Written By: Susanne Mae De La Cruz
The Cebu City “Operation Second Chance” Center is a rehabilitation center for minors who are in conflict with the law. They stay in that place for a matter of months depending on the crime that they have committed. The government gives funds to the center for the inmates’ daily needs such as food, drinking water, and hygiene kit (with soap, shampoo, and toothpaste). The building was built by the government exclusively for this purpose; to keep these young people from doing crimes on the streets and to show them the value of life and how they should live life accordingly.
A picture of Crystal and Abi after the distribution of the soccer uniforms
Rise Above Foundation has been reaching out to the inmates (young people inside) by assigning Danish interns to the center. The interns are sent there to interact and talk with the inmates inside to help give them self worth and encourage them through different activities: like playing sports games, do art projects etc. Through this the young people inside are entertained and engaged with fun activities for them to be cheered up and to be apart from their old, miserable lives that lead them to do crimes. Among the interns that are assigned at the center is Trine Ellehede.
This is Trine, one of the Danish interns working in the CCOSCC for 5 months.
Trine is a 25 year-old student from Denmark and she is in her internship now. She specializes on behavioral science and social interaction and she is studying the behavioral conditions of those who are emotionally unstable such as those who are imprisoned, or those with diseases that seems incurable. She knew about Rise Above Internship program since her friends in Denmark also took their internship with the foundation and she really became interested because of the things that her friends shared with her. So together with 10 other interns from different colleges in Denmark, she joined the internship program of the foundation. She has been here for two months already; which leaves her three more months to complete her internship.
Trine on the motorcycle (or we call it tricycle in the Philippines), having fun.
“I love being here. I wasn’t scared the first time, I was overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed because I was in a cell (inmates’ room) and 40 boys were approaching me, asking my name, shaking my hands and holding my hair. It was funny since they are really different from the young people in Denmark. I thought they would not respect me but they were very welcoming and easy to get along with. They are very sweet”, Trine said with a smile.
The interns are assigned to do projects for these young people. And since the interns were separated into two groups; the girls group and the boys group, they have to produce two separate projects. The boys already have theirs which is the football training and the football league but the girls still cannot make up their mind as to what project they would want to do since they want to do a project especially for girls but then again, there are only five girl inmates. The girl inmates are not allowed to group with the boy inmates, but they are allowed to watch the boys’ activities.
The interns came here in February and approximately they will be going home to Denmark in either July or August, depending on the schedule given to them by their school.
If you want to be a volunteer or join the internship program and travel to the Philippines, contact us at info@riseabove-cebu.org or call us at +63 32 255 1063.
TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Susanne Mae De La Cruz is an intern with Rise Above from the University of the Philippines
