turning your back from a friend is a hard thing to do

Really, it was a hard thing to do. I was forcing myself to do it, as I said goodbye to Haruna, Bebe and Yuri tonight, and walked to the jeepney terminal to get home. It's been a year since I first met them and it has been a fruitful one. Within one year, we laughed with corny jokes, pondered hard on how to deal with planning of one-day-study tour, cried over lost money of fair trade goods and shared tired moments after a hard day's volunteer work.

Here are some of memorable moments I shared with them: 「それはなつかしいです」。It brings me nostalgia.

[VOA Meeting, sometime in August (?), Farewell Party for Shino maybe.
Every VOA meeting is a memorable experience - full of laughters and sincerity, at the same time.]

[with GET members Yuko, Uzu and Yuho. Bebechan was interpreter.
We interviewed two students from Ateneo about their views on poverty and Smoky Mountain.]

[at Manila Ocean Park. Happy times ♪♪♪]

[Summer Camp with SSDN-Youth and FIT members. w/ Bebechan]

[Tribute to Youth (Dec. 4, 2010) was product of everyone's hardwork. Photo by Nino Bayan]



[at Banaue with native Ifugaos, December 2011. 

In Banaue, we walked for ~2 hours just to get to the Spring. Happy memories. ♪♪♪
Photo by Nino Bayan]

[First ever VOA Meeting. June 2010] 

Probably, the sadness comes from saying goodbye to people of my age. It was easy to talk to them since our interests mesh. It was easy to feel comfortable and it was easy to be friends. That's why, it's so hard to let go. But then again, maybe the sadness comes from the fear that I may never see them again. But I keep reminding myself that it's not true. We all have the same goal and that is "to help build a better world and to help impoverished people". I believe that because of this goal, we WILL see each other again.

As volunteers, I learned many things from them. Being with them made me regret that I didn't maximize my college life to get to know more about NGOs. Through them, I learned that people don't need to have a degree on Social Work nor Community Development to help other people. What's important is the passion and commitment to "do something" as well as the interest to study more about what's happening with the world. Probably, there are only a few people in the world who naturally has these characteristics that's why I'm glad I was able to meet 3 of these kind of people in my life. They are my inspirations, and they are my idols and I'll keep working with ACCESS to meet more people like them. 

[Last picture near Cubao Office, before saying goodbye.]

 

べべちゃん、ゆりちゃん、はるなちゃん、

日本で、いつもきをつけて。げんきだね。

また会う日まで。ークリン