APRIL 2016 Preda Foundation,Olongapo City .
INTERNSHIP FOR STUDENTS OF ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCAIL WORK,PSYCHOLOGY,LAW, FAIR TRADE BUSINESS, HUMAN AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.
Smiling and happy the eight students of Uma University in Sweden completed their 30 days intensive practicum training at the Preda Social and Human Development training course. This program has been successfully offere for several years to University students in the Philippines and from many countries. Students from Korea, Japan, Ireland, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands,the United States and Canada have completed the course with high grades and the acknowledgement of their University.
Students in the course studying Social work and psychology and related subjects are assigned to study the case folders and social history and emotional lives of the children. These are children rescued by Preda Social workers from abusers ,sex traffickers and illegal detention centers.
They are victims of sexual commercial exploitation abuse and under therapeutic recovery at the Home for Abused children. The Intern social workers and Psychology students get to visit the children,join in games and art activities and come to know and understand the children They learn the root causes of the abuse and can place it in its social context .
The personal contact is also an important part of learning and understanding. They are assited
by the Preda Senior social workers, therapists and counsellors.They are interpreters and acting as mentors to the intern students.They help the students to process their experiences at the Preda home for children. Back at the study center they evaluate the knowledge,lessons learned and the rare experiences of engaging personally with the children who have endured and overcome the worst traumatic effects of abuse.
There are refection and discussion sessions with the Director of Social studies and questions are answers with the students as they engage in research and evaluation.They write weekly journals to report their progress and keep a journal of their reactions and feelings in doing the work with the children and the staff.
The interpersonal relations is friends and professional at the same time .They can chat and talk with the children and they show there concern and compassion and understanding of their plight.
The social research carries them to the homes of the children and to meet the parents and to witness and join in the Family Therapy when the parents are brought to the Preda children’s home for training and good parenting seminars.
The Inters also see how the reconciliation and conflict resolution techniques work and are effective and when the are not so effective. They see the Preda methods to reconcile the parents and children. or win over the neglectful parents to support their child. The Intern also learns how the Preda therapeutic community implements it holistic program of affirmation and emotional expression therapy. This healing process is an effective and emotional challenging experience that the Intern comes to understand and appreciate
The Interns visit the jail and participate int he release of children to the Preda boys and girls homer’s and they witness the social conditions of the child in the jails and make reports and research on the violation of Human rights. Many students of international law and human tights violations have taken the course and have had great learning experiences and were able to help many of their children.
The Interns participate and learn about advocacy, through mass media and in the presentations that are made by the Preda education team.They visit schools colleges and elementary school giving seminars for parents and local government officials on human rights ,the rights of the children and how abuse and human trafficking can be prevented. They see too how human rights are promoted through the action of children and working with social workers and human rights advocates.
They see the reintegration process and the aftercare. With Preda social workers they can visit the homes of the children who have been reintegrated.They attend the court hearings where the child may be testifying against the abuser.
Legal minded Interns have the opportunity to attending court hearings, talk with the officials and work on court cases and research and write actual pleadings and motions for cases where children and the Preda para legal social worker is pursuing justice .
There are many options for the intern to experience a wide range of opportunities to expand the knowledge and learn how social work therapeutic recovery from abuse is done in a development country.
Students of anthropology and business and development learn a lot by doing Internship in Preda development fair trade among the marginalized Filipino farmers and the Aeta Indigenous people that helped by the Preda Foundation.
Intern students studying anthropology ,development and business can have unique experience in immersion in the culture and village life of the indigenous people. They also can join the Fair Trade enterprise work and visit the villages of the indigent people and participate int he organic training and educational process for organic growing .Students of anthropology have a unique opportunity to live the remote villages of the Aeta people and to learn and study their medicinal herbal culture and survival strategies in very difficult circumstances.
They are discriminated against by society as a whole and the students can learn the damage discrimination has on the people and see the positive reinforcement provided by the Preda cultural respect and self image building efforts through Fair Trade and development projects. Development students get a lot of learning experience and enjoy living in the villagers and helping with the implementation of development projects with the people.
Internships have a strong impact on the character and personality of the students and they have a new and different perspective on their own lives and the lives of the people in a developing country with a difference vulture and language and history than in their owe. The intern at Preda learns to cross cultural and racial barriers and come to appreciate the gifts ,talents and life values and culture of the people. Preda makes this possible.The intern students leave for their future studies and careers with a deeper appreciation and understanding of the people they encounter and work with.
