Party Time!

Children of the Night

I wanted to go out tonight.

I wanted to go with the mothers, the brother and Kuya (older brother) Joe Dean.  Tonight is the night they are looking for Shara.  Shara is only 13 but she has been roaming the city on her own for a week and 3 days now. 

This morning we drove around Quezon City in search of her.  We were like a tag game.  At first we were 2 moms, 1 friend + I.  Then when we went to Shara's school, her baby brother came along so we became 5.  Then we went to see Marjorie, a friend of hers, she came along too, so we became 6 in all. 

At the school, 3 girl students seemed to have seen her.  One said she saw her going to her friend Marjorie's house in tears.  One said she was at McDo Muñoz with a spaced out expression on her face.  She said Shara's clothes were already dirty.  That made her mom cry.

Some learnings:

Runaway children sleep during the day and roam around only at night.  So you can only spot them at night.  There are places in the city where the children hang out.  In lonely alleys.  Scores of them.

Runaway children usually go to their friends or teachers.  This was Shara's 3rd runaway incident.  Previously, she used to stay with her teachers.

Runaway children have family problems.  In this case there was an issue with the dishwashing.  Even petty disagreements can lead to this type of disaster.

I wish I were there, talking to people, asking about her.  I haven't been sleeping well, thinking about her. 

Shara has only attended our tutoring session a few times but I couldn't forget her even when years would pass in between the times I'd see her.  She is bright, kind and respectful.  She is a participative and cheerful child. 

I really hope they find her tonight.  I'm praying hard.

If you see her, please contact me at 63919-2234936  

It's time to do some good

Greetings Volunteer!

It's been a while since we've seen the children.  We've had a long break.

But now it's time to do some good!  We'll be back at the barangay so

we will have some books to aid us with the children.

If you have some time, go on over to http://www.ezschool.com/ and

print out some worksheets.  Just pick the grade level that you've either

tutored before or are comfortable with.  This way, you'll have some exercises

for them even if they don't have anything particular in mind to be tutored with.

This Saturday we will have the chance to touch the life of someone in need

once again.  With 50+ children in 1 class, it is a rare thing for them to have

one to one attention.  Their homes lack space and light so it's quite difficult to study

in such an environment.  Their parents are away working hard to make a living.

The streets are more inviting to play in.Just 2 hours to encourage them that learning can be enjoyable (or that it is possible to understand) is more than enough. Seeing people who care is enough.

Please join us on:

Nov. 17, 2012 (Saturday)

1 pm

3rd floor, Brgy. Bungad

*near Baler St. and West Ave. QC

If you cannot be there but want to help, we need:

+ scratch paper

+ lesson plans / activity sheets (grades 1 to 2nd yr high)

This Saturday is coming and we hope that:

1. We will have enough tutors for the 28 children enrolled in the program.

2. That that children will be able to learn and excel in school.

3. That the tutors will enjoy their session with the children and take home wonderful memories.

Here are the latest schedules for future sessions.

November 17

December 2 *Sunday Christmas Party

This Saturday:

We are calling for more volunteers!  Everyone is invited. 

You don't have to be a tutor.  You just need to have a

heart of compassion for these young ones.

What will we teach?  Primarily English and Math.  If you

are able to teach other subjects that is great but we don't

require professional tutors.  What we need are people

who are encouraging and positive for the children to

emulate.

How?  Come and the children will ask you about their

homework or you can tell them a story or do some simple

arithmetic with them. 

Please consider coming.  When we lack tutors, we cannot give

the attention they badly need since we have to tutor 2 or 3 or

4 students at a time.  We aim to have one child to one tutor.

If you have more questions please feel free to reply to me.

Please confirm if you are coming so we can assign you a child

to Shannon at shannon_capati@yahoo.com.

Blessings!

Christina Alejandro

Volunteer Coordinator

P.S.  If you cannot come this Saturday, please come next time!

*Please feel free to pass this e-mail invite to anyone who may be interested to join us!

The Street Child I Met

One day I was walking around the UP Diliman Chapel and a young girl asked money from me. I rarely give money, fearing this would fuel syndicates and usually gave food. At this time I didn't have any food with me.

I was about to walk away when a voice inside of me urged me to help her.  I felt it strongly nudging me to do something.  I rarely get strong convictions like this so I was uneasy.

I asked the girl her name and then told her I'd buy her food.  Then I felt that inner voice again telling me to eat with her.  I asked myself "WHAAT?" I have things to do, people to meet blah blah.  But I told myself that if this was the voice of God then He might not speak to me ever again if I don't do it so I asked the child if she would like to eat with me.  She was hesitant.

I was quite hesitant myself.  With her bedraggled attire, I felt curious glances come our way but I tried to ignore these.  I then thought "what if a classmate sees me?" I oftentimes scold myself for being too much of a people pleaser so I purposefully shrugged these thoughts off.

It was a feat getting her to pick what food she'd like to eat.  I imagined that she would be so happy to be eating a full meal, fancied she would be happy to be eating with me.  I chatted a little to make her feel at ease.  She would hardly look at me, or her food and it was a major effort to let her eat.  Sometimes she would answer my questions though I could feel she wasn't really enjoying the experience at all.

That meal was one of the most important life changing experiences I've ever had.  I felt like the child's spirit needed rebuilding.  She could not even rejoice at the little treat.  She was not used to kindness.  She was used to being ignored.  

What could I do but reflect on this simple meal in a profound way.  We are sons and daughters of the most high King.  We were made in His image.  We are fashioned masterfully but the artist of artists.  We are His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10).  This child, and countless other street children need to know this.

Tutoring Street Kids

In 2008, a few friends and I wanted to make a difference in

the lives of street children.

We approached Joe Dean Sola of He Cares Foundation 

and asked how we could help.  He said that despite having everything

provided for the scholars of the foundation, many of them still drop

out of school.  They needed tutors.

Being anything BUT a tutor, we still ambitiously proceeded making step

by step to find out more about the children.

We started by putting up a small table along the alley where they lived.

Needless to say, when it would rain, tutoring would be automatically cancelled.  

During the hot summer days, we would cover the table with some tarp

materials but the neighbors would get angry saying we were covering

their laundry and wouldn't dry.

A big blessing came in the form of Brgy. Bungad's Captain Ricardo B. Corpuz 

allowing us to use their 3rd floor as a venue for our sessions.

Here was the big change!  A wide open airy space for the kids

with enough chairs and tables.

At first we decided to only tutor 15 children thinking that we can

muster enough volunteer tutors for 1 is to 1 ratio.

So we needed a lot of help.  We made this video... 

Blessing upon blessing, the North District Singles of Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon Community

assigned 2 groups (1 women's group and 1 men's group) to come and tutor

during our sessions!  Oh joy!

Did the video touch a chord in your heart?

If you can spend a few moments of your time to help a child

get through school, please contact us.

Field Trip to Malacañang

We experienced over and beyond what we planned and expected in this trip. Thank you Lord!

a big THANK YOU!!!

Thank you to Mommy Aileen (kids' mom) for collating the list of kid's names coming and cascading the information to dress well, bring IDs etc. She also looked for a jeep to rent.

Thank you to Chini for sending the list of names of confirmed children coming to the event. Thank you for her help in securing a vehicle - FREE Van from Brgy. Bungad!!! We saved P700 because of this.

Thank you to Brgy. Bungad officials for lending their van for our trip free of charge!Thank you to Lester Co, Leticia, Ramonito and Lourdito Mata for offering their vehicle for some kids to ride and for volunteering that day! (Incidentally Ramonito and LourditoMata are the 1st runner up inners of the Pilipinas Got Talent Season 2 and their liveswere featured on MMK. (see them here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5yL1DF9f5c )

Thank you so much to Jobaqs who requested Atty. Edwin Lacierda to get us in despiteour late confirmation. We got permission to go in AND we didn't have to pay the fees.  We saved P1610!  Thank you to our brother Atty. Edwin Lacierda for arranging the children to have free admission to Malacanang Museum!!!Thank you to Malacañang security that despite late confirmation and 1 child not wearing the proper attire, 1 child with no ID, we all got in! Even the driver of the free van and the moms who didn't give their names for confirmation got in and enjoyed!

Thank you to Kuya Richie for driving the free van! Thank you Michi for being our navigator! Thank you to Joey Dulalia who drove and picked up volunteers. 

Thank you to the He Cares kids who behaved themselves (and didn't break any priceless historical stuff) as the tour guide said mababait daw lahat.Thank you to Rain and Carmina who volunteered, help serve food, and provide pantsfor someone in shorts.Thank you to our sister (anonymous upon request) who sponsored all 40 delicious lunches and drinks! She also tipped the kids to answer the tour guide correctly about who the 15 Philippine presidents were!

Thank you to Shannon, Malou, Leonor family for coming and help organize the children! Thank you specially to Steven and Christine for bringing us a lot of joy just by being there! In behalf of all the children, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!  God is good!  This was really a test of faith because we moved forward in faith even when we didn't have:funds vehicle confirmation from Malacanang that we can go in (only finally given Thursday, day before) but everything went smoothly on the day itself! :)

This coming April 28, we will have another field trip to the Planetarium.This time, we only need 5 volunteers and the children will number 50 (!) becausethis is the request of Planetarium to have the rate of P1500 for all.Do let me know asap if you are coming so I can reserve a slot for you and now we need LOTS of vehicles na!