I'm an ATD Friend Now! Yey!

September 12, 2009 – I attended the All Together in Dignity (ATD) Philippines’ Orientation at Powerbooks, SM Megamall. This event aimed to inform the public of ATD’s existence and at the same time, to inspire more volunteers and friends to support the ATD Fourth World Movement in helping more families living below the poverty line.

But first, what is ATD Fourth World Movement? It is an international non-government organization composed of full-time and part-time volunteers who assist poor individuals and families living in developing and developed countries to mitigate extreme poverty.

ATD was founded in 1957 in Paris, France by Fr. Joseph Wresinki who grew up in a poor family and community. In 1987, Fr. Wresinki brought the ATD Movement in the Philippines and let Dr. Estefania Aldaba-Lim, former DSWD Secretary, supervise it.

The orientation started at 3pm with Kuya Robert Alejandro (former GMA 7’s Art is Cool host) as facilitator/emcee. I was so glad to have a photo taken with him and for the chance to talk to him and reminisce good old days when my Comm. II group way back UP days had him for an interview. (He said he still remembers it because we (my group) were late, but the truth was, he came ahead of time. Hehehe!).

It was a fun event as I expected. There was a mime presentation showing how hard it is to look for volunteers. It was followed by a powerpoint presentation by ATD Manager, Ms. Yuson, explaining what ATD is and how it makes a difference in other people’s lives. A representative from Anvil Publishing, an ATD partner, promoted a book entitled, “Gold Under the Bridge.” Too bad I was not able to buy or even scan its pages that time. Aling Tita, from the poor sector, also spoke up in front to tell success stories of ATD projects in enhancing the lives of the needy and less fortunate. Her family is one of the beneficiaries of the movement and she is very overwhelmed while describing how it is to be an ATD beneficiary. And yes, she was able to meet UN Sec. Gen. Kofi Annan in person when ATD went to New York City, USA.

ATD Philippines Fourth World Movement’s projects are as follows:

-street libraries

-adult workshops and gatherings

-Festival of Learning

-International Day of Alleviating Extreme Poverty

-October 17 Poverty Commemoration

-Creative HeARTS

-fundraisings and art workshops

And the best part of the event was the art workshop when we were divided into four groups, given art materials and asked to come up with a journal/diary in our own creative and artistic way. I was part of Gr. IV and have met new friends, Jason, Paoulo, Glenn, Mel, Eric (from OPAPP), Bel (from PMS) and Yobs. In the process, it was fun as we cut colored papers into shapes and letters, shaded craypass as backgrounds and borders, sketched, and we even did a pop-up page! The theme of the workshop is “The Rights of a Child,” and ATD is going to sell our outputs during Creative HeARTs fair.

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As the orientation concluded, I have high hopes that this would not be the first and last time that I am going to be with the ATD.