Day 01 (Tuesday)

Before I entered the place, I felt excited yet anxious to be

able to serve them and care for them. I really want this
experience to have a feeling of wholeness and life changing.
Indeed, it is. It’s only the first day and I’ve got a lot to say.
A lot of opinions about their situation, services and etc. When I
got in the centre, I panicked a little bit. I believe it’s not my
fault for feeling that way though, my mind wasn’t able to grasp
the idea of their state of living, of the place and of the
services. But I felt okay right after I introduced myself to the
clients
The social worker gave us a quick briefing of what we’re
supposed to do. She explained the 4 activities (chores) that we
will be doing every day and rotate. She continued on by giving us
a quick tour and what really struck me is the lack of facilities
and guidance to these poor people. The place was small for that
population living there and the hallways are dark (considering
the client’s psychological condition). Small rooms, small dining
rooms, lack of workers, unhygienic and yes, there’s a morgue
literally beside the centre, wall to wall. It somehow feels like
a maze. The isolation room, was something. It made me question if
it’s really good for them, psychologically. I asked the worker
who gave us a tour about the isolated patient and why were the
hallways dark. She answered with the reason that the client was
aggressive so they have to lock them up to calm them down, but
didn’t answer my question why the hallways were dark. The worker
continued on touring us and she showed us where the water pipe
is. And I was shock with the amazement of how untidy and poor the
situation was. The floor is muddy, where the patients bathe and
wash. It was a mess over a mess over a mess. I really, truly feel
sorry. I’ve got all these things about me, of how lucky I am to
even have a family.

Day 02 (Wednesday)
I learned a lot of things about them. Once so dark and
pitiful, now so bright and fun. There are a lot of misconceptions
about them, and every single one I’ve believed on was a sugar-
coated lie. It’s fine though, it didn’t really bother me. In
fact, it made me appreciate more and care more for them. I am
still upset about their living situation, but despite that, they
still manage to put a smile. In the morning we got the chance to
talk with the elderlies. I and my partner were called out to help
in the kitchen and there I experienced a feast. We cooked 16 cups
of rice and served soup for hands. Spoons and forks weren’t
allowed for them to use. With the lack of resources it was hard,
but thankfully a house-parent was there to help. While cooking,
some of them were having fun colouring at the activity centre.
Some were dancing and some were singing. It truly was heart-
warming seeing everyone enjoying. During lunch, we help give out
medicines. And there I realized the isolation room isn’t bad as
it sounds. It’s meant for the misbehaving ones. In the afternoon,
the clients were singing and dancing. It’s was a good place to
be. I grew to feel for them. Truly, they’ve craved a mark in my
heart already.

Day 03 (Thursday)
I am so tired. Emotionally overwhelming. It’s the first time I’ve
ever felt towards this whole immersion journey. It’s like I never
want to come back again. It made me feel like I was enclosed by
the area. I needed to breath away from that area. As much as I
want to serve and help them, the centre had too much going on and
I don’t know what it is. In the morning, I lead a fun sing and
dance bible songs. Then we had morning exercise. A fun “zumba”
for everyone. After that, we shared a story about a man named
Raga who turned into a rat. Lastly, we made them colour. It still
makes me smile seeing them having fun. During the break, we went
out of the centre and gave ourselves a treat. We needed it. We
needed a break outside the centre. The day was extra hot and it
made me feel uneasy. I wanted to go home badly, but I needed to
get through the day.

Day 04 (Friday)
When we all gathered in the morning, I wasn’t feeling well. In
the morning we did the same activities. Bible songs, exercise and
colouring. During our break, something beautiful happened. One of
the clients in the centre was lost and now her family has found
her and tried to bring her home. One of her sons tried to talk to
her to see if she could remember them. Then she screams out his
name and cried with tears of joy. Truly, at that very moment it
made me appreciate the people around me. My friends, my family
and my loved ones. It was one of the most beautiful thing I’ve
ever experience. In the afternoon, we had a group therapy with a
psychiatrist. We shared our experiences throughout this week and
how we felt about it. We made joke and laughed about the funniest
moments. It made up feel whole, it made us closer to one another
despite our differences. It was a great way to end the day. It
made me appreciate moments and value time even more. It also made
me appreciate to seriously take good care of our mental health.
Not just physically, but also mentally.

Day 05 (Monday)
This day started off like the usual. Singing and dancing to bible
songs, story-telling and colouring. It was quick and enjoyable.
We were divided into two groups. 4 out of 9 of us should escort
some of the elderlies to the hospital while the remaining 5
should stay at the centre and present some activities. One of the
five students who remained for the activities is absent so that
left 4 students to handle. I was one of the 4. There was a little
bit drama between the divisions of groups, but it didn’t bother
me. I was all chill for the day. I volunteered to help in the
kitchen. I sliced onions, garlic and opened sardine cans for
lunch. While stirring the boiling sardines mixed with veggies, I
had a little chat with one of the house-parent. She told me that
the budget giving to them wasn’t really enough. Sometimes, she
would use her own pocket money to buy food for the day. “It is
tough and super hard, but if you have a heart for it then all
your hard work and sacrifices is worth nothing compared to seeing
smiles on their faces”, she said. It’s true; sometimes putting
those who are in need first than yourself is very self-
fulfilling. During lunch, we used up our time to plan about the
culminating event this Friday. We brainstormed and made a list to
have an idea of what’s going to happen this Friday.

Day 06 (Home-Tuesday)
I didn’t come in today, but I decided to still write. My mother
didn’t want me out of her sight. I can tell she’s worried. I hate
that. I hate this. I don’t want her to feeling worry or angry or
sad, because of me. I’ve caused her enough. I know she’s tired,
but she kept putting on that worn out mask every day. I didn’t
know what to do to make her feel better, so I stayed by her (plus
I really scared being alone). Everything still played on my mind
like a worn out CD. But I kept myself busy. My classmates told me
that the solicitation plan was cancelled, because we weren’t
allowed to. I remember asking them about plan B of plan A in case
if the solicitation in plan a wouldn’t work but no one answered,
so that’s why I got a little bit annoyed. But I played in calmly
and told them I would check the prices in Cogon to come up with a
budget plan. I went to Unitop and ended up buying the gifts. It’s
was fine, I had the group’s confirmation anyways, sort of. I
wonder what my group members have been doing back there at the
centre. I hope nothing happened to them. I hope everything’s
fine. Having the thought of going in duty tomorrow made me feel
anxious, but I have to feel brave and to come up with a plan to
always stay in open areas to avoid any unwanted situations again.
I know I’ll be fine. I know I will be.

Day 07 (Wednesday)
Back again in the centre with my classmates. “Every day feels
like the first day”, even my classmate would agree to that
statement. We never really know what the day hold working in the
centre. One thing for sure though, to put a smile on their face.
In the morning, we were informed that 4 of us needs to
accommodate the elderly to the hospital for their “party”. There
was a programme going on hosted by a woman from Manila. She tells
a story of her father being sick with cancer. She continues on
saying that her experiences really motivated her to help people
who are less fortunate. So she made a foundation, traveling
centres in the Philippines, feeding lost children and abandoned
elderlies. It’s a heart-warming moment for me. Despite the few
tears that was shed from the speaker, the elderlies really had a
fun time dancing and singing. They also received gifts and food
for lunch. The atmosphere was full of happiness and everyone was
having a good time. In the middle of the programme, there was a
part were we had to take one of the elderlies to the CBC room in
the hospital to take some blood for check-up. So we quick take
her there. When we finished doing that, we were asked to come
back to the centre and help do some activities there. Back at the
centre, the differently abled clients were colouring. There was
music and chill for fun. In the afternoon, some of the
psychiatric nurses came in to visit. Psychosocial expert Miss
Jamie tried to have a little chat with us about the centre. She
introduced herself to us and thanked us for our kind gesture of
service here in RCE. She also wanted to get our suggestion about
improving RCE and clarifications. She told us the emotional
atmosphere of the clients here in RCE have gone a little bit
better ever since we came here. Our daily activities, such as
drawings and dancing really help them in expressing themselves
better. After the 3pm prayer, psychosocial expert Miss Jamie
prepared an activity for the clients. They danced, sang and had a
little chat. It really kept me thinking much work they do just to
help these people. The amount of respect I have them as a social
worker. These clients are not easy to handle I tell you, but
somehow there are still people who are willing to help the less
fortunate and I think that’s what makes them beautiful.

Day 08 (Thursday)
The last proper day of immersion in the centre. We received
enormous amount of help and donation from people around us. Kind
of makes me want to thank God for I am surrounded with people who
have big hearts to help the less fortunate. As we start our
activity for the day, we couldn’t quite get it right. There was a
certain strong smell coming from the morgue. I couldn’t bare the
drug smell that was used on dead bodies not to rot. So we ended
up not doing any activities for a while, until Sir Fabello from
the CSWD department showed up to talk to us. He wanted us to talk
to him, sharing our learned experiences during our duty here in
Residence Care for Elderly and Differently Abled (RCE). We told
him how we deeply appreciate the opportunity that is given to us
to experience such things that we never expected we would
experience. After the talk, we continued on giving some
activities to the clients. Had a little bit of a story-telling
and colouring. After all that, we had our lunch break. In the
afternoon, we decided to have a picture taking. We called out all
the clients to form a group on the stage. We had a little bit of
a help from the house-parents. It felt like we were indeed a
family. Big smiles were shown off and everybody was laughing and
smiling. I’m surely going to miss them, like a lot.

Day 09 (Friday)
Culminating day. Today is the day were we finally say our last
goodbyes. I enjoy being here. I enjoy serving them. I enjoying
giving out activities, laughing and smiling with them. But
instead of moping around about how this is going to be the last,
I tried to put on a show for them. In the morning, we all gather
around our room in the centre, preparing for the main event.
During the event, they were having games and singing and dancing
and you could feel that everyone was on a good mood, having the
time of their lives. Big smiles were all around. We gave out
lunch and juices. In the afternoon, we took the time in going to
the market for our gift-giving. We bought some, cups, towels,
bags, and lots of other things. We couldn’t have bought any of
these stuff if it weren’t of our donators. Big thanks to them and
much love from the RCE family. We went back with our goods. We
had a little laugh here and there, but deep down we know we were
trying to prolong the day just for the last time. Even though we
had hard times here. We had fights here and sometimes we even
have to get out of the centre just to breathe, the feeling will
surely be missed. We gave out a little speech and said our
goodbyes as we held out our gifts to them. For the last time, we
laughed together, we smiled and called out names. It was
bittersweet and everyone was emotional. The people here are truly
genuine. It must be true that the damaged and forgotten are the
ones who are very lovable and kind and genuine. It made me think
that people like them are people outside of the world. The world
is too much and chaotic and the feeling of to be able to make
them forget for a while is just incredible. I left the centre
with awe, “what an amazing experience”. Looking, I’d say I would
definitely do it all over again.