The AFS IPP Negros Occidental participants namely Elias Vandenbulcke from Belgium-Flanders, Nao Endo from Japan, Isadora Bosi Campelo from Brazil, Daniele Fabris, Mattia Santoro, and Simone Sparapani from Italy, joined the Legacy Camp — Wave 4 on February 23 – 25, 2018, organized by the Sowing Legacy Movement in partnership with the University Community Development Office of UNO – Recoletos, Young Southeast Asian Leader Initiative, Life Bank Foundation, Everyday Titans, Sustainable Solutions Development Network Solution, and the Creamery Print House.
The 3-day camp had series of talks about social responsibility and social issues, whilst espousing the importance of networking, collaboration, and intercultural learning. The AFS participants were joined with 26 other youth participants coming from the different cities in the Philippines and were mentored to become the next wave of social innovators that are empowered with the creative intelligence and confidence to come up with scalable and sustainable solutions with the intention of achieving breadth and depth of impact.
The participants were awarded for their efforts in building legacies in their own little ways. The first session was on Sowing Legacies, where the participants were helped in appreciating their leadership journey, to understand the continuous need to grow and internalize their passion. On their second day, the participants traveled to Mambucal Mountain Resort for their Team Building Activity facilitated by the Youth Empowering Youth Initiative. They were given series of activities that were intended to develop their trust and collaboration with each other. In the afternoon, the second session was Legacy, which focused on advocacy and community development, led by speakers Mariel Obregon (YSEALI alumni), Kurt Cabillon (YSEALI mentor), Jarrah Brillantes (Founder of Batiti Ground Inc.), and Corina Magbanua (Life Bank Foundation), who shared their leadership journey, volunteering stories, success, failures, and learning, with the goal of helping the participants to internalize the essence of legacy and commit themselves to it. The night ended with the YSEALI dinner, where the participants were introduced to what is YSEALI and their activities.
Their last day included an outreach activity at the Libertad Public Market and a session on Legacies in a Global Perspective, which was led by Mr. Xavier Peredo of the SDSN Youth Philippines. His talk revolved around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal and how the youth can help in achieving these goals.