services they want to offer are basically the needs of all people living within the area of Marikina Heights, this would be a achieve with the support and help our the local government. The participation of residents is also needed because to know if the programs or services they offer is effective or not. Moreover, we hope that proposed programs will be done and achieved to fully serve the residents with the certain needs and assistance. 

Life Made Bearable: The Social Worker Difference

                  "The greatest cruelty is our casual blindness to the despair of others" - anonymous

Lord knows that the world isn't perfect. It's riddled with imperfection, disease and hate. It's always been a wonder how we can survive all this. People try to cope though. There are those privileged enough who can build walls and bar the grim world from their moneyed, comfortable life. Others aren't so lucky and are right in the thick of things. Not everyone's lucky enough to find comfort in the arms of family and friends, to never doubt whether one is going to eat for the day, or to never question whether the justice system will serve you. This is, sadly, the reality of the world. The other grim reality is that we can sit idly by. A horrific picture of the world we live in, I know, but there is hope for it yet. There are still some rare individuals (bless them) who try to make the world a bit better. 

You've probably heard of the saying "not all heroes wear capes", which is quite true. Everyday heroes don't wear flashy costumes or draw a lot of attention to themselves. More often than not, these heroes go un-thanked and unnoticed, such is the nature of humanity. Luckily, this doesn't prevent these individuals from going the extra mile. You're probably thinking of "heroes" such as doctors, the ones who try to save lives with their medical expertise, or maybe you're thinking of policemen, the ones who patrol the streets and keep in line those who seek trouble. However, there are those whose work are less recognized as these. The ones I'm talking about don't own as much as doctors or see as much action as policemen, but their presence still makes a big impact on the lives of the less fortunate. The ones I'm talking about aim to promote social justice through active community interaction and participation. They are called social workers.

 Social workers aren't all that well understood. When we hear the word social worker we mostly think:

“They give out donations to the homeless, marginalized groups, and the victims of calamities”

“ They are involved in charity and support groups”

“They do feeding programs”

While these are true, these barely scratch the surface of the true nature of social work.

Social workers work within the legal system in order to assist and protect vulnerable people, like orphans, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities. They usually gain their clients from referrals from other people and then they regularly check up on these vulnerable people in order to assess their needs. This may seem like a lot of work but social workers also work with other professionals, such as counselors, non-government organizations (NGOs), and mental health professionals. Together, social workers make the significant difference in people's lives by doing the best they can to meet their needs.

Social workers have a range of different possible clients. Like mentioned before, these clients are mostly vulnerable people. These can include the aforementioned orphans, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities as well as people in marginalized communities and troubled youth. However, most social workers tend to specialize in only a certain type of clients and as a result, social workers work in different settings. Social workers can work in schools, where they can consult and make needs assessments based on the school's population of vulnerable students. Social workers can also work in prisons so that they can assure that inmates either don't abuse or don't get abused within the prison's legal system. Social workers can also work at homes for the aged so that they can assure that the peoples' needs are met and understood during their stay there. Social workers can also choose to work for the government, for the community, or for private sector clients.

Since social workers work very closely with other people, they need to possess certain skills, competencies, and qualities in order to properly deal with other people and their situations. Social workers must have interpersonal skills and patience because they often do a lot of interacting and communicating with clients. Social workers must also possess integrity and a sense of social justice for these will serve as the drive for them to continue their work. These competencies aren't enough, however, for one can only become a social worker once they pass the social worker board exam. I myself was surprised to learn that social workers require board exams but I suppose if you hold the lives of others in your hands, you need certain safeguards. The social worker code of ethics also serves as a safeguard in order to assure that social workers do their jobs right and just. The social worker code of ethics cover areas such as professionalism, privacy, and respect for human dignity. You might think that people who willingly undertake a job taking care of others, they'd be more responsible, but there have been many cases of social workers who violate the code of ethics in ignorance, besmirching the social worker name. That is why the code of ethics exist in order to prevent any more of these situations from arising.

The HUMSS students of St.Scholastica’s Marikina visited public and private organizations that includes the field of social work. . .

 One of which is St. Maria De Mattias Center,  a non-governmental organization was founded by some sisters and was a run by them. The center believes that the values instilled to their clients will make them develop as a person. Also, the center do not provide the clients with everything they need but they also have requirements to be considered as a client. They will check whether that child is worthy of the center’s programs.

 St. Maria De Mattias is a center that provides education to children ages 7-17, they pay for the children’s tuition fee, the feed them everyday and activities such as tutoring and values formation. Not only that, they also give activities to the parents, such as planting and also values formation. Since the center is a private organization, they just depend on personal donations from the people.

The students met kuya Jonathan, a social worker who helps in the center. He mentioned that being a social worker needs both responsibility and passion, it doesn’t matter if the salary is low or not working on an office type of room. What matters the most is being able to help the children and to see them grow to reach their future.

The other sections visited the Marikina Youth Home which is located in Marikina City,

unlike St. Maria De Mattias, this center is a public organization under the local government.

The center are looking after the juvenile children ages 15-18. They offer programs and services such as bible study, team building which is sometimes held at Marikina Sports Center wherein they let the children play sports activites, and also they let the children attend school; they separate the girls from the boys. The role of the social worker is to refer these children to other professionals which the clients need such as counseling and legal assistance. They also help facilitate rehabilitation services to the children. Also, they accept other organizations to conduct outreach programs to interact to the children.

As you can see, most of the centers mentioned focuses on the children's assistance but another group went to a nursing home for the elders.

Camillus Medhaven, a nursing home providing the welfare of the elderly. They provide services to the elderly who are abandoned and the clients pay for the accommodation they receive. This institution also provides long-term and full time care to the senior whose family can no longer give the attention to them. It is also a private care facility that offers different services such as giving them private caregivers, ward attendants and nurses. They give activities and medical support to their clients provided that they offer the needs required to each client.

These centers adhere to their saying "A home away from home" where everyone deserves to be part of a family.

Babala: Ang mga susunod na talata at pangungusap ay maaring makapagpagising sa inyo sa katatahanan.

Marahil marami ang nagtataka kung ano nga ba ang ginagawa ng mga estudyante na sakop ng Humanities and Social Science Strand. Ang Humanities and Social Science Strand ay naglalaman ng iba’t ibang mga specialized subjects, Philipine Politics at Creative Writing sa unang semester samantalang Disciplines in Social Sciences at Creative Non-Fiction naman ang para sa ikalawang semester. Ano-ano nga ba ang dahilan kung bakit importante ang Social Science at Humanities:

UNA, madami sa kabataan ngayon ang bored na bored sa mga asignatura na kinabibilangan ng World History, Philippine History, World Religions, and Social Sciences dahil paniguradong isang katambak na babasahin ang daraanan ng mga mata mo. Ngunit hindi ba’t kailangan mong malaman ang mga ganap noong nakaraan para maunawaan ang hinaharap at kasalukuyan. Ang gobyerno na kung saan tayo ay pinamumunuan, ikaw mismo na anak ng bayan ay dapat alamin ang mga plano at problemang ikinakaharap ng bansa. 

IKALAWA, ang mga HUMSS students ay may kakayahang mahulaan ang hinaharap. Nakakatuwa diba, may iilan sa inyo na iisipin na, `aba! Magagaling manghuhula pala ang hums students, sanay magpaikot at pagkatuwaan ang mga posible’ Nagkakamali kayo, dahil sa pagbabasa ng mga libro ginawa noong nakaraan mas nagkaroon kami (Kaming mga estudyante ng Humss) unawain ang pagkakamali at tagumpay ng mga malalakas na tao na tinitingala ngayon. Basa doon, basa dito, nerds nga kung itawag ng mga millennials. Yes we are nerds because you’ll nerd us after all. (Kidding but whole truth, what?)

IKATLO, ang pagsusulat ay naging daan upang kami ay makalikha ng mga bagong konsepto. Huwag na nating ikaila na ang pagsusulat ay isa sa pinaka inaayawan ng mga estudyante dahil kinakailangan ng malaliman pag-iisip. Kaya’t kaming mga humss students ay mas lalong nagkakaroon ng mas malawak na paguunawa at pag-intindi sa iba’t ibang perspektiba

IKAAPAT, maraming nag-aakala at iniisip na pag ikaw ay galing sa HUMSS Strand, mas marami kang kaalaman sa pagsusulat kagaya ng pagbuo ng tula, kanta, kwento, at mahahabang sanaysay. Mas nahahasa ang aming abilidad sa pagsusulat kung kaya’t kami ay nakakapagehersisyo na rin ng aming mga daliri dahil sa katerbang mga papel na aming pupunuin ng libo-libong mga salita. 

IKALIMA, ang bawat  estudyante ng HUMSS Strand ay may pangarap. Matatayog na pangarap na kahit ilang kritisismo pa ang aming matanggap hinding hindi bibitawan ang aming mga hangarin dahil kami ay may ambisyon. 

Aminin mo man o hindi isa ka rin sa milyon-milyong tao sa buong mundo na naghangad ng isang propesyon na kinabibilangan ng Humanities and Social Sciences. Iilan lang ang mga ito sa propesyon na posible mong tahakin pag ika'y parte ng HUMSS Strands; 

1. Psychologist

Eto yung mga taong kadalasang napipintasan na mga psychic dahil ang kadalasang tanong sa kanila ay "Nababasa mo ang naiisip ko ngayon?" Ang psychology ay isang pag-aaral sa pag-uugali at pag-iisip. Paniguradong sumagi na rin sa inyong isipan kung bakit ganito o ganyan ang galaw ng bawat indibidwal, kung paano sila maki-angkop sa mga tao sa paligid at ano nga ba ang galaw at tinatakbo ng kanilang pag-iisip. Masayang maging isang Pyschologist hindi ba?

2. Sociologist

Hindi ito masyadong kilalang propesyon ngunit kapag nalaman niyo baka pati ang buong klase maging interesado. Ang isang sociology ay isang pag-aaral kung paano nakikisalamuha at nakikiagkop ang mga tao sa kanilang komunidad. Kung ano ang reaksyon nila, klase ng pamumuhay, at iba pa. Ang isang sociologist ay kadalasang lumilibot sa iba't ibang parte ng mundo o bansa upang makita ang  social behaviour ng isang lugar.

At ang panghuli,

3. Abogado

Ni minsan ba ginusto mong ipaglaban ka o ipaglaban mo ang taong mahal mo? Pwes, ang pagiging abogado nga ang propesyong nakalaan para sayo. Ang isang abogado ay ang makikipaglaban para sa karapatang pantao. Kahanga-hanga ang mga abogado dahil dumadaan sa isang mahabang proseso bago nila makamit ang propesyong hinahangad nila. Ang kadalasang tawag sa mga abogodo? Mga sinungaling dahil ipinaglalaban pa rin raw nila kahit alam nilang mali ang nasasakdal ngunit ang batas na ang magpapasya para doon at ang tanging magagawa ng ipaglaban ang karapatan ng kanilang kliyente. Ang saya maging abogado hindi ba? Ang maipaglaban at ipanalo ang karapatan ng iyong kliyente at mapanatili siyang inosente.
Huwag mo munang isipin ang iyong minamahal dahil ipaglaban mo man yan o hindi dahil kung mahal ka niya, maghihintay yan at siya na mismo at lalaban para sayo. Isipin mo muna ang mga tao sa iyong paligid, mayaman man o mahirap, kailangan nila ng mga taong magtatanggol sa kanila upang sila patuloy na mamuhay ng mapayapa. Ano gusto mo na rin bang maging abogado?

SALAMAT, SALAMAT SA MGA TAONG MAY MABABANG PAGTINGIN SA MGA ESTUDYANTE NG HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES STRAND. LALO NIYO PANG PINAGTIBAY ANG AMING SAMAHAN AT MAS LALO NINYONG BINIGYAN NG MOTIBASYON ANG BAWAT ISA SA AMIN. MARAMI TAO ANG NANIRA NGUNIT MARAMI RIN ANG BUMUO. HINDI KAMI MGA PERPEKTONG TAO NGUNIT KAMI RIN AY MAY PRINSIPYONG NA KAHIT MINSAN HINDI MATATAPAKAN NG IBA.

Sa mga kamag-aral ko sa HUMSS at para sa mga taong minamaliit ang aming kurso isang tula ang aking ginawa para inyong lahat:

Masakit na paratang

Inyong ipinarating

Mga salitang tumusok sa amin

Hindi namin pinansin 

Ngunit sa inakala ng iba kami'y masasaktan

Pasensya na, subalit hindi mga salita ang wawasak sa amin

'Tama na' sabi iba

'Tama nga' sinabi naman niya

 Tama na sa mga panghuhusga

Tama nga dahil hindi lang kami basta basta

Mga estudyante pilit bumabangon

Kami'y hinding hindi basta bastang malalamon 

Ang aming mga pangarap 

Ang siyang aming hinahangad 

Kaya't wag niyo nang harangaran 

Ang aming mga hangarin 

Patuloy kaming lilipad 

kaya't kami'y laging magsisipag

Sulong mga kapwa ko mag-aaral

Dahil tayo pa'y magbibigay aral

 Salamat sa mga sugat ng salita

Dahil kami'y hinding hindi masisira 

Hanggang dito na lang ang aking magpapaliwanag. Oo humss kami at patuloy naming ipagmamalaki iyon dahil yun ang magiging dahilan ng magtayog namin sa hinaharap. Nawa'y ngayon ay nakita niyo na ang mga dahilan kung bakit kami mahalaga. Maraming salamat!