Social workers are often unsung heroes. Working with the disadvantaged and vulnerable, their work is mostly off the radar screen. Yet the work they do is courageous and often remarkable.
CNN has named Filipino Efren Peñaflorida its ‘2009 Hero of the Year.’ Efren is a social worker and educator in the Philippines, who works with Filipino youth by using a pushcart.
Peñaflorida and his group of volunteers take their Kariton Klasrum (pushcart classroom) to different sites across the city, every Saturday. They go to where the children are: the cemetery, the municipal trash dump, and the deplorable housing conditions. They teach basic lessons in Mathematics, English, and Science along with basic hygiene to poor and underserved children.
Peñaflorida knows that poor children are most susceptible to gang influence and membership. Just like the children he serves today, when he was younger, a gang member challenged to a fight. But, Efren walked away and embraced his education, promising to create a positive alternative for other children to build a better life.
At 28 years of age, Efren, the founder of “Dynamic Teen Company” offers Filipino youth an alternative to gangs through education.
“Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man, woman of different colors, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry. Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need,” said an emotional Peñaflorida, during his acceptance speech.
“So to each and every person inside in this theater and for those who are watching at home, the hero in you is waiting to be unleashed,” he added. “Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve. As I always tell to my co-volunteers of the Dynamic Teen Company you are the change that you dream as I am the change that I dream and collectively, we are the change that this world needs to be.”
What would it take to unleash your hero? How can you serve others above yourself? How can you be a hero at work?
Seeing our work as an act of service is key to the experience of spirit at work, that sense that our work is meaningful, engaging and that we make a difference.
Val Kinjerski, PhD, is a leading authority in the field of employee engagement and on the topic of “spirit at work.” A consultant, agent of change and inspirational speaker, she helps companies and organizations increase employee retention and boost productivity by reigniting employees’ love for their work. Check out her Spirit at Work Program and Inspired Leadership training at www.kaizensolutions.org. Val is the author of Rethinking Your Work and Rethinking Your Work Guidebook. Available now at www.rethinkingyourwork.com.
December 11th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Nice article. I agree. I’m not a social worker, but in public school education. I’ve seen social workers doing the work (and better than) that of a psychologist, going out to the homes of the families of those children with difficulties to see how best to help the families, and being at the forefront in the schools to help and protect the children.
December 11th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Thanks Scott. We all have the opportunity to make a difference through our work, regardless of the work we do. I just find that social workers often don’t get the credit they deserve.