The Ateneo de Manila University's Development Studies (DS) juniors are off doing their immersion. And this event is an experiment in at least two ways. First, we've moved their Theology 141 to third year from fourth year. Second, we've converted Theology 141 for these juniors into a (real) Praxis immersion.
I've always believed that Theology 141 is better placed in 3rd year. First, because fourth year is a little late for the immersion experience to seep in. Seniors are already preoccupied with theses, seniors' syndrome, and career decisions. If we have Theology 141 in junior year, they'll have a year to chew on the experience (and maybe one or two will be inspired enough to do the thesis for the community).
Second, a lot of major subjects are in third year and fourth year is usually reserved for theses. This means that the opportunities to maximize immersion by inserting a service-learning component are in third year, not fourth year. In this case, we've tied up Theology 141 with Project Management. We'll be asking the DS majors to come up with a project proposal as part of their project management class for the NGO that oversees the communities they've visited.
I'd like to thank the Theology Department for allowing us to embark on this experiment. As with all experiments, we will learn from it and make decisions about it at the end of the semester.
--
For this particular immersion, we've partnered with Got Heart Foundation, an NGO founded and run by a DS graduate, Mel Yeung (DS '07). They're actively promoting natural farming methods in Tarlac. The juniors have been assigned to two of Got Heart's communities: a farming community and an Aeta community.
---
It's been quite an experience seeing tweets about the immersion the night before and during the immersion. This wouldn't have been possible years ago. Of course this is only true for those with the farmers' community. Those in the Aeta community are probably not connected. (Or they're not my friends on Twitter)
---
I saw a tweet from someone who said that they have electricity, water, and wifi in the farmers' community. I'm not completely surprised because that site is the headquarters of sorts for Got Heart. While it would have been ideal for them to live with families, the NGO requested that they live in the staff house.
I think what makes this immersion a little different is the presence of the NGO that is actively trying to help the community. I'm told by Benjie Tolosa that in the early days of immersion when it wasn't required, students were exposed to the empowered poor. But given the mass mobilization of students for immersion, it became harder and harder to find empowered poor.
I think there's some value in exposing students to attempts to support marginalized communities. That way, those communities are not seen as being helpless and dependent and the question isn't just how can we help them (and asking that question in a vacuum, as it were) but how can we support existing efforts to help them/ efforts to help them help themselves.
---
Thanks to Got Heart, Mel Yeung and Christian Yap for taking in the DS juniors! I hope we are able to come up with good proposals for your group.
