“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.” One of the most memorable quotes rendered by Mr. Benjamin Franklin that goes well with this ever-popular saying, “Experience is the best teacher”. These statements on the other hand up brings the idea that nothing could really beat the moments spent in the field of Public Health Nutrition when it comes to learning the best way that’s closest to experiencing the real world.
We, the BSU-BSND student trainees learn more in-depth teachings and way better when we get involved in hands-on circumstances rather than just hearing the plain old theories inside the four walls of our classroom. Having been experienced the field of Public Health Nutrition, we realized how fun and challenging the field really is, in the most sense that one gets to travel from one place to another. Apart from getting to see unfamiliar places and explore new world and ideas, we are challenged and motivated to contribute in solving the various nutritional problems particularly in Barangay Santiago Sur, Caba, La Union where we were deployed.
Socially, we met a lot of people with diverse culture, profession, and personality. The finest part is that we also established friendship and built linkage among the nutrition planners, frontliners and beneficiaries in our area which we think is one of the effective strategies for health and nutrition promotion.
What good is a candy without a little tang, there are a lot of fun and benefits mentioned when it comes to the field but surely it also has its challenging parts that come with every piece of those joyful moments making the experience even more memorably interesting. To be able to deal with and among those challenges the “easiest” way is pure patience and flexibility. We should be smart and wise enough to face all the various kinds of people we encounter along the field. For instance, conducting a nutrition education in the community is not that easy most especially if the audience you are supposed to teach is neither available nor interested. We should always adjust and come up with quick but effective alternative ways on how we will convince them to come, listen, participate and learn in the most convenient strategy and at the least cost of expense as possible. Another challenge is how you deliver the topics or advocacies. This is as important as your knowledge that you want to impart.
In addition, at least anyone who has done a little paperwork be it in the school or working environment has been advised with “proper time-management” as the key to reaching the goal to its designated time-bound. Plans and activities especially in the conduct of nutrition classes should be planned well ahead of time to avoid cramming so we can deliver the best possible learnings where our target audiences could acquire out of our lectures. Aside from that, a well-structured plan B is a must to prepare for the probable problems that might arise in the process.
Learning in the field of public health nutrition is an exquisite delight, because we have gained knowledge, real-life lessons, and constructive insights from everyone we have encountered that we can truly carry deep within our hearts and minds as we grow.
At the end of the day, we could sense that warming aftermath feeling that comes with every help we imparted to that certain community. And at the end of the supervised practicum, all the exhausting walk under the burning sun’s rays, all the efforts in convening mothers’ classes, all the costs in teaching the little children and all the sacrifices are nothing knowing that someday, these will yield to a step closer in achieving a malnutrition-free nation.
We thank and acknowledge all the people and offices involved in our supervised training especially the National Nutrition Council- Regional Office I and Barangay Santiago Sur in Caba, La Union for making our short stay a productive and meaningful one.
Indeed, as future professionals, with our closed-fist as we lay it in our chests against our hearts, we are determined to say, “We will be a Nutritionist-Dietitian with a purpose!” (By the BSU-BSND Students Trainees: Bea Micah Caluza, Van Ira Ulatan and Mia Gail Payapay)
