Sharing Kindness During Cebu Worldwide Instameet 15
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| All kids! Kids by age and kids by heart! (photo by @foureyedlaagan) |
"Hitting two targets with just one stone." This is Cebu Worldwide Instameet 15 was all about - Outreach Activity and Instagrammers' Meetup.
Worldwide Instameet is bi-annual meetup event of Instagram users in order to connect and network with fellow users and participate in different activities related to a given theme. Instagrammers will have the chance to enjoy each other’s company, gain new friends and at the same time gather ideas and plans on what will be good and beneficial for the group.
The 15th Worldwide Instameet was held last March 26, 2017 at Brgy. Luz's Barangay Hall in Cebu City. It was organized by the Cebu Instagram Community. The event’s theme correlated the act of sharing kindness to the little children living in the said barangay.
It was my first time to join this. I never knew this existed until one blogger friend of mine shared the details to his wall. Upon reading the event description, I got interested so I signed up. It was perfect on my schedule as well because the date fell on a weekend, my rest day from corporate work. Few days before the event, the organizing team were looking for some volunteers in order to provide assistance on the actual day. You know me, yes, I volunteered myself. Volunteering is one of my ways not to get intimidated or feel awkward especially that this was my first time. The act of volunteerism gave me the feeling of "belongingness" to the group.
On the day of the event, my journey going to the venue was very funny and a little awkward, too. I almost wanted to go home because I was lost literally, lol! I’m not very good nor a master of directions and places of Cebu. Instead of going to the Barangay hall, I went straight to the school because that was the only place I was familiar with. It took me almost 15 minutes before finally able to hit the right place. Thanks to my friends who picked me (Iji and Ciji).
I saw many little, innocent kids as I entered the venue. I’ve never seen such plenty of kids for 5 years already. I guess that’s what happens when you plant your butt in the office and at home, hehe. Moving on, we started the program for the kids. We threw games to them that they surely enjoyed namely “Don’t Break the Fita”, “Heep Heep, Hooray!” and “Paint Me a Picture”. Through these, they’re able to work as a team and gave their best strategies to win…which are really good. We also provided them goodies as prizes. With the help and kindness of our sponsor, we were able to give them free lunch. Yay!
After the kids' activities, it’s time for the grown ups – us! Yay! We gathered a circle and started the getting-to-know each other session. Some of the instagrammers were already my friends (but not close though), some I just met online through social media and some I didn't know. We introduced ourselves and state a sentence or two about what we’re doing in life. The group was composed of bloggers, developers, entrepreneurs and more. Very cool because there’s a diversity of individuals at that time. We also ate together in one big table just like one big happy family and continued on discussing, might as well chitchatting, about our daily lives, activities and future plans.
This is one of the memorable events I have attended to so far because I met and greeted really lots of kids approximately 50 of them. I was happy to see such innocent faces because I could think of my childhood days. I was once like them - innocent and vulnerable. Apart from that, I was able to gain new cool friends and got to talk a little bit of their life – work, likes and plans.
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| Yay, new friends! Follow us and we'll followback :) |
Thanks to our generous sponsor - Virginia Food Inc. and Virginia Premium Hotdog for making this event possible. Thanks as well to Christopher John and the rest of the team for spearheading. Until next time, see you guys!
