July
20, 2012
This is a life-changing day for my
group! We spent our entire afternoon at the
Reception and Action Center (RAC) wherein we conducted value-added activities
for the children living in that shelter.
It is located at Lions Road, A.J. Villegas St. (formerly Arroceros)
Ermita, Manila, which is adjacent to the LRT Central Station. The location was very convenient for us to go
to because it is near De La Salle University.
Therefore, as soon as we finished our school activities, we immediately
went to RAC. When we got there, I
immediately met up with the officer-in-charge of RAC. She was very accommodating and she made sure
that everything was ready for us to conduct our activities. They prepared the room and the tables and
chairs that we will be using for the entire afternoon.
Here are pictures from showing the
venue:
Prior to the activity day, I called
Ms. Chris (officer-in-charge) and she asked me how many children can we accommodate. My group decided to accommodate around 20
kids, preferably girls because girls usually do the activities that we were
planning to do. And so, when the room
was all set up, all 20 girls came down from their rooms upstairs in their purple
shirts. Everyone seemed so eager and
excited to meet us. As they were going
to their seats, I actually felt like crying.
I just felt so bad for each one of them and yet, I do not know exactly
what to do to help them. However, I know
for a fact that our visit in RAC will enhance their lives at some point. We may not be able to change their situation,
but I know that we will, indeed, be touching their lives as well.
As planned, we taught them how to
make pastillas. Grace, my group mate, is
very inclined in making pastillas, therefore, she was the one who handled this
session. The rest of us assisted the
children with the ingredients (Nido powdered milk, sugar, condensed milk). As soon as everyone finished making their
pastillas, we all bonded and interacted with the girls while eating. Some little boys joined us in our activities
as well, and so, we made more pastillas for them to eat.
Afterwards, we also conducted an egg
painting activity. For this, we prepared
prizes for those who will be able to have the best output. My group mates and I saw eager each person is
to win the game. Here are some of the
painted eggs the kids made:
While we were doing this activity, we had
more time to interact with the children and talk to them about how they are
doing and what they are feeling. This
made me extremely sad for them. My first
question to them was “Ano pa gusto niyo gawin?”
One kid answered me saying, “Gusto ko makalaya dito!”. Another one said, “Para kaming nasa
bilangguan”. Most of them really want to
leave the place to be with their family.
I thought this place is a temporary caring shelter. Why do most of the children not feel the care
that RAC is giving them? Despite all
those comments, one boy told me that he was already released by RAC months ago,
however, he decided to come back because this is the only place wherein he gets
to eat regular meals.
Another topic that we talked about with the
children was about their admission.
Based from the children’s responses, they are currently in RAC because either
they were caught doing drugs (solvent) in the streets or they did something
bad, like stealing. They informed us
that their life in this place was quite sad because no one really visits
them. With that, they were very happy
upon seeing us visit them. Even if we
only had several activities, we were still able to put smiles on their faces
and made them learn something new that they can use in the future. The officer-in-charge of RAC even commended
us for conducting activities that were value-added.
I believe that this service learning does not
only help the children from RAC but also, helps us improve as Filipino
citizens. My entire group realized that what
we did is only one-step in helping our unfortunate brothers and sisters. We hope to help more people in the future and
eventually, I believe that we can still continue to make a difference in our
country.
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