Marampag (adjective)
- A Waray term for flourishing, to be full of life.
This is how Jasper Galicio, president of Gios Kabataan, defines the word “marampag”, of which Project Marampag is befittingly named after.
“‘Yun ‘yung marampag – “hitik”. Maraming bunga, maraming dahon. And ‘yun na rin ‘yung sense ng program eh, is [that] to nourish youth organizations and also to nourish youth volunteers in terms of kanilang skills.” Galicio explains.
(“That’s what marampag is – “hitik”. Full of fruits, full of leaves. And that has become the sense of the program, to nourish youth organizations and also to nourish youth volunteers in terms of their skills.”)
With the goal of achieving results as bountiful as a tree lush with fruits and leaves, Project Marampag is an initiative by Gios Kabataan in partnership with Ateneo Learning and Teaching Excellence Center (ALTEC) under Learning to Earning Pathways (LEaP). With the project slogan being “Nurturing Youth Organizations for Tomorrow’s Initiatives”, its primary goal is to assist aspiring and underserved youth organizations in establishing themselves by teaching them the essential skills of organizational management. Gios Kabataan is a youth organization that puts volunteerism front and center as they strive to reach the far-flung areas of Northern Samar with youth development as its core mission.
Project Marampag was implemented on January 15, 2024, in the Municipality of Laoang. In preparation for its launch, the project announced an online call for volunteers. Project Marampag received more than 170 applications, shortlisted 50, and then ultimately pushed through with 30 volunteers who were then assigned their respective committees.
It was a priority for Jasper to play up each of the volunteers’ strengths when assigning them their tasks and deliverables. He further explains, “Mayroon kaming volunteers sa Media and Information Committee na kung saan kumuha kami ng mga kabataang mayroong talent sa photography and videography. Sila ‘yung pinahawak namin ng mga equipments sa videography and sa photography. And then sa Culinary naman, kung sinong mga kabataan mayroong kakayahang magluto, doon naman sila in-assign. And ‘yun, panay collaborative work naman ang nangyari. Kasi naging systematic naman ang takbo ng event namin.”
(“The volunteers we had in the Media and Information Committee were the youngsters who have talents in photography and videography. They were the ones we entrusted our videography and photography equipment with. And then for Culinary, whoever exhibited talents in cooking, we assigned them there. So there, what resulted was collaborative work. That’s how our event ran systematically.”)
Project Marampag also established the Training and Design Committee, which Jasper described as the department in charge of creating and facilitating games for the participants to partake in. This provided a more engaging avenue for the participants to learn more about organizational management and to encourage them to put the values and lessons they learned into practice in the context of their respective organizations. One of those who took charge of the games was Education major Krishna Tan, one of the heads of the Training and Design Committee.
Krishna first heard of Project Marampag after seeing the call for volunteers online, when her friends from Gios Kabataan shared the post on Facebook. However, she was not immediately keen on signing up, as she describes herself as shy and aloof. Krishna initially believed that working with other people was risky. “Hindi pa ako komportable kapag masyadong maraming tao at saka hindi ko rin kabisado ‘yung mga tao na I’m working with, so isa siyang risk that I really took.”
(“I’m not comfortable around many people and I was unfamiliar with the people I was working with, so it was a risk I took.”)
Despite her apprehensions, Krishna eventually made the decision to step out of her comfort zone and applied to become a volunteer for Project Marampag. “Iniisip ko po kasi ‘yung existence ko is to be shared to many people and ‘yung existence ko po is not just for me. Parang gusto ko po kasi maging something useful dito sa mundo.” Krishna explained.
(“I realized that my existence is to be shared with many people and my existence is not just for me. I think it’s because I want to be something useful to this world.”)
Krishna was open about her desire to become part of something significant to her community and saw Project Marampag as an avenue to achieve her goal. After being accepted and eventually assigned as a Training Designer, Krishna shared that her background in Education helped, as her student assessment skills proved to be useful when interacting with the event’s participants.
Together with her fellow volunteers, Krishna prepared games and activities for the participants that promoted underlying lessons such as communication, choosing the right values to implement in a youth organization, the importance of each sector in society, and wise decision-making.
During preparations, Krishna describes her experience working with other people as a pleasant one, saying that they were very willing to help out and that everyone was kind. She also mentioned that all the other volunteers she worked with were smart, as they contributed a lot of helpful input and even did a dry run for the games before the actual event. After this experience, Krishna shared that she would definitely go out of her comfort zone and collaborate with people all over again, saying that this had expanded her horizons.
