ALS Transforms Lives

Everyone has a story to tell, as the adage goes, “even a dumb has his own story”. And when one shares a story, he does so not only to express thoughts but to inspire, testify the goodness of life and elaborate what spiced it to become even more colorful and more worth living.

I have been through a lot in life—from ups and downs in career seasoned with the challenges of my profession that at first seemed difficult to share. But then the various stories of my former ALS learners propelled me to enjoy what I do and motivated me to excel more and savor my ALS-related achievements that became sweeter seeing the impact ALS have in the lives of learners.

Varied success stories of my former ALS students served to encourage several lives. Stories of simple people who became great flooded my memories of my ALS journey. But of them all, my favorite is the story of Greg.

Greg is the nickname I gave to one of my former ALS students. My first encounter of him was not pleasant. I met him when I was starting to engage the administrators of Abra Provincial Jail for the conduct of ALS classes in the said facility. He was one of those I saw doing their daily routine activity when I went to the Office of the Jail warden.

 “Ania koma met dayta, awan serserbina nga paubra yo man ngatan! (What is that again? Another insignificant activity?)” he said in loud voice. What he said froze me for a while. And after I regained my consciousness, I headed straight to the office of the jail Warden. 

I greeted the Jail Warden and handed over the request letter. She noticed the direction of my eyes that is towards Greg.  “So, you finally met our new PDL (person deprived of liberty),” the warden said. I just nodded in response to her. “That is Greg. He never spoke to anyone seriously especially about civic-related activities. He has his own standards of what he wants to believe in,” the Warden added.

What the Warden just told me has struck a special fiber of me. Greg is just in his early twenties. Looking at his aura, I could have mistaken him as a minor. His height is approximately 5’2’’, his built looks between small to medium and he has fair complexion. He does not look like a typical notorious person as he does not even have any indication of such personality except his rude comment awhile ago.

Indifference of people like that of Greg has never shaken my desire to pursue the advocacy I have started in changing lives through the Alternative Learning System. I believe that with my role as an ALS Implementer is indispensable in transforming people to become a productive member of the society. For some, their lives may seem hopeless but with education, they can have wonderful and fruitful lives.

For several consecutive years that I have conducted Outreach Activities and ALS Learning sessions inside the jail facility in the duration of my being an ALS Implementer, I have been satisfied with the result of what I do. There were countless discouragements and challenges including economic constraints of having to sustain an outreach activity through personal expense and conducting learning sessions with ALS Learners who are PDLs with diverse behaviors. These do not stop me anyway from my call to bring hope to people in my community through the ALS program. I went on with the journey which was difficult but fulfilling.

My request to conduct an Outreach Activity scheduled for this year was granted by the APJ Administration. So, I did a lot of preparation. In the middle of my preparation, I thought about Greg.  For reason I do not know, I am worried of Greg’s reaction for the activity. He is just a newbie in the facility and is not yet oriented on my program. I was caught between the thought of just pursuing the activity or doing some engagement first with the PDLs. I went to sleep that night with a prayer that I will overcome my worries about Greg.

A week before the outreach activity, I did a research about Greg. I sought the assistance of some people I know inside the facility. My purpose for doing so is not to humiliate him for his behavior but for me to understand why he behaves so and I felt the social responsibility as an ALS Implementer to assist him find himself in a better position to become more humane and develop compassion to other people around him.

My heart was torn for what I learned about Greg. After what I found out, he looked so fragile to me. For a 20 year-old he has been through a lot. He has been charged with murder for the death of his stepfather. He committed the crime when he was 16 and was confined at the Bahay Pag-asa, a facility for Children in Conflict with the Law or minor offenders. Accordingly, he is the result of his mother’s intimate relationship with her cousin. His father, who is his mother’s cousin, was murdered by a neighbor. And he was only informed about his father, when he attended the wake of his supposedly Uncle but turned to be his father. As a child, he had carried heavy burdens and he expressed his dissatisfaction about life through aggression and unbecoming behavior. He had been influenced by his peers to become a delinquent student in his school and for frequent troubles and absenteeism, he was dropped from school. He became an unwanted teenager in their barangay as he was always involved in disorders. At 16, he was accused of killing his stepfather. Apparently, when he saw his stepfather hitting his mother, he stabbed him twice that caused his instantaneous death. When he was committed to the facility for CICL, he escaped twice that caused him to be transferred to the jail facility at the age of 18. Since then, he became too inconsiderate of people around him.

It took me time to realize that what happened to Greg was real. He has been a victim of life’s circumstance and I am even more inspired to light his path towards a better life. And for what I swore to my profession, I am determined to do all I can to transform his life. Without a second thought, I continued my Outreach Activity.

The Outreach Activity paved way for me to reach out to people like Greg. There were gift giving, parlor games and Holy Mass activities conducted as part of the outreach. For a while, I forgot my worries about Greg. In the corner of my eyes, I saw Greg enjoying the activity. And in that moment my heart leaped for joy. Then, I thanked everyone for their significant participation. In the last portion of my speech, I introduced the ALS program and encouraged all interested to join my class as I will be visiting them often for class instruction.

A month after my visit in the jail facility, I was surprised to see Greg as one of those who enrolled in ALS. In our classes, I saw great interest and improvement. And with this, Greg completed the program and passed the evaluation. Their graduation was my last glimpse of Greg. I never had a chance to see him again after that.

“Good morning ma’am can you fill up some information in our logbook before entering the facility?” I heard a familiar voice. It was Greg! The new security guard of the building. Tears fell in my eyes. ALS has helped him reintegrated to the community and landed on a stable job after his release from jail. ALS transforms lives like that of Greg.