In this interview, we hear from Ellah Fornillos. Ellah is working as a Peace Corps Youth Development volunteer in the Philippines. What Ellah shares gives us a better understanding of the work volunteers do. We learn about the challenges, rewards, and personal growth that happens from volunteering in a new place. Ellah talks about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about Ellah’s journey and see how volunteering with Peace Corps can change lives.
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Can you tell us more about serving as a Youth Development volunteer in the Philippines?
In the Philippines, Youth Development volunteers are deployed to two main types of sites: a local government unit or an NGO. For my service, I was placed at an NGO in Cebu City. My site is an urban children’s shelter for children without parental care that is home to about 100 kids, aged 3-23. We receive admits via referral from the local government’s social welfare division, and oftentimes, new admits arrive together with their siblings.
Although my main responsibilities include teaching life skills to ages 10+ and empowering youths’ transitions to a self-sufficient adulthood outside of the shelter, I also help create partnerships with local organizations to expand opportunities for youth and nurture relationships with current stakeholders to support existing funding and programs.
Working at a shelter and with school-age children often means working outside of the normal Monday-Friday, 9-5 schedule. Most of my participants are in school until 3 pm, so I rarely have busy mornings in the office and am most active in the afternoons. When planning activities, I usually try to schedule them for an hour or two once they are all home from school, or alternatively, on the weekends when the children and youth are most available.
This also means that my shelter is particularly busy around holidays or summer break when the children and youth are home all day, and it’s our task to keep them busy with activities.
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose the Philippines?
I began volunteering in my community in high school, but really discovered a passion for it once I was in college and volunteering with a local grassroots organization in Seattle. I became interested in international development through my volunteer work and had a deep desire to build more on-the-ground experience after graduation.
I saw an opportunity in the Peace Corps after meeting with a recruiter on campus, and I chose Youth Development based on my previous experience volunteering with children and youth. I chose to come to the Philippines because I’m Filipino-American, born in the Philippines before immigrating to the United States at age 4. Serving in the Philippines seemed like a perfect opportunity to not only serve the United States but also give back to the community of my home country and reconnect with my culture!
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. Tell us more about your home situation
I live in a staff house on-site at the shelter! It has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a shower, and a toilet, all to myself! It’s a very generous set-up, and I feel very lucky to live here. My neighbors are a few coworkers also in staff housing, and of course, the shelter houses (5-8 kids, 1-2 house mothers per house). The grounds are beautifully adorned with flowers and fruit trees by the house mothers who love to garden, and there are many roaming cats adopted by the shelter houses.
During my first three months at site, I ate all three meals at one shelter house per day and would rotate through each one to get to know the house mothers and the children. When I have visitors, they always ask me if I know every kid’s name, and the answer is yes! It feels very much like a big family compound here, and the house mothers have come to treat me as one of their own.
After my 3-month immersion, I started cooking my own food at home. I’m lucky to be at an urban site with a big supermarket and produce stands just 5 minutes from my house. I love to cook and have really come into my own with my culinary skills since service. For exercise, I either go to a local open-air gym just 5 minutes from my house or go on runs through my neighborhood.
Since I live on-site, my office is just a 2-minute walk from my house. I was initially apprehensive about living where I work, but I’ve found my privacy to be really respected here and my time off from work to be truly mine. I’m also grateful that although I’m in the bustling city, the compound is tucked away from major roads, and my living situation is so quiet and peaceful. In the morning, I can always hear the birds chirping, and I love to hear the kids playing outside from my house.
4. Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had?
Living on-site at my work has honestly been the most memorable part of my service, as I know I’ll likely never live somewhere like this again! It has been such a unique experience to live in what is essentially a miniature car-free subdivision where the adult-to-child ratio is 1:10. I rarely walk outside my house without hearing hello, being approached for a chat, and being offered cut-up fruit or fresh produce.
What adds to this experience is that this is my first time living in a unit by myself, as I have always had roommates prior to service. Learning to live alone has been a big area of growth in my service, but I have felt comforted by these sorts of “training wheels” in being surrounded by people who all know me and care for me.
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about challenges in the Philippines?
The biggest challenge that I have faced working in the Philippines is adjusting to the slower pace of life here. Everything from work events, transportation, and tasks has adopted an “island time” attitude, and that was initially very frustrating and difficult to become accustomed to. It’s normal for things to start up to two hours late, transportation to spontaneously delay for hours or cancel altogether, and simple tasks like mailing a parcel to take an hour to complete due to long, drawn-out queues. Although I have learned to plan and expect delays, nearly two years in, I still find myself at times working through irritation at thwarted plans.
6. What challenges did you face while working on Youth Development projects?
Creating and planning skills sessions for in-school youth in the Philippines came to me with the unanticipated hurdle of working around a dated educational structure in-country. The learning style of in-school youth is influenced by large class sizes, outdated module-based learning, and rote memorization, which poses the challenge for me to make trainings fun, engaging, and dynamic without putting students in a learning environment that may be too far outside of their comfort zone. Attendance in these sessions can also fluctuate, and it’s difficult not to feel discouraged at a small turnout for an event you worked so hard on.
I realized the value of nurturing relationships and building trust with the youth. Once I opened myself up and the youth got to know me, they were much more receptive to participating in sessions. It also allowed me to get to know the youth in turn and familiarize myself with their needs and interests to tailor skills sessions and trainings to them. I also learned to be patient and flexible- sometimes an event wouldn’t pan out as I had liked, or hadn’t drawn as much participation as I was hoping.
Learning to roll with the punches in this capacity has helped me stay positive and move forward rather than feeling stuck from road bumps.
7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved?
My main secondary running project has been to help capacitate children and youth in public speaking. At the shelter, we organize an array of events to host visitors, stakeholders, and donors. The programs are emcee’d by children and youth whom I’ve trained in public speaking. I help them familiarize themselves with the program flow, writing and helping them write a script for the program, and how to speak confidently- all in English! Not only does this help the children practice their English skills, but it also builds self-confidence and leadership.
Additionally, I have helped run and organize a variety of multi-day camps that my shelter has participated in. Most of these camps occur during the children’s long summer vacation and are held in the rural province outside of the city. My shelter participates alongside other agencies from the city, so the camps can have as many as 100 participants from multiple shelters.
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to someone considering serving as an YD volunteer in the Philippines?
I think the happiest and most fulfilled volunteers are those who come into this experience having no expectations while also having an open mind and heart. Being open to whatever service has in store for you, having adequate work-life-play balance, putting yourself out there to meet new people, frequently trying new foods or hobbies, and learning to navigate discouragement and failure have all been cornerstones in my Peace Corps service that have not only made me a better volunteer but a well-adjusted, resilient, and inspired young professional.
9. How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
Aside from the invaluable professional connections I made with fellow volunteers that have enabled us to collaborate through service, the component of training I got the most out of during service was access to amazing Language and Cultural Facilitators (LCF). Especially during PST, LCFs were much more than our language tutors, but a huge emotional support navigating early service, host families, and cultural norms.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future the Philippines volunteers?
I feel like I overpacked too many business casual clothes and not enough clothes that felt like me. For some reason, I didn’t think about when I would be going on vacation in-country, and wished that I had packed more clothes I really enjoyed wearing! I ended up buying a lot of clothes in-country, but wished I had just packed more clothes I loved. I was grateful that I was able to pack with only one checked bag, which I highly recommend future volunteers do because I accumulated so much stuff during service!
11. How has learning the language been?
Every PC Philippines volunteer has to learn Tagalog, the national language, and most learn a second local language once we get our site assignments. I picked up Cebuano, the dialect spoken in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. The Philippines has a whopping 183 living languages that are all distinct from each other. While English is widely spoken in the Philippines in education, professional settings, and in media, I have found that the use of the local language is most important when connecting with your community.
In my service, particularly, as I am working with children, language has been an important component when establishing trust, building relationships, and allowing the kids to communicate with me with as few language barriers as possible. As a result, I’ve been pretty dedicated to self-studying and also finding a tutor when it comes to my local language, and have certainly enjoyed the fruits of my efforts.
Because I’m Filipino-American, I had a different experience learning the language than other volunteers without a Filipino background. My first language and the language my parents speak at home is Waray, a dialect used in the Visayas region of the country. While I never formally learned Tagalog, it was the main language used in social settings with family friends growing up. It was a bit confusing for me to learn Tagalog in a structured curriculum during PST, but Cebuano was much easier to learn due to having more similarities to Waray than Tagalog. A few of my family members are Cebuano-speaking, so it has been really fun (and super beneficial) to practice the three languages with family as well!
Social Identity during Service
12. Impact of your social identity on your service approach
Being Filipino-American serving as a PCV in the Philippines has definitely endowed me with an advantage in learning the local languages, which I am deeply grateful for. My language expertise has helped me navigate through work and daily life with more confidence and a sense of security, and has done so much for me in building relationships with local friends, coworkers, and the children at my work. Because I also blend in with the locals, I haven’t felt the pressures that come along with being a foreigner here, like stares or unwanted chats, which has helped me feel safe during service too!
13. What challenges have you faced as a Filipino-American, and how did you overcome them?
The double-edged sword of serving in the Philippines as a Filipino-American is not fitting the physical idea of a “foreign volunteer.” Therefore, most people don’t really think of me as an American, and I particularly experience much less grace in the language department. At the same time, I definitely enjoy a sense of privilege when getting acquainted with locals when they view me as one of their own. The protectiveness and fondness they cast over me are definitely not lost on me, and it’s especially touching to have my Filipino identity be recognized in this way with having grown up in America and being somewhat detached from my culture in recent years.
14. What advice would you give to other people considering joining the Peace Corps?
I can only speak for volunteers thinking of serving in their home countries, but I can personally say I’m very happy with my experience, and I’m walking away with a much deeper grasp of my Filipino-American identity. It’s so special to be able to return to the Philippines in this capacity, having immigrated at such a young age and returning only for a few months at a time during my childhood.
Now, as an adult, I’ve been able to learn and speak multiple local languages at a high level (which is all I ever wanted growing up), travel this country extensively, experience living close by to my extended family, and I have loved the life I’ve created for myself here. I feel more deeply connected to my roots than I ever have, and am so grateful that the Peace Corps gave me that!
Final Thoughts
15. Any last comments or observations you’d like to pass on to future the Philippines volunteers?
The Philippines is one of the most gorgeous places you could choose to serve, and its people are some of the kindest and most welcoming people you’ll ever know. The United States has a long history in this country, and I would encourage everyone to learn a little bit about the relationship to understand the Philippines as it is today. While our service can seem like a drop in the bucket, you never know how a passing conversation or a small action can ripple even long after you’re gone. Be open, show up every day, learn, unlearn, and relearn, and you’ll make plenty of friends and beautiful memories along the way.
What are you waiting for? Opportunities like this don’t come often. If you have a passion for service and an adventurous spirit like Ellah’s, apply to the Peace Corps today. Expand your horizons, push your limits, and create positive impact as a volunteer. You never know how serving as a Peace Corps volunteer could change your life.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Philippines Government.
