Last January 27, 2012 the Philippine Atheists and Agnostics Society Cebu Chapter held its very first outreach program. It was entirely sponsored by one of the members, Ms. Sasha Palo. The group decided to host a feeding program for day care children in Barangay Luz 1. The day care center was located along the busy street or Arch. Reyes Avenue Cebu City and is only one out of four daycare centers in the fast growing and largely populated barangay.
It was a small building which catered to a total of 54 children and had only one teacher who teaches two classes, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The teacher handles about 30 students per class. They had to have two classes so more children would be accommodated.
The activity started at 9 A.M. as the children, parents and their teacher had already gathered up. We started by introducing ourselves and PATAS to the children and especially to the parents. We discussed about the main goals and aims of PATAS and also discussed about humanism and secularism. During the activity, the main speaker and host for the children was Josephil Saraspe. He is a PATAS volunteer who is also a professional licensed teacher.
The children really took a liking to Phil as they played and had fun. Phil had planned different activities like the “Bring Me” game and “The Boat Is Sinking” activity. Kids really had a blast while enjoying the prizes they had won. After the fun games, the children were lined up to receive their packed lunch, courtesy of Ms. Sasha.The happy smiles on the kids and parents faces was more than enough to make us feel happy.
They really enjoyed the activities and eagerly partaken in the delicious food and drinks the group prepared.
Finally, as stomachs were already full and with wide grins on their faces, it was time for pictures to be taken. We took lots of pictures with the children, parents and their teacher to help us preserve the memories as they one by one started headed home. After the activity, the teacher, Mrs. Tess accompanied us to the Barangay Hall to meet the Barangay Captain Hon. Rian C. Tante and other officials. We were welcomed warmly and we eagerly talked to them about PATAS, its history, objectives, vision and missions that we strongly wish to achieve. They were very open-minded as we ventured to the topic of atheism and agnosticism. We also got to know the various projects that Brgy. Luz is implementing to help their urban poor. They are one of a few barangays who advocate recycling and eco-friendly industries. We were able to see some of the products their barangay makes and were inspired by their initiatives. It was truly a learning and worthwhile experiene. Soon, we hope to work with them on some future projects once the number of members and volunteers for the group are bigger. With combined efforts we believe we can soon live in a much better Cebu City.
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