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TueOne Tama redefines 'changing the country'*
*This article was written by Klarisse Felix for the September 2009 Issue of The Guidon, the official student publication of the Ateneo Loyola Schools.
WHY WAIT for another People Power Revolution or for our own Barack Obama when we can initiate change through small deeds?
This is what Boyet Dy (AB DS ’06), co-founder of One Tama, emphasized in the culminating activity of the One Tama Week. Dy was a former Sanggunian president.
Partnering with the Development Society (DevSoc), One Tama ran its week-long campaign in the Ateneo from August 24-28. The campaign enticed students to join One Tama by asking them to do good deeds that are so simple that they can be done in the daily.
A response to the famous trait of Filipino folklore character Juan Tamad who prefers to wait than to act to get what he wants, One Tama aims to inspire Filipinos to initiate change in the country by doing these small deeds which would then inspire others to act, as well.
Initiate change
One Tama is a movement launched on February 25 this year by the Duyan ng Giting (Cradle of Valor), a group composed mostly of Atenean alumni that serves as a venue for the members to discuss and solve national issues.
According to Dy, the One Tama campaign started with the observation that Filipinos want change in the country but are hesitant to answer when asked what they would be willing to do for this change to occur.
“I think if you ask any Filipino the question, ‘Do you want our country to change now?’ everyone will answer [with a] yes. But if you change the question a bit, and… ask, ‘Do you want to change our country now?’ perhaps that’s where the hesitation comes in,” said Dy.
Small actions are consequential
According to co-founder Miguel Andre Encarnacion (BS ME ’06), when one wrong action is tolerated, it becomes a culture. One example he cited was cheating.
“Corruption [in our country] starts [in] school because of cheating. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that everyone who cheats will become corrupt. But…sometimes when you allow other people to cheat perhaps one of them might become a corrupt politician in the future,” Encarnacion added.
DevSoc President Cherryl Si said that these misdeeds cause far greater problems. “[The campaign] targets [to change] everyday culture. Simple things such as not throwing your garbage in the proper place, bribing your way out of a problem, and other things that when all of us tolerate actually cause the bigger problems of the country,” she said.
Being aware of the power that small actions have, founders and supporters of One Tama now aim to channel this power to bring about change in the country.
“Actions may seem inconsequential and very simple. And you would think that they may not matter much. But…if you have one country doing [a good act], a lot is done. And essentially, what we want to do is [to change our] culture. If we have one person doing one good thing, it’s so much easier for the next person to do that thing also,” said Dy.
A different campaign
During the campaign, organizers held sign-ups for Ateneans. Signing up for One Tama week entailed doing a good action for the duration of the week which they either picked from a fishbowl, or which they themselves have chosen. They were also given the option to write that good deed on a big placard and to walk around campus wearing this placard.
“The response of the Ateneans [to the campaign] was great. The number of people that we were expecting to pledge [before the campaign] was just around 50 and we exceeded that [number] just on the first day,” said One Tama Week Project Head Camille Marie Nierra.
DevSoc’s final count of Ateneans who pledged during the One Tama Week was 185.
Participant Carlo Joseph Roman said that this may be because people see One Tama as a fun activity more than a campaign.
“Ateneans are treating the campaign as something [you could] do for fun, which I think is good. Its [informal] characteristic, given that volunteers are not [monitored when doing] their [assigned or chosen] deeds, gives us the feeling that it is barely a school activity… [And] because it’s not required, one feels fulfilled whenever [he] is able to do the task,” Roman said.
One Tama is also available online, aiming to also reach Filipinos in areas far from the metro. Its website, created by its partner Ideals Creative, as of press time currently has 3,173 users.
