Minutes of Meeting
January 21, 2011
10am to 12noon
Attendees:
| Name/Designation | Organization | Mobile Number | Email | Mailing Address |
| Mrs. Cecille Padrid (in behalf of Mayor Jose Padrid) | | | | |
| Fr. Jessie Somosierra Parish Priest | | 0929 508 5360 | Bay, Laguna | |
| Mila Castillo/ President | | 0917 881 5659 | c/o | |
| Azucena Bernardo | St. Augustine Migrante Ministry | 0917 498 9696 | c/o | |
| Carlos Lagaya / PANATAG Program Dir. | UGAT Foundation | 0918 937 9186 | | 2/F ISO Annex, Social Development Complex, Ateneo de Manila University Loyola Heights,1108 |
| Zena Bernardo / Executive Director | Natasha Goulbourn Foundation | 0917 872 5514 | Unit 209 | |
| Leonora Ramos - Principal Cleofe T. Flores - Guidance Counselor | Liceo De Bay | | | |
| Melinda N. Tolentino - Principal Gemma A. Yu - Guidance Counselor | | | | |
| Charito B. Sabarias - Guidance Counselor | | | | |
| Carmen A. Romeroso -Principal Zosima M. Carpio - Guidance Counselor | Bitin | | | |
| Aida M. Bejo - Principal Engracia E. Ilagan - Guidance Counselor | | | | |
PART I
- The meeting formally started at 10:20am with a prayer from Fr. Jessie.
- Introduction / welcoming remarks were given by Zena Bernardo, Executive Director of Natasha Goulbourn Foundation. She also discussed why NGF and UGAT Foundation would like to work with the town of
o Introduced NGF as an NGO that promotes better understanding of depression and suicide prevention through education and community empowerment programs;
o In its focus to reach out to the OFWs and their families left behind, it partnered with UGAT Foundation, an Ateneo-based NGO. Their first project is by giving a Basic Counseling Workshop for Migrant Issues to the Diocese of San Pablo in April 6 and 7 2010, St. Augustine hosted the venue for the participants from 21 parishes coming from 13 towns
o Concerned at the growing effects of out-migration to the children left behind – dropping out of school, teenage pregnancies, substance abuse and other forma of juvenile delinquency, both orgs saw the need to pursue their intervention in the province of Laguna – being one of the Top 5 provinces with the highest concentration of OFWs.
o There were some frustrations in working through the Diocesan Commission for Pastoral Care for Migrant and Itinerant People (CPCMIP) due to the lack of enthusiasm of the Head of this committee to pursue this on a province-wide scale. Therefore, it was agreed that an intervention/empowerment program will be approached on a smaller program area at a time. This will give the stakeholders more time and efforts to work on the program, implementation and evaluation to convince other towns to follow suit.
o Looking for the initial area for such intervention was obvious as early as March last year – Bay had a good local community presence through its barangay coordinators and open communications with the school principals. Much of this was evident in the community response during the Ondoy crisis.
o The decision to work with St. Augustine Parish and the town of Bay
o The meeting was called to give everybody the chance to understand the program, know of their respective roles and responsibilities, and level the expectations of the stakeholders.
- Caloy Lagaya, Project Director of Panatag (UGAT Foundation), gave an orientation of what the program is and how it is going to be conducted in Bay, Laguna:
o 1st Activity: Basic Counseling Workshop for Peer Counselors (1 day Activity 8am to 4pm, max. of 40 participants)
Since the program is geared for empowerment of the community, NGF and UGAT aims to train parish-based volunteers who will continue with the program in the community level. These are the members of the Youth Ministry, as they are the ones expected to be the peer counselors for the children of OFWs who will attend the ANAK Program. They are also expected to continue with the program by creating projects and activities in the Ministry that will draw these participants’ involvement. Members of other parish-based ministries (i.e. Couples for Christ, Migrante, Ladies of Charity, etc.) who are directly involved in counseling are also encouraged to participate. Lastly, the local government should also field in participant(s), particularly who will be working on the Youth Committee in the Council and in the barangay level.
o 2nd Activity: ANAK (2-day seminar for children of expatriates, 8am to 3pm)
A values formation seminar for the children of overseas workers who are directly affected by the migration of their parent/s. This seminar deals with the feelings associated with being a child of a migrant as well their coping mechanism. This is given in a format suitable for young children, teenagers or young adults and conducted per school.
A values formation seminar for the children of overseas workers who are directly affected by the migration of their parent/s. This seminar deals with the feelings associated with being a child of a migrant as well their coping mechanism. This is given in a format suitable for young children, teenagers or young adults and conducted per school.
o 3rd Activity: Mentoring Program (half-day group counseling sessions) Participants of the Anak Seminar will be grouped into 7 with one mentor to work with them for half-a-day. The objective is to assist them on how they will cope with their situation constructively and how to make peace with the issues they have shared during the Anak seminar.
o 4th and Final Activity: Youth Camp
This is activity will be held for 3 days and 2 nights that aims to in a venue where the participants will have provisions for sleeping quarters, group dynamics, games and plenary conferences. Ideally, there is also a place where the support groups can prepare meals so as to save on expenses.
o Depression Awareness and Suicide Prevention Lectures
Simultaneously with the Anak Seminars, all teacher and parents in every public elementary and secondary schools in Bay will attend a 2-hr lecture about Depression Awareness and Suicide Prevention. A separate lecture will be held for the high school students, bringing the total number of lectures at 17 lectures.
- AGREEMENTS: After discussing the details of the program, the group discussed roles, responsibilities and logistics of the entire set of activities.
o The project will commence in February, with proper coordination with participating schools such that there will be no conflict with their school calendar.
o Planning the calendar of activities will be done by NGF and UGAT;
o NGF will take care of communications with Dr. Loreto Leonizo, Bay District Supervisor, to endorse Depression Awareness and Suicide Prevention lectures to all school principals. It will also prepare the letter to Mayor Padrid and all participating schools of ANAK (Bay Central, Lice de Bay, Bitin, Masaya and Galvez) regarding the conduct and calendar of activities, and requests for logistics assistance no later than Monday, January 24th.
o All letters prepared by NGF will be noted by Fr. Jessie and copy furnished UGAT;
o Identifying and gathering participants for the project, as well as informing them and their parents the conduct and schedule of activities will be the responsibility of the Guidance Counselor of each school. UGAT will provide them with a standardized in-take form for proper management of database;
o The coordinator between NGF-UGAT and Bay stakeholders (school guidance counselors and office of the Mayor) will be PPC President Mila Castillo;
o The Secretariat will be composed of the Migrante Group and the Youth Ministry, supervised by NGF. This team will take charge of registration, documentation, communication dissemination and database maintenance of the migrant situation in the town of Bay
o Mrs. Padrid pledged the assistance of the Office of the Mayor in terms of meals of the training team, as long as the inclusive dates are properly communicated with them.
o UGAT will coordinate with their previous sponsor whether they can use again the house in Bgy. Mainit. If unavailable, St. Augustine
o NGF will take care of the IDs and certificates, tarpaulin and honoraria of the training team. It will also coordinate the depression lectures, with the Bay-based counselors as resource speakers.
o St. Augustine Parish will take care of the secretariat work and photo-documentation of each session.
o The participants will bring their own snacks and lunch, but the committee will try to get sponsors for at last the lunch of the children during the ANAK Seminars;
o UGAT will provide the technical assistance, modules and handouts, the task of enlisting and gathering the mentors and take care of paper documentation of the activity. They will also take care of the cost of transporting its team to the venues.
o NGF with the PPC will find the most suitable venue for the 3-day Camp. The committee will set another meeting to discuss the logistics for this activity and plan for distribution of responsibilities.
o NGF requested Ms. Castillo to take up the project of setting up a counseling room in the parish in the next PC meeting on February 5th. The participants of the Basic Counseling workshop will be expected to give time in managing the facility on a rotating schedule most convenient for each of them.
o Once the PPC agrees on this project, NGF will assist in setting up this facility (painting and refurbishing) to make it accessible and conducive for counseling session. It can also assist in the continuing development of skills of its volunteers thru referral to other training workshops offered by its project partners.
- With no more items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 11:45A.M.
PART II
(Meeting between NGF and UGAT)
The agreed schedule of activities is as follows:
| ACTIVITY | DATE | TIME | SCHOOL /VENUE | Remarks |
| Basic Counseling Workshop for Parish-based Peer Counselors | February 6, 2011 | 8AM to 4PM | Air-conditioned Conference Room | o Max. 40 Participants c/o Mila Castillo o submit request letter to Mayor Padrid for room and meals sponsorship |
| ANAK Seminars for Children of OFWs (2-days per school) | February 7, 8 | 8AM to 3PM | Liceo de Bay | o 1st year students |
| February 9, 10 | | N. Galvez National HS | o 1st to 4th year students | |
| February 14, 15 | | Bitin | o 1st to 4th year students | |
| February 16,17 | | | o 1st to 4th year students | |
| February 21, 22 | | | o Grade 6 students only | |
| MENTORING WORKSHOPS | February 11 | 8 to 11AM | Liceo de Bay | o 1st year students |
| February 11 | 1 to 4 PM | N. Galvez National HS | o 1st to 4th year students | |
| February 18 | 8 to 11AM | Bitin | o 1st to 4th year students | |
| February 18 | 1 to 4 PM | | o 1st to 4th year students | |
| February 25 | 8 to 11AM | | o Grade 6 students only | |
| YOUTH CAMP | March 18, 19, 20 | | TBA | o Graduating Grade 6 and 4th Year students |
| March 25, 26, 27 | TBA | o 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students |
Prepared by:
ZENA BERNARDO
ShareThis 
Blogs commenting Fr. Jessie's post 
Comments
Post a Comment