By: Vicente Ignatius Mate IV
First Year psychology students seen interacting with young kids from the partner community. Photo courtesy of Allen Velasquez of The LANCE.
Children from Intramuros attended the “Halikain Tayo!” project, a Nutrition and Hygiene Seminar on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at the Colegio’s Del Pillar Hall.
1st-year students from the Psychology program organized the event, in partnership with Tulong Kabataan South-Manila. It was implemented as one of the students’ final requirements for the National Service Training Program or NSTP.
NSTP instructor Arnel Galgo states in an interview with the LANCE that bringing back the face-to-face learning modality also brings back the essence of the NSTP program.
“…We are now going back to the original spirit of NSTP which is ENGAGEMENT - it’s a core responsibility as (a) catholic educational institution which is LETRAN. Hindi ka lang magaling sa academics kung’di pati rin sa community engagement, especially with the marginalized community,” says the instructor.
The program consisted of activities and seminars from the students. The seminars were divided into two parts. The first part was entitled “Go, Grow, and Glow”, given by Cassandra Hernandez, while the second part was a Hygiene Talk, given by Lian Labrador.
Tulong Kabataan South-Manila district coordinator Kodi Nicole Cabacang shares they chose to partner with the Letranites to help the children from Intramuros as a way for promoting their advocacy and their organization.
“We took the opportunity to introduce Tulong Kabataan South-Manila to the public and to continue our advocacy which is to help and inspire our fellow Kabataan,” said Cabacang. “These types of activities not only inspire but also help us recognize the problem and how we could address it,” she adds, addressing the importance of these types of projects.
The program ended with a feeding program for the children in attendance.