Mover Monday | Move This World-Pilipinas, Inc. Makes History

Happy Monday, MTDubberz! We hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend! Today's Mover Monday comes from Diana Grace P. Ragandang, one of the pioneer PeaceMovers of Move This World in the Philippines. Prime, the Philippines Director of MTW, says that MTW Philippines is "so fortunate to have her as the big sister of MTW Philippines." Diana writes about MTW Philippines' first international conference in Cagayan! Enjoy!

 “Move this World’s attempt was ambitious, but then they proved us that it is possible,” quoted from one of their participants during the last day of the conference.

Nothing is impossible! What’s IMPOSSIBLE? Well, it is truly a corrupted word which means I’M-POSSIBLE! It is the exact adjective for the successful endeavour of the Move This World-Pilipinas, Inc.’s brilliant team on their huge accomplishment for having been able to host their 1^st ever International Conference: A Training Workshop on Peace Education and Stress Management last April 22, 23, and 24, 2013 at Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City, The Philippineswhich was attended by both local and international respected persons.

The 3-day conference was officially launched mid-February of 2013. Invitations where sent everywhere, either via personal visitations or emails. Cost, benefit, and pre-eminence made it difficult to get people to join. But above all, it is never easy to be closing a deal with people known to have high credibility in their chosen professions, especially for individuals who are not familiar with Move This World. It is nerve-rocking yet we are left with the choice of doing it after all. Rejections and disappointment happen, causing everyone to lose enthusiasm. Everyone knows how it feels to be rejected; it hurts, right? It’s easy to feel like a big failure. But despite the the lions in the way, the team worked hard with support from the members and the guidance of their Philippine Country Director, Mr. Primitivo “Prime” Cabanes Ragandang III who always gives words of encouragement and presents good examples. Indeed, teamwork and good camaraderie did help each member work through their given tasks. Working on tasks was easy compared to starting because MTW-Pilipinas uses no other means of resources for all their expenses. They basically rely on their participants payments. They don’t even have any clear idea of how many participants will join aside from those few who already committed or were 100% sure. Just imagine, the dilemma they have every meeting. They said everyone were just assuming about everything to able to come up with good plans, plan A and B. Amazing right?

So on the day of the conference, many participants from different places showed up. The team, who were a little anxious and excited at the same time, started the day as scheduled. It went smooth and the team’s effort paid off. Everyone was really enjoying the conference and gave so much positive feedback.  One person commented, “good activity facilitation and superb team management.”

Just imagine, big names or highly respected individuals with different expectations and personalities gathered in one place and all were total strangers to each other. Overwhelming? It is especially for newbies or young professionals, which mostly comprises the MTW-Pilipinas team. This conference made everyone equal. They all enthusiastically participated and cooperated in every activity. The participants’ willingness in moving to promote social change through the art of movement was very commendable. No words can express the team’s gratitude for the success of the conference.

            
Participants ranged from all walks of life: from managers of online business to deans and owners of schools in Mindanao; also present in the team is a priest from Cebu City, a youth development worker from Bukidnon province, TV personalities, teachers of Cotabato province, a Development advocate from Nepal, and a student from Kyoto, Japan. Speakers include a German national working for peace in Mindanao, local professors, and the awesome live-stream presence of MTW Global team. Also in the delegation are the MTW’s parents in the Philippines: the awesome Southern Christian College delegation.

The team made history. Group effort with good governance, trust, and faith really makes the impossible, possible. Surely without the people who answered the call for invitation; the Capitol University’s generous part for giving the venue; and all the people behind it; they will not make it far. I for one am very proud to be part of the team and be under our Country Director’s supervision. So in behalf of the team and the whole Move This World Philippine team, “Maraming Salamat for Moving with us.”

Mover Monday | Happy Anniversary, Prime!

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.

Thumpin' Thursday | Malipayon ang Takna

What's up, MTDubberz! Welcome to this week's Thumpin' Thursday! Today we're featuring a song from the Philippines. This is what everyone in the Philippines office has been jamming to this week:

Yoyoy - Malipayon ang Takna (Happy Hour!)

Enjoy! And don't forget to Move This World!