Big Brother/Big Sister Project Testimonials
Online Mentoring
By: Ma. Concecpion ‘Jing’ Ureta, Director Student Assistance Program/Personnel Officer
Notre Dame Of Marbel University
Koronadal City, South Cotabato Philippines

Here are some interesting stories that have made both the mentee and mentor feel good about the exchanges:

Jenny is a secretarial student who lost both his parents when she was in grade school. Her grandparents took care of her . At an early age she learned the hard way to survive. She worked as housemaid, labandera and other odd jobs just to finish high school. Jenny was accepted as a working student in college. She was matched with a mentor who is successful with his career as an IT consultant and belongs to a well to do family. Jenny looked up to him as a big brother who was always ready to listen to her as she narrated about her life, her sickness and her daily struggles. The mentor wrote to me that the exchanges were helping him a lot with his own search for meaning. Jenny showed strength when others would have just died of frustration.

Liezl is a Management Student assigned at the library. I started her in the mentoring program when her unit head was complaining of her frequent tardiness and absences. She told me that she usually helped her family in the morning when it was time for her to go to work. There was no one else left to help her mother who was so sick she had stay in bed all day. She was worried how her family could cope with all the problems they had. Her father was a tricycle driver and was not earning a lot. The medication of her mother was another problem. Her young mind could not cope with all the problems she has to face everyday. Her mentor was a woman who was very successful in her career. Little did I know that I was pairing Liezl to a woman who was sick with cancer. It was helping Leizl cope with the difficulties she was experiencing with a sick mother. I guess it worked both ways for the mentee and the mentor. I told myself that it was indeed divine intervention that two people needing some comfort and assurance in life met at the right time and place.

Gary is another story. He was a battered and abused kid by his own mother. He run away from home and found himself wondering in the streets of Manila. DSWD took care of him and reunited him with his father. However, the father could no longer send him to school since he has his own family already. He worked his way through high school doing odd jobs. When I took him in as a working student I found that he has a lot of potentials that needed to be tapped. I included him in the mentoring project. A loving and caring woman from Washington State gladly took him in as her mentee. Gary found not only a sister but a very caring mother and grandma rolled into one.

Rolly, a T’boli working student had not used the internet facilities of the library before he participated in the mentoring project. He was not lazy but simply did not know how to use the technology for his research and assignments. When he started corresponding with a mentor he had to learn the hard way. He would bring in a friend or a classmate who taught him how to answer emails, write in English and soon enough became confident on what he could do.

I could go on and on with more stories to tell and share. But what is important is that the learnings does not stop from the four-corner room. It can be anywhere at any time at any place. The Online Mentoring project is actually bridging the digital divide between those who have more in life and those with a little less.