In Pursuit of Fairy Tales, etc.

Photo by Drei dela Cruz. And yes, that picture is my entry.

The International Labour Organization - Decent Work Across Boarders (ILO-DWAB) Photo Competition, in partnership with the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates International, was held last year. I joined this contest as last-minute entry and was rather surprised when I was selected as part of the Top 21. I did not win, but seeing as it is an international competition and my entry was a grab-'em-and-shoot-'em kind of picture, I was still pretty happy about the results. Along with fellow bloggers Drei dela Cruz and Erick Bernardo, we visited RCBC Yuchengco Tower in Makati last Tuesday to check out our photos.

My enrollment to the Nursing course was prompted by my desire to migrate abroad, either to the land of sexy English accents and Harry Potter so I could imbibe the culture and write something magical like J.K. Rowling did, or to the United States where, after a couple of years of being a nurse, I can work my way to med school and eventually follow in the foodsteps on one of my ultimate girl crushes, forensic pathologist. We grew up in a society that is apparently proud of our Filipino heritage, but would rather work outside the country because everything beyond the Philippines is better. That's rather ironic, although understandable. The money you will earn in abroad, the benefits, and the simple fact that you are on an adventure (new place, new culture) are things that you may not necessarily earn here, unless you are a business mogul or Henry Sy's relative. 

This ideology is the inspiration for my photo: the pursuit of better life - of fairy tales for our children - climaxes outside the borders of our country.

My entry to the DWAB-ILO Photo Contest

Like I said, this ideology is both understandable and ironic. Having had the experience of being a lecturer for an English exam that is required so one can work, study, or migrate in an English-speaking country, I know a thing or two about going abroad, about how difficult it is to pursue fairy tales. We either forget or fail to realize that having achieved the fairy tale is not all fun and games and sparkle. 

The journey to achieving a better life abroad is difficult, so here is a little something for everyone who needs a bit of help on one aspect of their application - English proficiency exam. Scribbles on the Clipboard is a non-profit instructional blog. I'll be posting tidbits on Grammar, tips on writing well and achieving confidence in speaking, and other stuff in between. I will miss teaching, and I guess you can say that this is my way to reconnect with students. This is dedicated to all my students as well, those who inspired me to strive to be a better instructor. 

For more information on the ILO-DWAB Competition as well as the winners, please check out AYNLA's website.

Kapal ng Mukha Moment: Christmas 2012 Wishlist

My parents are cool.
 They allowed me to put up
an RH Parole this year!

Although my wish of a Purple Christmas is about to come true (THANK YOU, PNoy, legislators and RH Bill advocates – we did it!) yesterday was still December 21, 2012, apparently the end of the Mayan Calendar. If you believe the superstitious stuff, then it meant the world as we know it could have ended (I was hoping for a zombie apocalypse, but it didn't happen of course). Since we all should have died and Christmas is just three days away, I thought it might not be too self-centered to publish a wish list of what I want to get this holiday season and what I hope to achieve in 2013.

Here they are:

    1.       A purple scarf, to signify my devotion to the fight for comprehensive reproductive health.

Point Person: Nurse Alvin Cloyd Dakis. Seriously, he’s got about ten purple scarves in his closet.

    2.       A purple or violet top, preferably off-shoulder with ¾ sleeves which I can wear to more formal RH events. 

Point Person: My oh-so-fashionable femme fatale friends. Paging Tina Siuagan, Ruth Braga, Jessa Magcaling, Nicole Regala… Confession: I’m the only fashionably-challenged in circle of friends and acquaintances. I don’t even have a mirror in my room!

    3.       A Project Headshot photo.

A doodle in my notebook.

Point Person: AYNL A colleagues! Let’s get ours next year! ZERO HIV!

    4.       An organizer (a really thin one and made out of recycled paper, like those from Papelmerotti) and a notebook with thick, cream-coloured paper, lined with soft gray. You may also include a nice blue sign pen. There’s a cheap one that’s only PHP9.00.

Point Person: Andrei dela Cruz and Erick Bernardo. Why? Because they haven’t gotten me a planner yet.

    5.       A donation of school supplies. Please keep faces actors and actresses away from notebook covers, though.

Point Person: Anyone with a heart

    6.       A customized URL for my blog.

Point Person: Myself. Or Duston Barto. Duston, buddy, how the heck do I get a personal URL anyway, and how much? Excuse my technoidiocy.

    7.       A creamy tube of berry-colored lipstick with violet undertones.

Point Person: Nathalia Laguitan. Because she wore an awesome purple gown on her wedding and I loved it.

Layout by the ever-awesome Reigner "Panda" Antiquerra

    8.       A formal launch for the magazine I've worked on, Amuma.

Point Person: The editorial team and the writers. What do you say, people?

9.       A set of acrylic paint (red, blue, yellow, white and black). You can buy some in the paint store. They’ll put the paint in old peanut butter containers. That’s a lot of paint for PHP40 each.

Trivia: I actually love art. This one's an attempt at ruining a perfectly-usable canvas
with my attempt to paint a one-dimensional woman. 

    

Point Person: Myself. I’d really rather buy my own paint stuff. Or Anthony Abustan (just because I’m talking to him while typing this)

    10.   World peace. Thank you! *ala-Ms. Universe wave*

Point Person: Dreenah Gonzales.

    11.   A getaway. Somewhere quiet and preferably without signal and somewhere with a pool/beach/lake I can swim in. Come to think of it, I think I’m heading to CamSur next year.

Point Person: People with itchy feet.

    12.   A headset.

Point Person: Anyone. I am desperate.  Do you realize how difficult it is to be typing and reading and talking to someone on my cellphone at the same time? 

    13.   More advocacy work, hopefully geared towards women’s health and rights, rape prevention, and rape survival.

Point Person: Me, myself, and I plus my AYNLA colleagues!

    14.   More writing gigs!=)

Point Person: Me.

    15.   Another successful year for my beloved organization, the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates. Of course, this one would entail a lot of work, but that’s okay. We enjoy the toxicity. We love sleepless nights. In fact, we thrive in it. It’s like a drug, you know?

Point Person: AYNLAns

AYNLA during the H&L Awards ceremony =) We were the ONLY nursing organization awarded,
and I think we're also the craziest bunch of the night!

    16.   To have the insane courage to suck it up and start studying again – preferably law or maybe Women and Development.

Point Person: Me, and Joey dela Cruz to push me to take up Masters =P

    17.   To be able to attend at least three writing workshops.

Point Person: Writers Block Philippines, Visprint (would be awesome if they’d do something like this), and other writing groups/organization

    18.   To produce at least five short fiction and have the even more insane courage to submit for publication. I mean. I have stories running around my head and better out than in, right?

Point Person: Me, Morpheus and the Muse.

    19.   A collection of my favorite songs in an MP3 player. Sometimes it’s cool to just get lost in the music and drown everything else. But first, I need to buy an MP3 player.

Point Person: Those who can download from the Internet.

    20.   A better Philippines. Includes: repealing cyber-martial law, massive resignation of incompetent legislators and politicians, access to Universal Health Care, better system of education, and everything else a nation-lovin’ girl like me can ever wish for.  

Point Person: Divine Intervention, but since I doubt that’s ever going to happen, then I’ll stick with the Filipino people.

Actually, there’s so much more I want, but I think most of those can be achieved if I finally decide to get of my butt and work for it. I don’t really like asking people for stuff, but hey, it’s worth a try. I was actually too busy with paperwork yesterday to actually meditate on the fact that, yes, I could have died along with the entire world, but honestly if I had died, then there would be so many thing I haven't achieved yet. What's wrong with asking for a little helping hand, right?

What Advocacy Taught Me

There are many misconceptions about advocates. Kesho, aktibista daw kame (partially true), mahilig daw kame magrally (it’s kind of fun, actually), marami daw kameng pera at sikat (paminsan-minsan, oo, sikat, but mapera? Where the heck did that come from?).

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about us, and about the definition of advocacy, so let me define that last bit for you:

Advocacy is waking up at 4AM in the morning, taking and paying for a cab so you can get to a meeting place on time, and using your brains and your hands to actually accomplish something for what you believe in – despite coming and being at work (that actually pays you) until 9 in the evening.

Advocacy is rushing through flooded streets, amidst rain, and despite pissed off parents to the most important event of your organization.

But that’s okay. In my short time as an advocate (I’ve only pursued it for a little over a year), I’ve come to feel that, for someone like me who doesn’t have a lot of money, and who’s not necessarily the best in my field, there is still so much to do.

 In advocacy, I found selfless purpose.

Advocacy is also a lot of work– so much work that you barely have time to catch your breath – but there is also so many things learn. And here are some of the stuff I picked up along the way.

That, damn it, my parents were right all along!

They said I can be a nurse AND whatever else I want to be (which is to write and share my thoughts, to make use of my considerable English skills, and to be a modern Gabriela Silang for women everywhere!). Well, here I am: nurse advocate, English educator, and self-proclaimed revolutionary heroine for women (operative word is "self-proclaimed")

         That hating my course is stupid.

If you’ve read my post A Change of Heart, you’ll know that I wasn’t much of an enthusiast for my degree before, and I used to have a “who the hell cares” attitude toward whoever I thought was stupid enough to pursue the same path as I did. Hell, I didn't want to be a doctor's servant! I didn't know nurses are NEVER that; I didn't know that we can be leaders, educators, change makers.

But being an advocate, and being able to meet all the amazing nurses that broke the barriers of definition, has given me more than enough insight to come to respect the people in my profession.

         That fighting for what you believe in is more effective as a group.

I’ve learned how to network, to talk to different people, and to come out of my shell as a schizoid chick and mingle. I’m quite glad to be part of the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates, who, more than colleagues, turned out to be really cool people to hang out with. I’m more confident in going all revolutionary and blatant in saying what I want to say, simply because I know they’ve got my back.

Tip! If you’re really an advocate, my friend, then KNOW that you won’t succeed alone.

       That we can teach how to put on a condom and how to use pills, be funny about it, but not  break down to hysterical fits of maniacal laughter.

For demonstrations and/or advice for contraceptive use, kindly leave a message.

That advocacy is fun.

It’s certainly no-nonsense, but working with like-minded people, enriching yourself as a person, and the just the thought of being able to do something that is selfless are a different kind of high.

       That I have the capacity to be so much more than I am.

Because you can never be an advocate if you succumb to weakness and mediocrity. Only those who can rise about their own expectations and perceived limits can truly speak for others.

What about you? What have you learned from advocacy?#

A Change of Heart

Confession: I was never proud to be a nurse.

This idiotic opinion was brought about by the fact that midway through my life as a nursing student, my aim of getting to greener pastures simply died. Or, at least, required more money, time, and almost everything else that I did not really have. There were more nurses that the Philippine economy can handle, and the countries the United States, the country that most want to penetrate suddenly went on financial crisis and implemented retrogression.

It was safe to say I was pissed. More so because I had given up my dream of becoming a journalist to pursue my loveless affair with Nursing.

I was narrow-minded and cynical. I guess being the go-to person in my community when there were medical emergencies was not enough to get Nursing pride through my relatively thick skull. I. Am. Sorry.

Despite this, I had my ideals. They were very simple ideals, but rather strong for someone as socially stoic as I am: zero-bullshit reproductive health policies and services that are centered on women of all ages, prevention of rape and survival of its victims, and respect of other's hard work and efforts.

I feel that should I be given the opportunity, I would go Gabriela Silang for these issues.


The Facebook Phenomenon

I started to aggressively campaign for the Reproductive Health Bill last year on Facebook. This is after meeting one of my vagina heroines, sexual health writer Ana Santos. I joined a group called RH Bill-I Support, where I met people who actually knew what they were talking about. It was a very good learning experience.

One person who stood out was Alvin Dakis, who, by the look of his cute-sometimes-goofy profile picture, seemed like the average dude to me.


The Man Behind the Picture

Can you blame me if I say he looks like the guy-next-door?

As usual, nothing is as they seem.

The average dude with the cute-sometimes-goofy profile pic is the founder and president of the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates. He is also the Philippine Fellow for the Philippine Young Leaders Fellowship 2011 Asia 21 Society. He writes a column for Vital Signs, and is a regular contributor for Mulat Pinoy.

More than his extensive resume, though, what is really inspiring about this not-so-average-dude-after-all is what he did not just for nurses, for for those who are often discriminated and set aside by the general populace of the Idiot Society:

It was through his leadership that young nurses finally found their collective voices to protest the blatant exploitation they are submitted to, exploitation hiding in the guise of volunteerism and training.

His outspoken support for the Reproductive Health Bill has caused a wave of response from the younger nurses, prompting them to be more socially aware of their responsibilities to their clients. To take a stand on the increasing number of maternal deaths, and the escalating statistics of HIV-Positives.

LGBT rights has come into better light because of his continuous campaign.

I have probably missed many other things, but the point is this: the things he did have caused the death of apathy.


Tangible

Whatever his achievements are, though, the great things about him are the very
simplest of things: He does not mind laughing and joking with his colleagues while riding the MRT during rush hour. He would happily wait for two over-excited gals to finish their make-up so they can look awesome for the launch of a video on HIV awareness. He will happily pour water for you when you dine with him, after a long and hard organization meeting.

Mostly, it is his ability to trust his members, despite the fact that they are not exactly the best. I know. I will probably never be the best member of AYNLA, but in some weird twist of fate I shall be forever grateful for, Alvin Dakis seems to trust me.

He will and always will be more than President Alvin Dakis, of AYNLA. For us who have had the honor of meeting and working with him, he will always be more than our leader. He is our Sir A.

Changing my heart

Alvin Dakis has, by example, taught me that, being in the nursing profession, I can be a much better Gabriela Silang for my advocacy.

And it is him that I should thank that I can finally say these words: I am proud to be a nurse.#

Nr. Janina Santos is the Secretary of Publications and Media Relations for the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates. She is also the owner of this blog, and a self-proclaimed bodyguard/bouncer for Nr. Alvin Dakis, together with her one and only babe, Nr. Tina Siuagan.

Year Ender: Cool/Sucky/Awesome Stuff That I Got to Do in 2011

Above: Me with RH an environment and environment advocate Grace Bondad Nicolas protesting against Ayala Alabang's Anti-Condom Ordinance.

1. I got into social media activism, to express my naked support for things that I think matter, and rally against some preposterous propositions.




2.I got to teach an international English exam, develop programs for review, and do lots and lots of corporate writing, script writing, event organizing, hosting, and other such activities that I had no idea I was capable of doing!




3. I got published. And I worked my butt off too. I learned a lot from my mentor's brutal edits, obsessively researched facts, and challenged myself to think outside the usual realms of my writing.



Top Panel, from left to right:In various events with notable personalities such as sexual health advocate and writer Ana Santos; tour guide and TV personality Carlos Celdran; former Akbayan representative Risa Hotiveros. Lower Panel, left to right: Various personalities in RH Bill-I Support grand eyeball at The Living Roon; Members and officers of the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocate in Mulat Pinoy's Beyond Condoms talk featuring Magsaysay Awardee and Thailand's Mr. Condom, Mechai Viravaidya.

4. I got to meet really great people who are inspiring and powerful.


Above (from left to right): Me, with the creators of Naermyth (Karen Francisco), News of the Shaman (Karl de Mesa) and Trese (Budjette Tan) during Visprint's WIT.

5. I got to read some really cool works of fiction and to meet the creators!


My Level 40 Assassin (Diablo 2, Expansion) and a newly-solved Rubik's cube puzzle.

6. I got to play the Rubik’s Cube, Diablo 2 Expansion Pack, and Warcraft 3! Deep gratitude to Julius Magpantay for showing me the many simple happiness of life.



Self explanatory.
7. I got to understand the power of social media first hand…and the responsibility of wielding it (and not to care about whatever bullshit people who don't know any better throw at me ^_~).


But the most important thing I got to do in 2011...is to have spent time with you, yes YOU. Whether or not you take time to peak into my blog (much appreciated if you have), I am extremely grateful to have spent time with you.


Now let's all bid 2011 goodbye, learn from it, love it, let it go.

Happy New Year, y'all!