Few months ago, the issue on Department of Education pampering public school teachers yielded different reactions. Some simply raised their eyebrows over it, some injudiciously criticized it via media, and some just kept mum about it. Weighing my stance from the three, I categorically consider myself to the latter who dealt with the issue in a rather more unusual way. Discreetly, I, together, with some previous colleagues, drew inspiration from it, and this is actually how we pamper ourselves, or how we are pampered so to speak.
The start of 2017 paved way for my team (specifically a group of teachers from both private and public schools) to extend our teaching mission beyond the corners of our everyday niche. Our platform is clear and simple- to reach out to those who are out of reach and to grant their simple wishes into reality. We communicate our idea of sharing and spreading love by conducting gift-giving programs to some identified orphanages and both rural and urban day-care communities within the Cordilleras. Bringing with us some of our classroom instructional materials, we take advantage of holidays for an approximately one-hour program where we pray, play, learn (through storytelling activities), and share things together with some children including their parents and teachers. What is more overwhelming in these engagements is the unwavering support (both financial and emotional) coming from friends, acquaintances, and youth volunteers. Indeed, there is still love in this world and (a voice tells me) there is more to surface around.
Well, what do we really get from these pampering activities outside our classroom? Surely, reaching out won’t make us any richer, but seeing the children’s faces ablaze with excitement and happiness every time we get to encounter them is more than enough to pamper other people and get pampered in return even after strenuous hours spent in school.
By Emilyn N. Floresca
