It’s been 9-months ago when my Australian husband and I went back to the Philippines for the Christmas holiday. Indeed, time flies so fast and in a matter of weeks, it will be the Christmas season again!
During our trip, we decided to spend our day volunteering at the DSWD Warehouse in Pasay City.
I’ve been volunteering at DSWD each year since 2016 during the holiday season, right before the new year and it was one of the highlights of my year.
Since I moved to Australia in 2019 and have been away for nearly 3-years, I reckon it is time to visit the warehouse, share my time, and continue the tradition I’ve started – and now tagging my husband!
The DSWD Warehouse in Pasay City opens daily from Monday to Friday (8:00AM to 3:00PM) and is closed during weekends and holidays.
There is no need for us to make an appointment prior to the visit. If we going to do it, might as well do it spontaneously.
(Unless you are planning for a group volunteering, then I suggest you contact them ahead of time).
A lot has changed since my first volunteering experience back in 2016.
Back then, we used to manually tape the DSWD boxes and scoop bags of rice manually.
Nowadays, I’ve noticed that they have new equipment and machinery installed which makes the job a lot easier.
During our visit, we had a daily target of 10,000 relief goods which would be shipped that night to the Mindanao Region. Together with the regular in-house DSWD volunteers, volunteer groups from the private sector, volunteers from the Philippine Navy, and walk-in volunteers like us, we managed to finish more than 8,400 relief goods/care packages.
@blair.villanueva Before the end of 2022, we spent our day volunteering at DSWD helping the team to packed care packages (ayuda/relief goods). Daily target is 10,000 boxes, 5 days a week. We had so much fun and had a very fulfilling experience. My husband love it too and we met new friends! We can't wait to share our time at DSWD when we visit the Philippines soon! #dswd#volunteer#tiktokph#tiktokphilippines#mateship#bayanihan#voluntourism#dswd#foryourpage♬ Lo-Fi electric piano fashionable(840331) - yutaka.T
Working in the warehouse is truly hard labor. You must have the energy to stand and focus on the assigned task, to minimize mistakes.
Overall, it was a great experience and something that my husband enjoys as well (even though he was complaining of back ache the next day, hahahaha.)
We made new friends as well!
They are more amused that I dragged my husband along (and it just so happened that he’s the only foreigner volunteer that day!).
My husband and I both agreed that foreign tourists like him should consider spending their day volunteering at DSWD as part of their travel itinerary.
It is not all hard work at DSWD. The DSWD Team also prepared free breakfast, lunch, snack, and coffee for us all volunteers! That is pretty generous!
It felt so good sharing our time for a cause, and with awesome teamwork, we managed to finish all the tasks. The realization that thousands of families will benefit from this massive supply is truly amazing.
I wish we had stayed longer in Manila so we could spend another couple of days with them.
I would love to bring our kids with us to the Philippines and experience volunteering at DSWD Warehouse.
If you want to share your time, DSWD needs more generous volunteers!
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