UNIK Seminar
4
Experiencing UNIK –
A Real Thomasian Eye-Opener
by Garred Matthew Damaso
The University of Santo Tomas – National Service Training Program (UST NSTP) has been very eager in opening the minds of Thomasians in public service and love of country. Its mission “to dedicate itself in the formation of young Thomasians to become a catalyst of social transformation towards empowered lives and better communities” pushes it to create more programs and events as students have their journey on their NSTP courses, waking up the nationalistic pride and social awareness in them regarding the different circumstances and problems that are taking place in the Philippines. In line with this, UST NSTP created a series of lectures, seminars, and inspiring stories of challenges and opportunities talking about the different aspects of the Philippine society to gain insights and expand the Thomasian students’ knowledge regarding the various conditions of the community that can help built, empower, and strengthen it and its people.
This series of lectures, seminars and inspiring stories is the first one to be facilitated by UST NSTP, and was named UNIK – UST NSTP Ibang Klase. As what its poster says, it is “A DIFFERENT CLASS that will engage and prepare students in their community work for the next semester. This aims to place Thomasians into ANOTHER LEVEL of meaningful community involvement and nation building so that they will exemplify DISTINCT Thomasian values and social impacts that will set them apart because Thomasians are UNIQUE.” It will help Thomasians realize the answers to the questions “Why do you do what you do?”, ”How do you do it?”, and “How can I be part of the solution?”
The seminar took place on three different dates: August 25, September 1, and September 8 of the year 2013, with each having different speakers at the Medicine Cinematorium inside the St. Martin de Porres Building. Each date also corresponds to different topics. NSTP LTS and CWTS sections were distributed among the three dates. Our team, Garred and the Chipmunks, which is from L-SCI-1, were assigned to attend the September 1 seminar.
As what usual programs contain, the seminar started with a prayer, opening remarks, some introduction and ice breakers by the hosts and an introduction of the first speaker. The first speaker is a representative from the World Food Programme (WFP), the food assistance branch of the United Nations (UN). WFP is the only voluntary agency of UN when it comes to budget, meaning, the branch does not secure money from the UN Headquarters; rather, the members raise funds from their own money and from other people. The speaker talked about Hunger, its present situation in the world, the projects being implemented by UN, and some points on how we can help lessen it. Some of the projects that she talked about were the School Feeding Programs, Food for Training (FFT), Food for Work (FFW), and KC’s closet (through the help of the actress KC Concepcion).
She also gave the Emergency Response to Typhoon-Affected Population that is being used by WFP. These are food assistance, logistics support, non-food items, and livelihood support. She also gave some points on how students can help lessen poverty. First, eat right and finish your food. A lot of people are suffering from hunger everyday; hence, we should not waste food. Second, be informed and involved. Awareness is important but we should also do an action to be involved. If we already know that something bad is happening, we should do