This year’s awardees are: Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales (Philippines), the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (Japan), Bezwada Wilson (India), Dompet Dhuafa (Indonesia), Vientiane Rescue (Laos), and Thodur Madabusi Krishna (India).

JAPAN OVERSEAS COOPERATION VOLUNTEERS

For former Japanese volunteer Rina Tanaka, volunteer work is more than just helping others but it’s also about helping one’s self. Volunteerism actually enriches the lives of both the volunteer and beneficiary.

“The general understanding of volunteerism is to help somebody else but in volunteering, you have a chance to find yourself. You experience that kind of change, of enriching your life,” shares the Japanese nurse who spent two years in Bangladesh. She is now working as an assistant at the Faculty of Health and Sciences at Naragakuen University.

Tanaka is here in the Philippines as part of the Japanese Overseas Cooperative Volunteers (JOCV) that will receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award today. The volunteer program which is under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is one of the six awardees this year of the prestigious award. Regarded as the Nobel Prize of Asia, the Ramon Magsaysay Award recognizes individuals and organizations that have greatly contributed to the development of their respective communities.

JOCV as one of the awardees puts the spotlight on the importance of out-of-the-country volunteerism. The program, which was established in 1965, has sent around 41,000 volunteers worldwide. They have been sending young professionals to developing countries to provide technical skills and opportunities to communities in need. They have sent volunteers to 88 countries, including the Philippines, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the program.

Yearly, JOCV sends 2,000 volunteers across the globe. They provide support to different sectors including healthcare, agriculture, processing, and education, among others. In the Philippines, some of the sectors they provide assistance to include agriculture and education.

Physics professor Kenichi Kubota, Ph.D., volunteered to help the Physics faculty of the Technological University of the Philippines. Now a professor at Kansai University, what makes his volunteer work special here are the friendships he has made with Filipinos.

“Making friends is one of the benefits of volunteer work,” he says.

“Financial support is important yes, but I think people to people interaction is very important as well in promoting mutual understanding,” says JICA vice president Kae Yanagisawa.

BEZWADA WILSON

In India, there is such a thing as manual scavenging. If a person is born in the “untouchables” or the lowest caste in the archaic caste system, his life and job are already written. And for many “untouchables” they would often end up doing hard and dirty labor such as manual scavenging. This job entails individuals to physically clean — by hand — sewage and septic tanks of dry latrines or waterless toilets.

This somewhat inhumane practice has been going on for thousands of years. People would clean out untreated human excrement with little equipment or none at all. Bezwada Wilson, founder of the Safai Karamchari Andolan, has been fighting to totally eradicate this unsafe practice.

“This is a regular practice. My eyes opened based on personal experience,” Wilson shares, whose parents were manual scavengers in the past. Witnessing his people doing this inhumane practice changed his life. “How can this still be happening in our society? It is just wrong.”

His organization has been actively banging on the doors of politicians and the government. There are already actual laws that prohibit this practice, which also promotes building proper facilities and moving away from traditional dry latrines. But the law has not been implemented properly. This is the struggle of Wilson and his group.

“The government wants to give me awards but I refused. They come and say, I’ll give you an award, which means it’s like bribing me. I give you this so you don’t ask anymore,” he says. “The thing is honoring me is listening to my word. Whatever we are demanding, you fulfill them. The Ramon Magsaysay is different because people will listen.”

VIENTIANE RESCUE

In Laos, a staggering 80 percent of its driving population doesn’t have proper licenses. This results in numerous road accidents. According to Sebastain Perret, a French paramedic, around 10 to 30 road accidents happen every day in Vientiane.

In 2010, this problem got Perret thinking of putting up a rescue team in Vientiane, because at that time, people who figure in road accidents didn’t get medical support, thus leaving them to die on the streets. With one ambulance on hand, Perret put up the Vientiane Rescue.

“In 2010 there is no service. People are left to die. We banded together and formed the group with just a few equipment back then and no training. We opened a 24/7 ambulance service,” Perret explains. “Today, we respond to any life threatening cases, even cases involving snakes.”

Today, the team has around 200 volunteers who are students and professionals. They now have 10 vehicles that work round the clock in the capital. The team has also equipped two container vans as base offices, located strategically in the city. For six years now, the team has been rescuing people on the streets and keeping more people alive.

“We do this to help. We do this for the citizens of Laos,” Perret said.

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Read more at http://www.mb.com.ph/volunteerism-restoring-human-dignity-exemplify-2016-ramon-magsaysay-awardees/