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Bilibid Wants You!

August 4, 2006

You read that right. The Philippine Jesuit Prison Service is in need of volunteers who will either help in administrative work or do market research or teach general psychology and the likes to maximum prison inmates of Bilibid prison. I have come to know of this project when I saw a full page ad of my former Psychology professor in Ateneo, Sandy Ebrada, in Good Housekeeping magazine two years ago. I’ve been wanting to volunteer since then but it was only last Sunday that this desire of mine is starting to come true. We went to Sandy’s house for potluck lunch. After ten long years, we finally meet again! Even my Filipino professor, Marco Lopez, was part of the group. I got so excited! I’ll be working with brilliant people and I could somehow get out of my shell and make a difference (even a small one) in other people’s lives.

My hubby Peter and bestfriend Mer came with me. My former teachers then oriented us on the proper decorum inside the prison.

  • wear simple clothes

  • no body-fitting attire

  • no jewelry and other accessories

  • no bags/money

  • no make-up

In other words, don’t act or do anything that will further attract the attention of the inmates. Remember, they have been there for a long time and haven’t been interacting much with women. Any slight provocation might lead to something we could regret later on. It sounds scary. But they assured me that the maximum prison is the safest prison of all and its inmates are the most behaved. I believed them. After all, they’ve been doing this for eight years now. I just have to be very careful and cautious of my looks and actions.

This coming Sunday will be our first trip to Bilibid. Peter and I will be observing how the other volunteers do their classes. Eventually, we can do the same if not choose to do administrative work instead. I’m excited! Gotta wake up early! We have to be there by 9:30am. So no more late night gimmicks for the meantime. We have to reserve our energy for the unexpected.

On another note, I want to share a picture of this huge painting we saw hanging on Sandy’s wall. It was created by Boy Negro, an inmate, and was given to Sandy. The technique used was woodburning or suplete in tagalog. The effect was magnificent! Who would’ve thought that this was created by a very talented inmate?! See for yourself:                    

 


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