Creating ties amid the pandemic

By Donna Darantinao

HAPI Youth Ambassador

New opportunities were launched for the youth during the two-day virtual activity conducted by HAPI Youth named Building Blocs: Creating Connections for the Youth last July 10-11 through Zoom.

The event was filled with insightful talks from invited guest speakers. For the first day, Jef Menguin, a virtual mentor and learning strategist, talked on visionary leadership while on the second day, AJ Ballares, an advocate and current board of trustee for HAPI, talked about in-depth humanism. The participants were very interactive with the answering questions asked by the speakers and were also able to ask challenging questions regarding the topics delivered.

The two-day webinars are only part of a preparation for our participants to be able to execute leadership through humanism. After the two talks, the event was culminated with a round of project pitching. Participants were able to provide suggestions on how to further improve future activities.

Further, the Embet Carillo, HAPI Camarines Sur’s lead convenor was granted a budget to start-off with HAPI activities in his chapter which according to him still needs a lot of work and that it is important for him that people know and understand humanism before heading any activity or outreach.

The event was participated by members from different HAPI chapters such as HAPI Bacolod, HAPI Dumaguete, HAPI Northern Mindanao, HAPI Camarines Sur, HAPI Jr., HAPI Bulacan, some members who do not have a chapter yet, and some non-HAPI members.

Moreover, it was possible through Young Humanists International (YHI), HAPI, and the HAPI Youth staff members and volunteers.