4N’1 Happy Kaarawan: A Celebration of Hope and Love is a flagship activity of Rotaract Club of Central Butuan – Caraga State University conducted last July 26, 2022 at Limaha, Butuan City during the club’s 6th Charter Anniversary. Although oftentimes charter anniversaries are often neglected and are less celebrated, the Rotaractors of Central Butuan – Caraga State University headed by Imaginative President Donmaclyn Lagapa, took the opportunity to celebrate this meaningful event with the kids of Feeding the Precious Lighthouse Inc., a non-government organization whose mission is to feed the hungry and homeless children.
‘4N’1 Happy Kaarawan’ as originally termed as ‘3N1 Plus 1 Happy Kaarawan,’ which was made famous by a Philippine Ice Cream Brand, was revised and used to commemorate what the club’s celebration had to offer. Who would’ve thought that this tagline will be made more meaningful as the Rotaractors launched this flagship activity which in any way have addressed FOUR out of SEVEN Areas of Focus of the Rotary; the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, the Disease Prevention and Treatment, Maternal and Child Health, and the Basic Education and Literacy. This is to mainly help the kids respond to the threats of COVID-19 and to maintain a healthy and highly-functional individual amidst the mental and physical health turmoil we are experiencing today.
The Club conducted a series of sessions to ensure that this flagship activity would be worthwhile without compromising the interests of the attendees, the first activity was the Dance Zumba. The kids along with some of the parents and the Feeding The Precious leaders and workers participated in the Zumba Session to start the activity with jive and active participation. It could be anchored to Rotary’s Area of Focus, the Child and Maternal Health.
Educating children regarding this matter should be given importance, focusing on the five easy steps namely; wet, lather, scrub, rinse and dry – and key time to wash hands, such as after using the bathroom or before eating. Also, this session was not completed without demonstrating the handwashing techniques as the children sang the “happy birthday” song simultaneously.
Furthermore, the club also demonstrated the steps in doing proper hand washing as it has been emphasized that COVID-19 could be anywhere and the best practice to prevent us from having COVID-19 Virus is to religiously wash our hands especially to these kids who have been out on the streets unprotected. (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene).
On the latter part, the officers also distributed COVID-19 kits with the following inclusions; Face masks, Alcohol, Paracetamol Syrup, Antibacterial Soaps with Sanicare Tissue. These have been made more possible due to the sponsorship of the club’s mother club, The Rotary Club of Central Butuan led by Imaginative President Anthony Madayag, Jr., PHF+2, who has in any way helped the Rotaractors raise funds for this event.
Lastly, the most highlighted and inspiring part of this activity is the Story Telling session. With which, Ate Irish, the Club Public Image Director, read 3 meaningful stories to the kids and had them realize the moral lessons of these stories. After each stories, the kids were given a chance to share their thoughts and realizations who have made it more inspiring since who would’ve thought that as early as 7 years old, they could have realized that greediness is bad and that we need to look for solutions to every problem that we may encounter as this is God’s indirect way of preparing us for the future.
After the reflections and thought-sharing, the Club President also asked the kids their dreams and aspirations in life, which made the ates and kuyas more emotional as they wanted to be a Policewoman as they have seen heinous crimes and they wanted to stop this. Some may want to be a nurse or a doctor to heal their ill parents. These are only a few of those responses but what made it more special is that, amidst these kids’ being-throughs and life status, they still are full of aspirations instead of hopelessness and we owe it to them to give support and be the foundation of hope and strength.The program was then closed with a prayer and shared food with the kids.
To have celebrated it with the children whom we put our faith in, meeting them, and also getting to converse with them, there is no denying that plenty of factors affect how our society is now and how it will become in the future; and one of the biggest game changers of our future are: the child in us who’s still looking for improvement, the children we see, the children we choose to guide, the children whom we choose to listen to, to stick with us, and to stand up with and for us.
Children do not limit their dreams as dreams do not limit what children as young as thinking that world peace can happen right when they ask for it, and when they think world hunger can immediately disappear on the dot, can do. Each of them, including us, hopes to make a change in the world and to be of service to others. With that being said, we will continue to be beacons of hope because no action is too small and no words are too silent to help shine a light in places where shadows seem to overpower them. Indeed, it was a momentous celebration for the charter anniversary of Rotaract Club of Central Butuan – Caraga State University.
