A
lmost every weekend
now, I am conquering
mountains to go to a far-flung area
in Miagao, Iloilo to help a community. Me and my fellow Changemakers at Catalyst, a non-profit
youth organization that promotes
youth empowerment, would go to
a community to asses them and
make a plan of action to help them
if they are in need. We hike at most
three hours on a steep, slippery,
and rocky mountain just to get
there, sometimes relying only on
our instincts in which way to go
inside the forest because we don’t
have someone to guide us. You
might be thinking now that what I
do is dangerous, risky, and let’s be
honest, sounds fun. I am not going
to deny it because yes, it is a mix
of all that, plus the back, leg, and
body aches after. Then why do it
Gladys? You might ask. I have a
simple answer for you. This is my
passion.
My Inspiration
I owed this passion of mine
to my great influencers of all time,
my parents. My mom is a dedicated legislator at our town for nine
years and my father, although not
a politician but helped people in
his own ways when he was still
alive, giving free electric meters to
people as he was an employee in
an electric company. Both of them
are into helping people, valuing
others first than their selves. They
are the people who taught me to
be kind to others and to selflessly
help those who are in need. For
some reason, they always knew
that I had this in me and I’m grateful for them in supporting me.
True Calling
I started my volunteer
work back when I was in high
school. Those times, I’ve never
realized the essence of humanitarian work yet. All I know is that
I started to work with my fellow
youth for a church organization.
I was elected president for our
org. What’s amazing about those
times though was that we advocated equality in religion so we’ve
invited different youths of different religion to come together on
a youth camp. I will never forget
that camp. That’s when I know
that I am capable to do something
good and special for others and
that made me realized about my
true calling.
“
It’s not just
what you do
for a living that
defines who you
are. Sometzimes,
it’s what you do
in your spare
time that does
”
Keeping The Passion
Burning
Today, I still continue my
dedication to help others as the
Director of Operations at Catalyst.
We only started last year but we
did leadership workshops to nine
communities already including
a summer youth camp for all the
kids of far-flung communities and
urban slums that we’ve visited. As
a humanitarian worker especially
for the youth, I can always relate
to their desire and hunger for opportunity as I was one of them.
Growing up in a mountainous area
where opportunity is deprived, I
was looking for someone that will
help me before, to inspire me to
reach my dreams. Unfortunately,
no one showed up. It was me who
do the initiative for my own. Now
as I look back, I realized that the
one I was looking for was never
destined to meet me back then because it was actually me today.
Regardless of