Welcome back, MTDubberz! This weeks Mover Monday is a very special one; we are celebrating Prime Ragandang's one year anniversary as Philippine Director of Move This World!! Prime has done an amazing job in the Philippines and his smile never fails to bring brightness to the MTW team. We've compiled some of our favorite experiences with Prime, and we hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy having Prime on our team.
Sara: The two weeks I spent alongside Prime onboarding him in Mindanao were some of the most heart warming, inspiring moments of my career. Prime dropped everything while teaching full-time at the local university to take a bus across the island of Mindanao to meet me for the first time. He knew little about me except for what we discussed over his Skype interview. He had read about the organization online and connected with me virtually while I was in the US, but he took a tremendous leap of faith in leaving everything he knew to dedicate himself full-time to our global movement. We spent the next two weeks going over meeting agendas while eating breakfast, dancing with kids whose eyes lit up at the sound of our music, taking dares from Filipino PeaceMovers who wanted to see an American try new foods, and dreaming big together until the wee hours of the night. Prime and the team he's built in the Philippines are an inspiration to us all. I hope he continues to dance hard, make his vision a reality, have fun, find laughter daily, and bring peaceful behavior to Mindanao and the Philippines.
Jess: My favorite moment was meeting Prime for the first time in person. I was supposed to pick him up from the airport, but was coming from work and a bit late. When I got there, I scoured the airport, but he was outside at the curb, looking all over for me. It was amazing when we connected, in our D4P t-shirts! I took him up to Mount Pleasant in DC, where I lived; we ate Mexican food, which he loved; and he slept like a rock until we had to go to his first Friday programs call - in person! Through all the whirlwind that was the next 4 days of our Global Summit, his attitude, spirit, and enthusiasm moved us all.
Katie: I would love to share the story of Prime's "firsts."
1. We went to the White House in DC, for Prime to see it for the first time ever! We made sure that he had the quintessential American experience - so we stopped by Starbucks and then strode over to see Obama. Prime was so happy, and it was so amazing to see him with Starbucks in front of the White House.
2. Hibachi was amazing, and it was for his birthday. We went to some random Hibachi place in the middle of nowhere, and it was Prime's first time seeing them cook in front of you! He loved it!
3. Prime's first chocolate chip cookies!
Katherine: I work with Prime almost every single day and he has done an AMAZING job in the past year of building this program from the ground up. He goes above and beyond every day to wake up as early as 4 am or stay up as late as 1 am to stay connected to the global team at our team calls and check-ins. He works in a very challenging context--so much that I don't think any of us can fully understand the creativity and problem-solving that he does everyday. When his internet goes out, he heads to an internet cafe. He wakes up at odd hours to travel by an overnight bus to get to meetings in a different region.
And did I mention he doing this on his own?! He's building up a team and network of PeaceMovers, supporters, and volunteers as the only staff person in the Philippines. All in all, he is the true epitome of our MTW culture of solving problems everyday, getting creative, and being an inspiration to us all.
Lindsey: When Prime was here in the US in September for the Global Summit, we took him to a Hibachi restaurant for his birthday dinner. He had never been to anything like this before, and the pure joy and amazement on his face, as well as his intoxicating laugh, will be memories I cherish forever! He is such a positive, happy, and inspiring person, and I am so grateful to get to know him through our work with Move This World!
Thank you so much for everything you do in the Philippines, Prime! You are awesome and we can't wait to see what else you can accomplish in the next year.
Lindsey: When Prime was here in the US in September for the Global Summit, we took him to a Hibachi restaurant for his birthday dinner. He had never been to anything like this before, and the pure joy and amazement on his face, as well as his intoxicating laugh, will be memories I cherish forever! He is such a positive, happy, and inspiring person, and I am so grateful to get to know him through our work with Move This World!
Thank you so much for everything you do in the Philippines, Prime! You are awesome and we can't wait to see what else you can accomplish in the next year.