In the previous blog post, I shared a little about my Philippines trip. This time, I want to share some of the charity work we did during the trip, and our exciting new project with the Virlanie Foundation. With the approval of myself, our co-founder, Charley Valher, and the unmeasurable enthusiasm of my team from all over the Philippines and Nepal, our team decided to visit the Virlanie Foundation in Makati City, Philippines.
“This foundation cares for underprivileged and abandoned youth, as well as child abuse victims. “
Apart from distributing school supplies such as crayons, pencils, and sketch pads, we were fortunate enough to be able to conduct a seminar with the youth there.
“The goal of our seminar was to not just educate them on the kind of work we do online, but show them what kind of opportunities are out there for them.“
Our individual team members shared all kinds of stories about their background and how working with Outsourcing Angel was able to change their lives. We heard everything from our graphics animator who continued to build on his drawing hobbies by paying for internet café access to watch instructional videos on YouTube, to team members who struggled to or actually weren’t able to finish college due to their parents not being able to send them to school. We wanted to show them that setbacks like not being able to finish school, or just not being born into the most fortunate life doesn’t mean that they can’t succeed in life. By finding what they truly enjoy and polishing their skills and talent, just as our team members had done themselves, someone will eventually see value in them. I also shared my story of being a young girl in Vietnam who didn’t even have the ‘luxury’ of a cool sip of cola, instead I watched my parents serve it to relatives visiting from overseas. I explained that this sparked my ambitions of living a life where I can proudly say I deserve the great things that my parents chastised me for “dreaming too high for my own good”. After being lucky enough to migrate to Australia without speaking a word of English, I worked hard to become the successful business owner I am today.
“But I explained that success doesn’t wait for anyone. “
Luck, such as being fortunate enough to move to Australia, only gets you a few steps ahead, what gets you to the finish line is your hard work and dedication. After giving the individual participants advice on how they can turn their hobbies and dreams into real work, our team members all felt a deep, personal connection with Virlanie Foundation. They saw in these children the similar troubles and the same ambitions that many of them felt at that age, and we realised that we couldn’t just leave it like this. We needed to do more than just leave our contact details for keen workers. Instead, we immediately got back into contact with the Virlanie Foundation and began discussing the possibility of conducting regular workshops and a connected internship program for the youth there.
“We will be able to equip them with real, workable skills in design, writing, and coding, and we’ll also be able to create a path of employment for those who are determined to excel.”
If not with us, we plan on helping them with the skills that would help them find employment with other businesses. Although this sounds like another case of “dreaming too big for our own good”, we’re excited to announce that this proposal is well and truly coming along! The foundation graciously accepted our proposal and we are currently working on fine tuning the details. This project is expected to start in the near future, and the excitement amongst my team is incredible. I look forward to telling you more about the progress of this program and other exciting work in the future. Lastly, I can’t properly express how proud I am of my team for making this happen. Of course I was also involved in this, but the initiative and enthusiasm that my team has demonstrated to help these young people has filled my heart with pride over how wonderful my team truly is.
“I also can’t explain just how grateful I am for all the clients who have worked with me over the years.”
I wouldn’t be able to extend support on a global level, through Outsourcing Angel, if it wasn’t for the amazing clients, and I would like to thank you all for making this possible.
