Why do I think the SoSa model works?

I have been telling people from when I returned about why I think we have added value to our client organizations and also learnt a lot ourselves. Below are the testimonials from the clients in the closing ceremony :

“It has been a great pleasure and privilege for our team to have had the SAP Social Sabbatical team with us for a month. To have a team of outsiders look into our business, and in this case a team of experts map our processes, is extremely beneficial to our growing organization. We are committed to ensuring that the seed that the SAP team has planted will be properly executed and by doing so, the help from SAP will extend to even the young adults that Messy Bessy will take in our program in the years to come. Lastly, having the SAP team with us for a month also opened the eyes of our young adults to the reality that we are all connected as humans, even if we live miles apart and come from very diverse cultures. The SAP Sabbatical is such a beautiful, inspiring and fruitful initiative that I personally wish more companies would follow suit,” said Krie Lopez, Founder of Messy Bessy. 

Speaking on the impact of the SAP Social Sabbatical, Jim Ayala, Chairman of Solar Energy Foundation Philippines said, “Millions of Filipino student are unable to study at night because their communities are unelectrified. The Solar Library program of StiftungSolarenergie – Solar Energy Foundation Philippines enables these kids to keep up at school by making solar reading lights available for them to bring home with their books. The SAP team helped us enormously by accessible by project managers and community partners across the country. The tool kit is community-friendly and culture-sensitive, which is important for acceptance and sustainability. Their work will really help us accelerate the roll our of our Solar Libraries!”

“The SAP Social Sabbatical was such a great experience for the Hapinoy Team at multiple levels. We were able to get he benefit of world-class talents helping us deeply analyze and strategize our social business model and operations, with very concrete outputs that can really help us catapult even further,” said Mark Ruiz, Co-founder and President of Hapinoy. “But more than that, their interaction with team was extremely invaluable – they have helped us think and reflect on Hapinoy and our individual work with new, fresh perspectives. We are very, very grateful to Yasar, Michelle, and Joerg – a group we affectionately call our “Magicians.”

“We are very grateful for our SAP fellows! Priscilla, Caroline, and Vineet were amazing partners and advocates. In the short time they have dedicated with us, we felt their dedication and passion. They provided us with process analysis and recommendations for sales and product design,” said Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, President of Rags2Riches, Inc.

Heart and Soul in Manila!

I am physically back in Bangalore  and really happy to see my family. But I feel like I left my heart and soul back in Manila. The nostalgia wave hits me and I can't stop ruminating about all the things I experienced there. Some of the alumni from the Bogota Social Sabbatical had told me of this feeling upon return where you feel like you cannot express your experiences in a way that others who haven't been on the same journey can understand. It's like you underwent such a special journey that mere words can't do it justice and you feel so disconnected back in your normal life.

Here are some of the changes I perceive after being back :

• The bed in your home is never as soft as the one in the hotel.

• You have this macro view of the world and always tend to look at the big picture and cannot comprehend the mundane day-to-day complaints.

• You try to find meaning in every action you do and while I get back to my regular job - I find myself asking " What's the real reason for me to do this? "

• While I am grateful for the experience and opportunity - it is still a little sad to acknowledge that its truly over. A small voice in my head tells me while you may meet some of the colleagues from SoSa Manila, you will never meet the entire group together.

Our Journey - A flashback!

We have come to the end of this beautiful journey. We had an amazing farewell from the Messy Bessy team - with the learners dancing on a Bollywood number , singing a Chinese song ,  doing a traditional Filipino dance along with a lots of food served with oodles of love. I was all teary-eyed and emotional and was really touched to see them put in so much effort for us. Krie and all the managers were very warm too and I will never forget this experience. We have tried to capture our journey in the above video.

Today was the closing ceremony at the SAP Manila office and this too was splendid. It was interesting to see the other teams with their clients and we all got a sense of the work the teams did. There was even a media event with local newspapers and TV channels interviewing Darren [ SAP MD, Philippines ], the social entrepreneurs [ Krie from Messy Bessy,Reese from R2R, Jim from SEF and Mark from Hapinoy ] along with Social Sabbatical speakers [ Vince, Priscilla , Kathrin and Yasar]. I felt like I was in one of those out of body experiences where you cannot believe what an incredible time you are having and you have these people in the same room - all saying and feeling similar things. It is truly incredible to witness inter-connectedness and a sense of being and feeling the same in-spite all the differences that diversity can bring.  I sometimes feel that I cannot do justice with words to express all that I am feeling! Maybe I can comprehend it all better when I return to my regular life. 

Ice skating rink, cats and the walking tree!

This was a busy week - we tried to spend as much time together as a group as well as tried to maximize the time with the client in order to give an end deliverable that is truly meaningful. Before the week started , I spent the Sunday afternoon with the girls - Michelle and Kathrin at the SM mall of Asia. Was a fun weekend - shopping, eating and generally hanging out. Was surprised to see a huge ice skating rink in the middle of the mall!

[ L to R - Clockwise ] Kathrin enjoying eating the Croissant, passion fruit tea at the mall, Band performing @ SM Mall of Asia , Real looking plastic Japanese food , Skating Rink

  

Bambi from Solar Energy Foundation organized a trip to Barbara's in Intramuros for us to experience the Philippine culture. There was good food and the dances were breathtaking. Vince managed to do the traditional Philippine bamboo dance blindfolded. We spent a nice evening pub hopping till late at night when trees on the street  started attacking DJ!That’s when we decided to call it a night and it is one of those evenings that will get talked about a lot by the group in months to come!

DJ and the attacking tree!

I found to my surprise that I have a second cousin ( who I had only met once in my life many many years ago while I was still in school ) who lives just a street away from our hotel in Makati. I visited them on Sunday night and found myself sitting in their living room for a few minutes with a black cat and small white kitten for company. I wouldn't say I love cats and being in the same room alone in a new environment with two of them was quite spooky. To add to the drama, the black one jumps on top of the dining table  and begins chasing the tiny kitten. I sat petrified while watching the cat bite and attack the little kitten. A small part of me wanted to save the kitten, but the fear of them kept me rooted to my corner on the sofa. In 5 minutes my cousin walked in and I was told  the cats were only  "playing" and that the little kitten will survive. I know for sure I am scarred and don't think I can say I am ok with having cats as pets!

Service Weekend

Tour of the Virlanie Homes
[L to R Clockwise] Najee showing us the playground, Babies and toddler home, Mobile School that goes to far flung areas and volunteers set up blackboards and teach children from that area, Bunkers for the kids, Art work by the children at the Drop in Center.

We are entitled to 2 free breakfasts at the Citadines Hotel and we decided to pack up our second breakfast everyday to give to the children of the Virlanie Foundation. This is a foundation in Manila that gives a reason for street children to smile. Andrie was kind enough to take us to this child caring institute, where we met Najee the campaign officer who took us on a tour of the place. The place that broke my heart was the toddler home where we met around 10 toddlers all longing to be hugged. As soon as we entered the room they all lifted their arms to be carried and as soon as I carried Angie - 3 yr old girl, she hugged me tight. Was really nice spending time with them , but was also hard to say goodbye. Some of them started crying when we left and it was heart wrenching to have to walk away.

Angie and I

Children at Virlanie

On Saturday morning we visited another organisation that works with children in the SOS Village. This village is nested in a typical "Village" setup in Manila i.e amidst the posh residential villa properties in Manila Alabang. We were allotted to houses and spent time with the kids from the house. The concept of SOS was unique for the fact that siblings were kept together and assigned to a house. This house is a decent property with a porch, garden and all the amenities of a normal household. The idea is to give the children a sense of belonging and normalcy so as to foster their growth and independence. We spent half a day with them and was fun to interact. Some pictures from SOS village: