Power of Goodness story The Price of Peace with the 2nd Regional Training for Peace and Justice
The Philippine team had the opportunity to conduct a Power of Goodness (PoG) event and then a training session with the participants during the 2nd Regional Training for Peace and Justice in July. We experienced the Power of Goodness together. Some participants experienced PoG for the first time, while others have experienced and facilitated PoG with different agendas and themes in their respective communities. Here are the reflections from some of the participants:
Hnaung, Myanmar: I am interested in talking and learning together with children. I have organized a couple of study sessions with my niece and nephew during the COVID pandemic crisis. I noticed some factors in the Power of Goodness session in Bahay SCAN, such as the girl who has sparkly eyes and her courage and intelligence, which is unique. She is taking care of her health by drinking water, eating vegetables, and having enough sleep. Some of the children were familiar with the Power of Goodness program and some of them were not and were too shy to talk in front of people. The PoG is a platform to communicate with children and an interesting program for learning something by listening to true stories. In my opinion, it is better to arrange the session more informally as it seems to set a more comfortable atmosphere for discussion as some of the children do not want to express their feelings or thoughts in front of adults. It might be that those children did not have a chance to talk or express their feelings among family members at home. Some of them do not want to read aloud the material as it was more like a classroom setting. I noticed that children enjoy themselves freely outside their classrooms. Playing games really helps them to learn new things. It was a good experience to participate in the session.
Eros, Philippines: Experiencing the Power of Goodness is amazing because we were not only reading a true-to-life story, but also we can relate to it in our everyday lives. It really affects my perspective of life and it makes me realize that I should cherish every moment I have in this world. It makes me more confident in sharing my experience or expressing my thoughts compared to how I was in the past.
Wiwit, Indonesia: It’s great to be able to participate in the Power of Goodness in Tagaytay, and to meet new friends and share experiences with them. I learned new things during my time experiencing the Power of Goodness such as new games, new songs, and activity agendas. I heard the story of one of my new friends, Jefferson. He is a good boy and he had a good voice. We sang together and this made us closer. I also enjoyed the agenda and theme we had and it helped us have deep discussions. I heard good stories from friends about applying peace in their lives. I learned the importance of working together with friends at school, and with family and also being able to take good care of oneself such as drinking enough water, sleeping well, playing, and studying. As I go back to my community in Pati, I will try this agenda with the children in Joglo.
It was a meaningful experience to share this peace initiative with the training participants. We were happy to know that they were excited to share what they learned as they return to their communities.