A Volunteer's Experience: On being called and chosen

Written by Gian Carlo Abellana,RN* - VYLH Mindanao Pioneer

"Never stop dreaming, never stop imagining cause it doesn’t cost you anything”. 

This line remained within me after a training camp (Volunteer Youth Leaders For Health Philippines) that I have once attended in 2009. It started all the success which I have garnered now. At the same time it inspired me and boosted me to achieve all my dreams.

I truly believe in the saying “Many have been called but only few are chosen”.

Before, it was just a dream. But now, it has become a reality when a group of Youth Volunteers coming from various parts of the Philippines was created which aims to be a part of a National Project with high impact on Public Health. I can still vividly recall how this Organization started and evolved. It was the 17^th-19^th of July last year in Tagaytay City when 20 Schools/Colleges/Universities and 12 Community Organizations  from various parts of the country were gathered in a camp which was co-sponsored and organized by the Institute of Human Genetics - National Institutes of Health of the UP-Manila, Department of Health and The UP Los Baños Genetics Society. We were then a small family, but a family with great aspirations.

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VYLH: On the Forefront of Volunteerism and Advocacy

Written by Mark Ray Espinoza*

Originally Published in the Diagnosis, the Official Publication of the College of Nursing - Xavier University.

 “Taking this opportunity further ignited my desire, and from this I met a wide range of people from co-volunteers to the most respected in the health sciences – a community with unparalleled passion and dedication to the advocacy. This was the time that I realized the feeling was contagious and I’m already infected.” Ryan Pascual, Volunteer Youth Leaders for Health (VYLH) - Philippines National Pioneer.

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A Journey through Life

Written by Gian Carlo Abellana, RN*

Feature Article submitted in celebration of the 2010 Newborn Screening Week.

Who would have thought that at this very young age of mine I would be able to help other people in a very simple way? Well, it might be destiny. Some people might say that volunteerism and advocating is a heck of a thing but for me, it is PASSION, SERVICE and a sense of being HUMAN.

I am Gian Carlo Zambrano-Abellana, 21 years of age, VYLH Founding Member from Mindanao and a Newborn Screening Advocate.

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Youth Leaders Campaign for Newborn Screening

Written by Ryan John Pascual*

Originally published as the VYLH-Philippines 2010 NBS Month Newspaper Feature 

(Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 17, 2010)

In line with the intensive advocacy of Newborn Screening, Folic Acid Supplementation and Rare Disease among the general public, the Volunteer Youth Leaders for Health (VYLH) was organized with the aim of mobilizing the youth towards health work. VYLH is a network of different organizations based in universities and communities in the Philippines. This novel undertaking is part of an international effort to establish the Global Network for Maternal and Infant Health (GNMIH) participated by youth counterparts in China and Lebanon linked by the common interest of volunteerism and public service to improve birth outcomes worldwide through advocacy.

Since its inception in July 2009, the network has been conducting school- and community-based activities geared towards increasing public awareness in saving babies from death and mental retardation through newborn screening promotion. VYLH members also campaign the importance of folic acid supplementation in the prevention of birth defects and preterm births. VYLH community leaders had been partners with their Rural Health Units in conducting promotional and educational activities in the communities.

Volunteer Youth Leaders for Health - Philippines Mindanao Island-wide Camp

Brokenshire Resort and Convention Center, Madapo, Davao City

July 30 - August 1, 2010

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Being an Extraordinaire...

Written by Jordan Ramirez* - VYLH-Philippines Dumaguete City

“I never thought my life would become somewhat like an extraordinaire”.

It was once a drizzly day when a friend of mine messaged me about a camp to be held in Cebu. An unadorned message, I should say. Perhaps, I wasn’t really fascinated with the message that without more ado, I got out from my inbox and went back to the main screen of my phone.

My life by then was, if truth be told, busy that I even got only an hour or three for sleeping. And Yes! You’ve heard it right, an hour or three per day. I’ve spent a third of my day at school and eight hours for my hospital duty. As an Accountancy student, devotion of time is a must for you to give. It took me scarcely to cope up with my assignments and exams since accounting is not that easy to surpass, not at all (sighs). And I could not just simply afford the privation I’ve had to be turned out to zilch. So I have to toil hard to pass my course. After which, I do an 8-hour voluntary work at Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital which is in line to my previous course. A strenuous work it is! Needless to mention, it is a government hospital so a lot of get-up-and-go has to be vested for this work for it to be well thought-out as an efficient one. Added to it, is an online job which engrosses critical thinking since I do article writing. I sleep at 3:00 A.M and wake up at 6:00 in the morning. Sometimes, I go into deep contemplation and ask myself ‘why I have to do these when in fact I could make life simple?”. Well then, it’s hard to be left with options which are all imperative to yourself, so hard to just drop one among them. I may know my limits, but then I have to go afar to what has been expected from me. And up to this instance, I am still doing these stuffs. I could hardly believe I’m such a jerk! Bottom line is—time management.

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Volunteerism and Public Service Combined

Originally Published in Newborn Screening, the Official Publication of the Newborn Screening Reference Center - NIH, UP Manila. Vol. 14(1):4. January - March 2010 Issue

The Volunteer Youth Leaders for Health - Philippines (VYLH-Philippines) is a national collaboration of leaders of youth organizations in universities and communities in the Philippines. This novel undertaking is part of an international effort to establish the Global Network for Maternal and Infant Health (GMNIH) being participated in by youth counterparts in China and Lebanon as linked by the common interest of volunteerism and public service linked by the common interest of volunteerism and public service to improve birth outcomes worldwide.

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