On Immersion

I was directed to this post by Nico, who got it from Jules (Cabigon)'s post:

http://juliusivan.multiply.com/photos/album/132/MGA_ATENISTA_READ_THIS?replies_read=19

I think Jules' post is restricted to his contacts, so I just attached the screen grabs

My thoughts on the matter:

I did not think the facilities at our immersion site (Napindan, Taguig) rivalled the comforts of a fancy shmancy hotel, or home, and I did cringe at a lot of things. I was relieved when I got back to the dorm after my immersion weekend and take a long hot shower. There's no denying any of that. However, I think what some students fail to realize is that the point of the immersion experience is not to provide students with a grand vacation or a literal walk in the park. In this country, and in countless others around the world, social inequity has become a way of life. Most have become so desensitized to the tragedy that has befallen this race because we live with it every single day. We pass shanties on our way to work. We look absently out the window at beggars and toddlers rummaging through trash to find a decent meal. Our trash is, quite literally, their treasure. Though the immersion experience can not and will not make staunch advocates of us all, at the very least, it will send the tiniest waves of realization lapping at our feet. I just find it sad, really, that for some, the experience failed to achieve this for this girl. It would have made a better person out of her.