Three to four-year old children in Brgy. Poblacion, San Antonio, Quezon now have their new day care center through the assistance of DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS in 2013. Before, the barangay only rents a place to hold classes for day care students. Now, they have their own day care center to hone young minds and give them bright future.
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THE JOURNEY TO FULL TIME COMMUNITY SERVICE
For a housewife who had no interest in joining any barangay activities, it is ironic to see her now facilitating community projects in their municipality.
“Sa totoo lang, hindi ko talaga hilig sumali sa mga activities ng barangay. Nagsimula lang ako noong dumating ang Kalahi dahil naging interesado ako sa layunin nito. Hindi ko akalain na magvo-volunteer ako at ngayon, naging isang Municipal CEF (Community Empowerment Facilitator) pa,” said Maria Teresa Binavidez, 50, from Brgy. Poblacion in San Antonio, Quezon.
Kalahi-CIDSS or Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services is one of the poverty alleviation programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that aims to provide communities with access to basic social services while involving them in the planning and implementation of need-responsive projects identified by them.
Barangay Poblacion decided to implement a day care center sub-project because they only rent the place of their existing day care center. Although the owner lends it for free, the barangay needs to secure a permanent place in providing education for three to four-year old children.
Further, the residents wanted the day care center to be at the central part of the barangay so it could be easily accessed by everyone.
Enlightenment
At the start, Tessa admitted that the only clear thing to her was the program’s objective to improve the community’s condition. But she had a hard time understanding the process on how to make it happen.
“Tanong ako ng tanong kasi hindi ko talaga maintindihan kung paano kami makakapagsagawa ng isang proyekto. Nakailang activities at meetings na pero nalilito pa rin talaga ako. Hanggang sa nag-CVT (Community Volunteers Training) na kami at naging malinaw na sa akin ang takbo ng proseso,” Tessa humbly confessed.
The CVT is one of the project proposal development activities of Kalahi-CIDSS wherein volunteers were trained on how to budget their grant and estimate the number of construction materials needed for their project. The process of canvass and procurement of materials were also discussed to them.
During the CVT, Tessa realized how transparent Kalahi-CIDSS is.
“Dito ko naintindihan kung saan at paano ginagamit ng gobyerno ang pondo para sa barangay. At nang dahil sa Kalahi, nakita ko na nagagamit ang pondong ito sa tama. Kaya mas lalo akong natuwa sa programa,” Tessa delightfully said.
Tessa appreciated the program’s principles so much that she became disappointed with the little support it gets from some local officials. It was also hard for them volunteers to implement the project since the people that were supposedly leading the community were not participating.
It was then she realized that she needs to speak out.
“Hindi ko rin akalain na kakayanin kong magsalita sa harap ng sanggunian para sabihin ang mga sentimyento ko. Naging emosyonal ako noon. Bahala na kung kagalitan nila ako basta masabi ko lang sa kanila na hindi namin kakayanin kung kaming mga volunteers lang ang kikilos. Kailangan namin ng tulong at suporta nila,” Tessa shared.
She never knew that her words will affect the officials’ attitude towards the project.
“Laking gulat ko na unti-unti na silang tumutulong sa proyekto. Tinatanong nila kaming mga volunteers kung ano ang tulong na kailangan namin. Pati ‘yung ibang residente, mas marami na ang tumulong at naniwala sa Kalahi lalo na noong nakikita na nila ang construction ng day care center,” she added.
After five months of their collective hard work, the day care center was completed.
New found purpose
To date, the PhP660,000.00 day care center sub-project of Brgy. Poblacion accommodates a total of 23 day care students. It is located beside the barangay hall with classes held every day at 11:00 in the morning until 2:00 in the afternoon.
With its new location, parents can easily bring their children to the center compared to the old one.
On the other hand, the old day care center is still in operation for day care students residing near the area, by which 20 are currently enrolled.
As for Tessa, her skills and dedication were recognized as she was hired by the municipal office to be one of the CEFs for the upgraded KALAHI CIDSS-National Community Driven Development Program (NCDDP) in San Antonio.
The KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP is the expansion of operations of the previous Kalahi-CIDSS in a national scale. It still uses the community driven development approach which gives the power back to the people in the planning and implementation of their community projects. The municipality of San Antonio is yet again one of the target municipalities of the program.
As municipal CEF, Tessa is the counterpart of a DSWD-hired CEF in guiding the community volunteers all throughout the project implementation. She is assigned with four barangays – San Jose, Bagong Niing, Sampaga, and Niing – with proposed sub-projects of community center, two-classroom school building, and spillway rehabilitation.
With the new work and source of income, Tessa said that it helped increase her savings and provide the school needs of her two children still going to school.
“Hindi ko akalain na sa pagvo-volunteer ko ay mabibiyayaan pa ako ng trabaho ngayon. Bilang dating volunteer at ngayon na municipal CEF, masaya akong mai-share sa mga bagong volunteers and mga karanasan at natutunan ko sa Kalahi para sa ikagaganda ng komunidad,” Tessa shared with a smile.