By Glen Andrea Omandam
At eight years old, Rhenelyn Chanthavysouk had already crossed borders to volunteer in Japan. A decade later, that early experience has grown into a call for Sillimanians to have greater access to international volunteer opportunities, this time informed by her stint in Central Europe.
Chanthavysouk, a second-year Psychology student, is now pushing for better access to international volunteer opportunities among Sillimanians after participating in the Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CC-IVS) Skills International Certification Lab from Sept. 6 to 12 in Hungary.
She served as the sole Philippine representative and one of two Southeast Asians from the Global Initiative for Exchange and Development, a nonprofit organization that empowers citizens through IVS.
Chanthavysouk said that she used her platform as a Filipino representative in the skills lab to “speak a lot about underprivilege.”
“I told the participants [that] in Southeast Asia, these sorts of opportunities, they’re considered super high privilege. They were like, ‘What? Everyone in my country thinks it’s normal. We all do this,’” she said.
The five-day lab worked on a framework for certifying soft skills gained through IVS. It’s built on skill clusters such as cognitive competencies, teamwork, civic action, and climate justice and sociopolitical awareness, among others.
It included participants from across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America and local associations from Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Australia, Mozambique, and Malawi.
Chanthavysouk said a certificate would challenge the idea that IVS served as a way to get “free tourism or free visa” and would recognize individuals’ growth in professional and team settings.
“Having these skills be put on a certificate really recognizes that you have grown as a person, as a team worker, anything in general and therefore you can use this in your CVs, in your resumes,” she said.
The Psychology student said Southeast Asian countries face fewer opportunities than other countries, where students receive greater government and institutional support.
Chanthavysouk also said many Sillimanians “have the talent and have the mind to contribute to IVS,” yet lack access to opportunities.
“If Silliman wants to pride itself as a quality place of education, then it should make it more accessible for students […] If you pride yourself as well on holistic development, you should make holistic development more accessible beyond the walls of Silliman,” she said.
Chanthavysouk furthered that she aims to partner with the SU Internalization Office to establish a student organization that offers IVS programs.
Meanwhile, student representatives from SU recently flew abroad for the ACUCA camp, Japan Service-Learning program, and BioTech congress.
She said that the university should further strengthen support to students seeking IVS, as “the youth understand the actual needs of the people right now.”
