About The Company

In the Philippines, SSEAYP is sponsored by the National Youth Commission (NYC). They are looking for two youth leaders per region (one male, one female) to represent the country as Youth Ambassadors from October-December. The application requirements are many: application form, barangay clearance, NBI/police clearance, resume, etc. Then you go to a panel interview that will grill you about current events, international relations, Philippine history, etc. I ended up crying in mine because I was so emotional about patriotism. At the end, you might even be asked to sing/dance (I brought speakers and an iPod ‘cause I’m competitive like that!). The process sounds tedious, but only because the rewards are plenty. First you get to meet, train, and live with 27 other like-minded leaders from all over the country. They become your brothers and sisters. I’m singing in my batchmate’s wedding in a couple of weeks! And I’m also really close to Batch ’09 Then you get to ride a luxury ship for two months with 300+ other youth leaders from ALL Southeast Asian countries and Japan and cruise to six countries. ALL FOR FREE. In 2008, we went to Japan, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Each country’s itinerary includes an institutional visit to an important landmark and a homestay program with a local family. They will be part of your life forever. On the ship, you will never run out of things to do. You will be divided into Discussion Groups (topics include Food and Nutrition, Cross-Cultural Understanding, Traditional Culture… I was in Environment!) and Solidarity Groups. There’s always a new person to meet, a movie from another country to watch, a cultural show to attend, a meeting to go to, the buffet to attack… It’s priceless. The best part for me was having the opportunity to wear the Philippine flag pin on my lapel. Badge of honor ‘yun. You have the opportunity to show the rest of the world how great Filipinos are, that we are SO MUCH MORE than Manny Pacquiao and corruption .

 

DYEA is similar to SSEAYP

DYEA is similar to SSEAYP because it’s also composed of Southeast Asian-Japan youth leaders and everything is for free, but 1) the group is so much smaller because we were less than 30, so the bonds were more intimate, and 2) the DYEA is geared towards environmentalism. It was an eclectic mix of people engaged in different fields. You don’t have to be a hardcore science person to be part of this. Yours truly is an English major after all. We come from varied backgrounds: business, English, Film, Entomology major in Butterflies, Environmental Engineering, etc. That makes the program much more interesting because you realize how relevant the environment is to all fields.