Instead of running around, playing in the streets, these boys shout and have fun inside a cell, behind bars locked. Convicted of crimes they committed.
           In Makati, a drop-in center was built like a rehabilitation center for young boys who committed assaults. They are recently keeping 16 boys who range from nine to fifteen years old.
It was late in March that my friend asked me to help her out with her community service. She was assigned to help in the drop-in center. Since my friend was a Psychology student they asked her to talk to the boys and maybe help them out if they had problems. She asked my assistance and both of us tried to talk to them, reaching one boy at a time. I knew then that it was more than just a community service; it was an eye-opener for me as well.
They have at least 10 personnel who run the center. When we entered the place, a man who guarded the gate led us to the office to talk. There he told us the procedure of how they keep the boys and how they are claimed by their families. Across the hall is another room where some women stayed. These women are the ones who cook the food for the boys.
Outside, the building looks just like a normal house. But looking at the gate-slash-door, one would think otherwise. The first time we went there, I noticed that the door isn’t just a door, it had a big lock and the man who guarded that gate-slash-door only has the key to that lock. Just behind the door is a table where a log book is placed, there all the people that come and go inside the drop-in has to write down their respective names and purpose of coming. Across the table and the door is a big room closed by railings, behind those railings was the children that are held under the custody of the drop in. To the left was the office and to the right was a room for holding guests.
The officer asked us to talk to the children and make records of what information we get from them. Every day for one whole week, my friend and I went there early in the morning and held sessions. We isolate one boy at a time giving them from about 30 minutes to 1 hour each. We had to have someone with us when we talk to them, someone from their team to watch out for any violent actions the boys may do. We talked to them and tried to lighten their moods every time they face us with fear. Sometimes, my friend and I would ask them about the different colors we are wearing on our bracelets and there would be times that some of the boys don’t know the color. Some of them haven’t gone to school. They don’t know how to read or how to write, they only know how to live. We were glad that the boys were more than willing to tell us their stories and struggles.
           Cases of boys in the drop-in center vary from murder, attempted rape, hold upping, stealing, inhaling rugby, and loitering. The youngest among the crowd is nine years old, and the oldest is 15. The youngest attempted to rape his sister and the oldest stole from a supermarket. While most were caught loitering in the middle of the night. These boys are released if one concerned relative comes to pick them up. But they have to fix some papers before they are able to fetch these boys.
These cases present different stories of different boys who have problems. Two of them have mental problems. One boy was already staying there for almost a year. He said that he was supposed to be picked up by his grandmother but before his grandmother finished fixing his papers, she died. Then, his father tried to finish his papers but again, before he finished, he was killed. So, this boy is just waiting for other relatives to concern in getting him out. Others, unfortunately, don’t have concerned parents who want their children out. They said that their children are better confined in this place so that they wouldn’t have a hard time disciplining them. These parents think that the drop-in center makes their children good, that they are straightened out somehow.
When we went there to help these children, they are very excited to see new faces. When I get to talk to them, these children hunger for attention. They have a lot of stories to tell. Every day for one whole week, they try to hide fear by wearing happy faces; they want to say nothing but happy memories they have. When I talked to them, I sometimes have to stop and excuse myself out so I can cry. I can’t let them see me that way; I noticed that they somehow saw inspiration in our visits there. They confided problems and asked a lot of questions. They told us their stories and family problems which may have led them to do what they have done. But when have the time we talk, play, and have fun. In just a short time a day, they can breathe out their thoughts to people who won’t and can’t judge them. Their smiles and laughs became real. After all, they are still children.
Until now, these children have touched me one way or another. Instead of me helping them out and leaving them something to hope for, they were the ones who left so much impression on me. I still can’t believe that these boys, as young as they are, could be capable of doing such things. When they still don’t know the world; yet they know it in a different way. A very different view of what we see. We wake up to good breakfast everyday while they wake up to reality that even they themselves are the ones responsible for their very own breakfast every day. And they have to realize that every meal time. These children don’t have concerned parents like I do. They don’t get to study in a school where their needs are met. And yet, these children are brave enough to face these struggles every single day. I was touched because at their young age, they had the courage to face reality while here I am complaining most of the time.
I did the community service before I knew that it was going to be the topic of my article. I tried going back to the drop-in center to ask some questions but, the officer said that he can’t release any more of what I had from talking to their boys. I wish I had more time with them so I could understand them more but my friend’s community service hours ended earlier so I have no more reasons to come back.
So maybe it’s not about all the smiles we see on their faces, not about the laughs that echo through the corridors coming from behind the bars. Maybe there’s more to that juvenile deeds they’ve done. Maybe it’s not just because they want to do it, maybe because they HAVE to do it.
