GUIDING LIGHT INQUIRER president and CEO Sandy Prieto-Romualdez (right) helped arrange the solar night lights assembled by INQUIRER employees during the Hands On Manila鈥檚 Servathon event. Around 250 solar-powered night lights from Saturday鈥檚 event would benefit Supertyphoon 鈥淵olanda鈥� victims in Iloilo, where several areas remain in the dark. JOAN BONDOC
MANILA, Philippines鈥揥earing a mouth cover and gloves, Jovic Yee held the soldering iron in his right hand as he aimed to put pressure on a thin piece of lead wire that he was holding in his other hand.
As soon as the hot tip of the tool touched the wire, a drop of lead fell on a small rectangular piece on the table, making him yell in excitement.
鈥淭his is life-changing!鈥� said Yee, editorial production assistant of the Inquirer, his eyes glued to what would be a circuit board that would help light up one narrow cylindrical bulb.
Yee was one of 400 participants from different companies at last Saturday鈥檚 Hands On Manila鈥檚 Servathon, an event put together by the nongovernment organization in collaboration with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and My Shelter Foundation for the benefit of victims of Super Typhoon 鈥淵olanda.鈥�
Leading Yee鈥檚 team was Inquirer president and chief executive officer Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, who saw to it that the solar-powered night lights were successfully assembled by the Inquirer employees. After the employees were done, she arranged the solar lamps on the team鈥檚 table.
No experience
The corporate volunteers had little or no experience at all in assembling solar night lights. In fact, except for employees of One Meralco Foundation, the volunteers were employed in companies that specialized in fields that had nothing to do with light production.
But each corporate pair, with the assistance of an individual trained by Tesda in the assembly of solar night lights, managed to make a cylindrical bulb light up during the event at the Tesda headquarters in Taguig City.
Volunteers
Patrice Tan, Hands On Manila vice president, said the corporate groups were from the Inquirer media group, the Romulo and MOSTLaw law firms, and the business process outsourcing companies QBE and Wells Fargo.
She said other volunteers included those from Far Eastern University, BPI Foundation and LBC Foundation.
鈥淲e are very satisfied [with the turnout of the event]鈥� Filipinos are really inherently helpful,鈥� Tan said.
鈥淲e feel really good鈥� We were able to do this. Imagine, we are office workers and we were able to make [a bulb light up]. We only use ball pens, computers, papers. And now we are holding a soldering gun,鈥� said Denny Pasaporte of BPI Foundation.
Mary Rose Comon of Concepcion Carrier, an air-conditioner manufacturing company, said she was ecstatic that the solar night light she and her volunteer partner assembled was a success 鈥渁nd it didn鈥檛 explode!鈥�
By the end of the day, Sonia S. Lipio, director of special projects of Tesda鈥檚 Office of the Director General, said the volunteers would have come out with around 250 solar night lights.
For Tacloban
She said the units would be shipped by My Shelter Foundation to Iloilo, parts of which were 鈥渟omehow neglected because the concentration of [light distribution] was in Tacloban.鈥�
With one solar light per family, 250 families would benefit from the project, Lipio said.
Apart from serving as a vehicle to help those in need, Tan said the event also helped 鈥渞aise awareness鈥� about volunteer work.
鈥淥ur goal is to make sure each person leaves Tesda feeling they鈥檝e done something good and they would want to seriously consider doing more volunteer work in the future,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e counting on the corporate volunteers here to spread the word that volunteering is worthwhile, it鈥檚 fun, and it鈥檚 gratifying,鈥� she said.