CEBU CITY, Philippines— While it’s understandable that most of those who lost their jobs due the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis would be feeling down these days, a youth official from Barangay Tisa here chooses to be a ray of light in this dark times.
Christian Barral, a Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) councilor in this village known for its siomai (steamed Chinese dumplings), was among many who were laid off from work because of this health crisis.
But instead of just moping around, this 25-year-old professional who is a software engineer showed how he copes with losing a job, which is through giving back to the community.
Barral opted to get back up on his feet by using the little money he had left to help their community in ways he can.
“I bought four boxes of gloves to be given to the community, especially those in the market and those in the frontline in our barangay,” he said.
Barral was able to do all these with the help of the rest of the SK council, who served as his backbone during this trying time in his life.
“I want to show that the SK, especially our SK council, is working so hard to fight this crisis,” Barral said.
Barral knows that everything happens for a reason and he is just taking every opportunity that comes his way during this pandemic season to be able to help his community and to be able to help himself get out of a sad situation by bringing smiles to the people around him.
“I just want to inspire those who lost their job during this pandemic that there is still hope. Whether it be staying at home or helping the community. Also, I just want to share my journey on how I coped with the sadness of being jobless,” said Barral.
In a post in his Facebook account, Barral admitted it was painful losing his job at this time.
“But I still have another job to do and that is to serve above self,” he said in the post.
“I spent whatever fortune I have to help and I could say it was fulfilling. There are my #quaranThings that I have done.” /bmjo