Written by Board Member, Ren dela Cruz
One of the great trends we’ve been experiencing especially these days is how young some of our U! Happy events volunteers are. It is so delightful to see teenagers spearheading events, and parents choosing to celebrate their children’s baptismal or birthday with children in need. Events like these are a great avenue for the youth, and the kids, to be aware at an early age that there is much we can do to help the world, and that we can be part of something bigger than ourselves.
Last August 27, we had the privilege to stage an event with not just one or two kid volunteers, but over 30 of them! Domu Schola International School reached out to U! Happy events, and asked to do an Acting Workshop to benefit Jesus Loves the Little Children Foundation in Pasig. We began the morning’s event with Kuya Harvard grouping the kids and assigning a teacher to facilitate the introductions. It was such a heartwarming sight seeing the kids of Jesus Loves interacting with the little volunteers, who were just the same age as them!
Before the Workshop proper, we first had a game to get the children bonded and excited. We played ‘Count me if you can’, and educational game wherein the kids would answer math questions on addition and subtraction. The catch? Instead of writing or voicing out their answers, the kids would represent the answer themselves by standing up with cones on their heads. 2 + 2 meant four kids from the group needed to stand up and wear cones. It was a really fun time as we added a little dancing to encourage the kids to participate.
After a whirlwind game, the Acting Workshop led by Kuya Rich commenced. To ease away their shyness, Kuya Rich began with asking them to practice facial expressions–rolling the eyes, looking shocked, pretending to be blowing balloons, and a lot more. It was pretty evident the kids were starting to get comfortable with acting, so he then asked them to sing and dance with goofy moves, which got the kids giggling with laughter. Last, we had a contest for best ‘group acting’. The kids were tasked to portray scene such as being in school, going to church, and various others. It was a great way to boost the kids’ creativity and imagination as well, having to think of unique ways to act out seemingly usual scenes.
After all the action-packed activities, we proceeded to lunch time and handed everyone their meals, giving them more time to bond with each other. To cap off the event we took a group photo, capturing an awesome morning filled with much love and joy. We look forward to partnering with more schools just as Domu Schola did, teaching their kids the value of volunteerism and reaching out to those in need!
