by Paul Ray G. Donaire | March 9, 2023
Officers and members of the Junior Anthropologists and Sociologists of Silliman (JASS) conducted an annual outreach program in Mabunao, Bais City, last Feb. 18-19.
The program, Ambit Kahanas, was attended by 163 students from primary and secondary levels of Mabunao Integrated School under the supervision of Silliman University’s Department of Anthropology and Sociology.
Ambit Kahanas is a Visayan term for “Exchange of Skills” or “A Festival of Knowledge and Skills.”
The program’s capacity-building activities include leadership and organizational management, computer literacy training, music lessons, rug-making, and meat processing.
A meeting for project planning and development also commenced afterward with participants from the said school’s supreme student government officers.
On the volunteers for the outreach, JASS adviser Lance Lagunay said that the majority who joined were not enrolled in directly related courses such as community studies, rural sociology, national development, and sociology of the economy.
With the face-to-face program, Lagunay added that although the junior anthropologists and sociologists were taught theories on societal behaviors in all aspects, learning “should not be confined to four corners of the room.”
“Learning about social issues hits differently when you experience life itself instead of learning about it in the textbooks, internet, or posts in social media,” he said.
During the program’s briefing, Lagunay said “Makinig, Makilahok, at Makibahagi” [Listen, Participate, and Contribute] to JASS members as a guide in conducting the program in the community.
“This meant that they have to be observant with their surroundings and how the people behave; participate in the occurrences in their daily life; and to try to be a part of the community,” said Lagunay.
Kurt Ceniza, former JASS president, said the program was designed for JASS members to share their knowledge and skills.
“We made sure that the skills we share are practical and [useful] in their lives [the learners] in the future,” he said.
With the start of the second semester of the school year 2022-2023, JASS ratified its constitution and by-laws and conducted the re-election of officers on Feb. 22. The newly-elected president is Jairus Waban.
