My first time volunteering with Young Focus (http://youngfocus.org) at their Young Focus Childcare Center on the Smokey Mountain dump site in Manila was overwhelming. Smokey Mountain dump site is a huge trash dump in Manila which has a large squatter population (as high as 30,000 at one point) who make their living by picking through the rubbish and selling recyclable items to middlemen. Young Focus Childcare Center was developed to assist malnourished babies and toddlers from zero to 3 years old.
I met the woman that runs the childcare center about 1 km from the actual dump site. We took a tricycle to the Childcare Center which is located on the actual dump site, close to the families that live there. I knew we were getting close when an overwhelming smell hit me, a not so pleasant mixture of every kind of trash imaginable mixed with smoke from the inevitable fires that break out on the dump site due to trash being under the intense sun.
I knew that people lived on the dump site but the reality of that didn't really hit me until I saw children as young as 3 and women and men as old as maybe 90 sifting through garbage. I have seen a lot of poverty in areas like Sudan and Bangladesh but this was intense. I was happy to enter the one room Childcare Center and get busy.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE both the women that work every day at the center (they are affectionately called the "Angles") and of course the babies and toddlers that they serve. My duties were pretty simple; feeding, bathing, and mostly just giving them attention and a little exercise. The Angles laughed that I seemed best at being a human jungle gym for the 2 and 3 year olds particularly as they were fond of seeing how far up the "giant" (yes, that would be me) they could crawl. 
Most people that volunteer say that they "get" more out of their volunteer work than they feel that they are "giving". This was 100% my feeling volunteering at Young Focus and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to get to know the Angles and the work that Young Focus is doing for some of the poorest people in the world.
If you are in the U.S. or any other part of the world as a part of an exchange program I highly recommend that you seek out a volunteer opportunity. Not only can you help people but you can also get to know more about the culture you are in and make new friends you might not have otherwise. A wonderful resource for getting started with volunteering in the U.S. is VolunteerMatch (http://www.volunteermatch.org/) where you can search for volunteer opportunities in your area or if you want to travel abroad, you can check out our sister company AIDE Abroad for volunteer opportunities. There is something for everyone no matter what your interest or available time. If you are currently or plan to start volunteering let AAG know about it and encourage others to do the same!
Erin Wingerter - AAG Pilipinas
I met the woman that runs the childcare center about 1 km from the actual dump site. We took a tricycle to the Childcare Center which is located on the actual dump site, close to the families that live there. I knew we were getting close when an overwhelming smell hit me, a not so pleasant mixture of every kind of trash imaginable mixed with smoke from the inevitable fires that break out on the dump site due to trash being under the intense sun. I knew that people lived on the dump site but the reality of that didn't really hit me until I saw children as young as 3 and women and men as old as maybe 90 sifting through garbage. I have seen a lot of poverty in areas like Sudan and Bangladesh but this was intense. I was happy to enter the one room Childcare Center and get busy. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE both the women that work every day at the center (they are affectionately called the "Angles") and of course the babies and toddlers that they serve. My duties were pretty simple; feeding, bathing, and mostly just giving them attention and a little exercise. The Angles laughed that I seemed best at being a human jungle gym for the 2 and 3 year olds particularly as they were fond of seeing how far up the "giant" (yes, that would be me) they could crawl. Most people that volunteer say that they "get" more out of their volunteer work than they feel that they are "giving". This was 100% my feeling volunteering at Young Focus and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to get to know the Angles and the work that Young Focus is doing for some of the poorest people in the world.If you are in the U.S. or any other part of the world as a part of an exchange program I highly recommend that you seek out a volunteer opportunity. Not only can you help people but you can also get to know more about the culture you are in and make new friends you might not have otherwise. A wonderful resource for getting started with volunteering in the U.S. is VolunteerMatch (http://www.volunteermatch.org/) where you can search for volunteer opportunities in your area or if you want to travel abroad, you can check out our sister company AIDE Abroad for volunteer opportunities. There is something for everyone no matter what your interest or available time. If you are currently or plan to start volunteering let AAG know about it and encourage others to do the same!
Erin Wingerter - AAG Pilipinas
