Mindflow: External Connectivity With Lucy Torres-Gomez, Amanda Griffin, Dr. Nicolo Aberasturi, Toff de Venecia

As we move on to the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine that left us with even more questions, one thing’s for sure, we’re still in the middle of a crisis that's far from ending. And while we continue to pursue growth amid chaos, it’s also time for us to find more ways to remain connected to the outside world. While falling into a deep isolation happens more often these days, it’s good to know that there are still a lot of people who continue put out efforts into creating various communities that bind us together.

In the third episode of Metro’s Mindflow, our hosts Sara Black and Teresa Herrera gathered public servants who are currently working on their different advocacies in hopes of creating an effective way to connect in this new normal. We had the representative of the 4th District of Leyte—Lucy Torres Gomez, Amanda Griffin who is an advocate of Online Sexual Exploitation Of Children (OSEC), Nicolo Aberasturi, a biodynamic farmer and founder of Down to Earth, and Toff de Venecia who’s the District Representative 4th district, Pangasinan.

Today, most of us are dependent on the digital world—whether it’s for news, businesses, or entertainment. But as the online community gets even more crowded these days, it has become quite a challenge for us to find a solid ground for our voices to be heard—and that leaves us with a question, “How are we going to interact with one another in a deeper level in this new normal?”

One of our speakers focuses on helping our local theater performers. By working with different organizations, Toff was able to create an online initiative for the displaced workers in the performing arts, which started last March 26 until May 15. This cause was able to inspire Toff and his team to find more ways to create a sustainable venue for performing artists that are deeply affected by the pandemic.

For Amanda, she just launched a new campaign with (IJM) to get rid of the Online Sexual Exploitation Of Children (OSEC) in the Philippines. While a lot of Filipinos are unaware of this mission, Amanda shares that the Philippines is actually the epicenter of online sexual exploitation. With its increasing demand due to the Covid-19, she made it her mission to do whatever she can to spread awareness about its cause, and continues to work with IJM by raising funds for the victims of exploitation.

In terms of keeping themselves inspired through their advocacy, Lucy is all about being mindful of how you react. She shares that perspective is everything and talks, “The world online was all we had then, right? So things could be ‘in the face’ and you tend to become very critical of how people can be so angry, or sometimes naman parang if they’re too happy, they might seem too insensitive. So we have to be mindful of the fact that at everyone’s core, we just want the same thing, really; which is to come out—to climb out of this summer alive and survive this.”

" ... So we have to be mindful of the fact that at everyone’s core, we just want the same thing, really; which is to come out—to climb out of this summer alive and survive this.” - Lucy Torres Gomez

Meanwhile, as an organic and biodynamic farmer, Nicolo have motivated a lot of people to switch to a more organic way of living through Down To Earth—a biodynamic farm in Bukidnon that strongly believes in sustainability. Now that a lot of people are unable to go outside, they are starting to realize the importance of having a convenient access to fresh produce. Nicolo also shares that it warms his heart to see that people are starting to appreciate urban gardening now, more than ever before. 

Find new ways to connect to the outside world and get inspired by our notable speakers in the Episode 3 of Mindflow below:

Don’t forget to stay tuned to Metro.Style’s Facebook page and watch the new episode of Mindflow every Monday at 8-9pm.