The world is round but our hearts are not, don’t you think?

Three years ago today, I started my first year of giving back to the elders of Amlan in Dumaguete, Philippines. I joined my friends from work and friends from Rotaract Club of Cebu. When I first heard about it, I thought why not?! I do not need to give a big amount of money (I did not have a lot of money anyway), I just had to help them out packing some stuff and putting them in bags. And what convinced me the most was that my friends were planning to go to a mountain resort and to roam around the city like tourists after we get done with the charity work. To me, it sounded like hitting two birds in one stone. I love traveling and seeing new places so why not.

This happened in February. The theme was “A Gran kind of Love”, Gran for grandparents, get it? Lol

The day before the event, we started our journey by taking a 4 hour bus ride to  south of Cebu to get to the port. When we got to the port, we took the ferry going to Dumaguete, it’s another island about an hour or so away from the port.

We stayed at an affordable hotel and shared the beds so that we could save some money. Later on that day, we went to the public market to purchase the items that we needed to fill the bags to giveaway.

We bought items that they can use on a daily like toothbrush, toothpaste, some rice, canned meat, soap, etc. After grocery shopping, we went back to our hotel to pack the individual bags, it was really great to see everyone working together. I could still remember us laughing and shouting and just having a great time while organizing the bags and making sure that we have everything we need for the next day.

                                                                                       We woke up early the next morning, showered and got dressed and everyone was so pumped and ready to do the event. We got to the venue and started putting up the stage, organizing the bags, getting the chairs and tables ready. 

 

At that time I was simply just going with the flow and having fun goofing around with my friends. It wasn’t tiring nor time consuming because there were many volunteers. To be honest, I did not take it seriously. A few minutes later, the elders came, and then it hit me. Only then that I realized that this was not a joke. That we were there to make those grannies happy.

We started the event with a prayer and introduction, followed by some fun games and lots of giveaways. We also served packed meals in a styrofoam containers to each of them and then at the end of the program, we gave each a bag full of goodies and this was the time when I almost cried. Some of them were crying and hugging and thanking us. I wanted to cry but I tried so hard not to. In my mind, I was doing this because I honestly just wanted to go to a new place with friends and do a little charity work but how come my heart is jumping with so much love and joy.

Seeing the smiles and tears of those old people who were  perfect strangers to me made me very emotional. They were filled with so much joy and appreciation with what little we have given them. How can they have so much gratitude? To us, it was not a big deal and we did not pull a lot of money out of our pockets and yet, they give so much love.

I realized that the saying, “it’s the thought that counts” is really true. Gratitude. Love. Kindness. They are free and it only takes a little effort to receive it. we ended that day with our hearts full of love and happiness. We went on with our day and continued with our planned events for ourselves.

That trip was my first year of giving back to the elders and I am so happy to say that I was able to go back the year after that. It’s amazing how a simple smile from a stranger makes your heart tingle. And appreciation is given even with how little we give. I wonder how come people with so little, have so much more to give? The world is round but our hearts are not, don’t you think?






Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you guys are having a great day!
xoxo jeramie