After a series of awareness-raising campaigns in our barangay, I saw that parents and guardians are more careful in guiding their children in using their cellphones, social media, or even in playing outside their homes. To continue the advocacy campaign,  we visited every barangay through this Eduk-Aksyon as these coastal barangays have easy access to the internet, are exposed as well on social media or social networking sites, and the risk of OSEC. The youth are shocked to know that there are situations on children like OSEC happening in the communities. 

The youth are more active in spreading awareness on OSEC as they are equipped with basic knowledge on identifying OSEC that they can share in their households and communities. One particular story on how active the youth are in the anti-OSEC campaign is the feedback I received from the SK Chairman of Brgy. San Roque said that there was a group of youth in the community who participated in the awareness campaign. The SK Chairman thought that this was just a mere gathering but to his surprise, they were applying the knowledge they learned from OSEC discussions and were sharing it with their neighbors and friends. Their parents were shocked as well to see how the youth were advocating in their community.

Through implementing these activities on the anti-OSEC campaign, it is a big help for us, and to the youth in the community to be familiar and well-informed about OSEC, especially during this pandemic when we are more exposed to online interactions.

As part of youth empowerment activities, I am thankful that my fellow youth and I are being trained on OSEC and involved in anti-OSEC campaigns. I am very thankful to the partnership we have with the End OSEC Consortium. We are so thankful because the project supports and trains us to explain the realities of OSEC in the community.###