Meeting Place and Time:
Please take note of the different meet-up places for each of the outreach activity.
- Daily Soup Kitchen – 7:30am, in front of Inland Corp. gate (wait outside the gate), Radial Road 10, Tondo (please follow the map )
- Saturday Feeding and Brain Booster – 7:30am, in front of Inland Corp. gate (wait outside the gate), Radial Road 10, Tondo (please follow the map )
- Sunday After School Program – 7:00am at McDonalds LRT-1 Tayuman station
Please be on time to be considerate of the other volunteers and the hungry children waiting in the community.
Briefing of all volunteers at Helping Land begins no later than 8:00 am by an assigned volunteer.
What to Expect:
Helping Land can be muddy regardless of the weather and it is surrounded by garbage. We recommend you wear closed shoes or rubber boots in the rainy season. Bring a scarf or handkerchief and hand sanitizer.
Volunteer Do’s:
- Respect the community.
- Teach children to say “Thank you” or “Salamat po” after giving out their meals/drinks/gifts.
- Encourage children to clean up after themselves. Put trash in garbage bags.
- Actively participate in the activities: distribution of food, brain booster activity, tutorial, etc. Take the initiative to help.
- Endorse any in-kind donations (shoes, clothes, toys, etc.) to Kuya Juan for proper and more efficient distribution. For group sponsors, please follow the maximum number of volunteers allowed for each outreach.
Volunteer Don’ts:
- Do not question the parents or suggest how to live their lives and how to raise their children.
- Inappropriate behavior ( using sexually explicit words and phrases; inappropriate touching)is a big NO and will not be tolerated.
- Do not yell or scream at children. No hitting and/or grabbing children; do not force children to hold hands, or to hug or kiss. Do not force children to take photos with you.
- No cash should be given to any child or adult. No buying of treats (candies, bread, soda, etc.) for the kids.
- No clothing with rude, vulgar, or offensive language; no skimpy clothes, revealing tops and bottoms.
- Do not scold when pointing out errors. Use a positive approach.
Photographing:
- No smoking around kids.
- Use of banners is discouraged.
- Do not show pity. Do not show you are gross out with their living condition.
- No photographs of naked/nude children.
- We have several core volunters who are assigned as photographers, and they will document all the activities.
- You are allowed to take photos. When posting photos of the outreach in social media sites and other websites, please mention Project PEARLS with a link of our webiste (projectpearls.org), and/or use #projectpearls. This is to raise awareness about the program and to encourage more people to support our mission.
- DO NOT take pictures for your personal benefit – photo contest, photo exhibit, professional portfolio, etc. These children are already living in depressing conditions, and we do not want anyone to exploit or take advantage of their situation just for their personal benefit.
- We discourage group of photographers (professional or amateur) in our event. We discourage the use long-range zoom lenses
CODE OF CONDUCT
I fully understand all the rules and regulations made by Project PEARLS and agree that while implementing any of the Organization’s activity, I will:
not physically assault anyone especially the children in the community, including and not limited to hitting and slapping. I will also not punish or discipline any of them physically, I will report it to the Coordinator present in the activity;
not speak any child in a manner that is inappropriate and abusive and I will not use any language that might offend any of them;
not act in ways that may degrade or belittle children, and may result in any kind of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse;
not behave in manners that has negative influence on a child or any of the person present in the event;
not engage in any sexual activity with anyone who is directly receiving support through any of the PEARLS programs, regardless of their age;
not sleep in the same bed or in the same room with anyone who is directly receiving support through any of the PEARLS programs;
not give special treatment to a child and/or spend excessive time with a child that may be deemed inappropriate
not condone or participate in the child’s personal activities that are not related to the event, or that may be considered as unsafe and illegal;
not show inappropriate images, movies, and websites, such as pornography and extreme violence, to children
not use any camera, phones, computers, or any gadgets to take a picture of the children to use as exploitation materials, pornography, child abuse material or anything that might abuse the children;
not take pictures or records of the children naked or inapproriate. I will also not take pictures without their consent;
not talk to the children personally or privately regarding to any subject that is not related to the Activity and will not make any step not given by the Coordinator;
not force the child to give his/her personal information, and to answer questions he/she is not comfortable with;
treat the children/youth in the community equally, without bias, regardless of their sex, religion, color, age, birth or other status;
ensure that another person/adult is present in any activity or program that I will be attending and I will not visit or see any of the children alone or privately. I will always ask permission to the Organization’s highest representative whenever I need to talk to any of the children;
comply to the rules and regulations related but not limited to the Philippine Domestic Laws, International Laws and all the laws that are relevant;
immediately report any breach, non-compliance and offense that will be made the members, volunteers, or any representative of the Organization to the Executive Director of Project PEARLS.
For any issues or concerns, please bring them up directly to Melissa Villa at [email protected], instead of posting them online. Thank you!
