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DAY 6 (Friday night) OVERNIGHT X SNACKS X COCKROACH

Outreach Program Experience Bonding with Children with Special Needs

A public school for elementary students and children with special needs, and the place our group chose to conduct our major immersion is in Imus Pilot Elementary School in Nuenu Avenue, City of Imus, Cavite.

Our project was supposedly to start at 7 am but instead happened at 9 am so we then first arranged the place and our props, giveaways and many more while waiting for the kids and so after a few minutes one child became two then three and so. We started our program with God's blessings and prayed with the children and right there is a children already being mischievous which coincidently near me and so after some convincing together we prayed. Since I am one of the videographer of my group right after prayer I already began recording the event which was first introduction of the staffs, which is our group, with a little bit ad-lib that entertained the sped children then the story telling of the rabbit and the turtle with some special adds-on like acting of my groupmates and adding some children to the story. Then the coloring, water coloring and drawing part which the picture above was taken while the children does their activities, the activity was fun not just for them but for us as well for we also learned some information about them and some of them even showed their playful side when noticing the camera yet they are some sped children that doesn't like to camera to see their faces which their reasoning was funny and entertaining for me.

Since I am the videographer of my group I wasn't able to interview any of the sped children but was able to take the expressions and smiles of the children so it still makes me happy. But based of my obervations and some glimpse of the children telling their story to my group mates meeting them makes me realize how strong they are compare to us, students of Del Pilar Academy or even all the students, who complain to stuff like having assignments or quizzes when some of the children had their family member taken from them and yet they still continue to smile and laugh, and so we shouldn't taken for granted God's blessings that He give day to day.

The No Ligo Project

Breaking Dawn

           I woke up at 3 a.m. and get out of the bed at 3:44, then offered my space to Eveth who slept on a single couch. We saw Jerome, the 4th out of 5 children, peeking over the window for us.

A few minutes before 7, we decided to leave the hall and have a morning stretch.

           Note, all of us did not take a decent bath on that day.

           As we went to their house, the children were still sleeping so we waited at least 30 minutes by exploring the view. The clothes showed on the picture above were washed by Mama Jemma the night before. Moreover, since we were waiting then, Wayne and some of us, have walked on the dry part of the seashore (beyond the area of the green boat in the picture) reached few meters. They returned with sea mud below their feet and shoe soles.

           We decided to stay for the morning, and had scrambled egg, fried rice, and instant noodles for breakfast. Then helped the family to prepare and clean the floor, or the area where we ate. So far, the initiative of the group is in there, from washing the dishes, distributing the food every meal we attended; up to fetching water in the morning.

Puppetry

           The attention got divided for Uela and Angge encourage few children to sing OPM songs in unison. This is also a promotion for out project plan: Talent show for kids.

We arrived at Mama Jemma’s house by 6:45 in the morning. She is already cooking breakfast when we arrived and 3 out of her 5 kids were already awake. We boiled water for coffee and milo since it’s quite cold.

For our breakfast, we had scrambled egg and noodles. Our ulam for that morning is plenty so we don’t really have to eat minimal but we still do to set example to Mama Jemma’s kids since she told us that they are picky eaters. After cleaning and washing the dishes, we rested for a while then we helped Arlene, Mama Jemma’s daughter make her project which is a stick puppet.

Past 10 in the afternoon when people entered Mama Jemma’s house. She told us that they have Bible study. We decided to go to the covered court with the kids so they can Bible study peacefully. One of our groupmates, Aihla, joined them so she can interact with them.

We played with the kids on the covered court. We also petted a kitty because she was scared since a kid was playing her. We spent playing on the court until 11 o’clock. We then returned to Mama Jemma’s house. Wayne tried walking to the back of Mama Jemma’s house which is a body of water that’s dry because it’s still low tide. Sarah, Bea, Aihla and me followed him. It was really muddy and every step we take, the ground we walk to is really soft. We returned to the stoned ground with our shoes and feet with mud.

Gem: Valued and Precious

Verlanie Foundation is an institution founded by a French Social Worker in partnership with Filipinos. They cater children about 17,000, classified according to their needs then distributed in different branches nationwide. The main branch is located at Makati City; mostly the foundations consist of street children and some of them are residential client. Meaning, residential client are the ones who have a family but took care by social worker for a while aiding a child’s problematic experiences. The foundation is also open for adoption program for their children. Everyone can visit their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/virlaniefoundation (Info: Verlanie Foundation Philippines) the branch we have found is located in Dasmariñas, Cavite. The Verlanie Foundation Inc. Dasmariñas Branch takes care of children with special needs. About 30 children usually came from the streets, had experience a family and may feel more protected. According to Social Worker Head, age ranges from teen to middle ages, 14 or 15 year old child is the youngest.

We had a mini-program for them (for the children), and easy-to-play parlor games. We also do storytelling, praying, and talent showcase together with provided snacks for their tummies, egg sandwich and orange juice. I guess they liked the snacks because some of them asked it for more. They also had name tags on their blue shirt for recognition.  After the 1-hour program full of joy and laughter, we provided pancit malabon for additional snack, but the social worker suggested eating their lunch first then consuming it later for afternoon snack.

Out of 30 children, I can say ‘Gem’ is the sweetest and most welcoming attribute among them; though, few of them had already welcomed us and said good morning. Gem is one of the remarkable children inside the house. Once she noticed you, she will start waving at you to caught your attention and look at her. And when you glance at her, your mouth will start to curve happily as she begins to approach you with a pure smile. See the picture above, Gem, I think she’s in 20s, uplifts the restless minds of the team (my group mates) as she offers them a hug, they didn’t know they needed. She may demanded you of taking picture her hugging someone, then later act shy as if somebody taking a stolen picture of her. That doings are on a loop, whenever she found another member of the team to be given a hug, she will encourage you to hug her tightly. Even she mumble inaudible words, I feel connected after all. We didn’t seem to be stranger to her, rather an extended family of her home. And I named her Gem because she’s precious as her smile and valued like her tender embraces.

OUTREACH PROGRAM EXPERIENCE: EUPHORIA

Virlanie Foundation is a private, non-profit organization reaching out to street children in the Philippines. Virlanie cares for children in need of special protection – those who are abandoned, abused, exploited, neglected, orphaned, and among the poorest of the poor (http://www.virlanie.org/). It is originally from Makati and founded in 1992 and has their branch in Dasmariñas, Cavite. The organization has helped and cared for more than 17,000 children who need special protection.

Before the program, our groupmates prepared things and foods in order, and then we start it with a prayer that was led by Ate Sheila. After that, an energizer was performed by Ate Jen and Ate Charisma together with orphans. Next, the emcees which were Ate Uela and Kuya Miguel started it with a play and ended it with showing their different talents. Which seem like some of them enjoyed it. As I’ve noticed, the orphans in Virlanie Foundation are used to program like we did because they were not socially awkward.

There are also orphans that are in mid 20s and 30s in Virlanie. Just like Ate MJ. Ate MJ was from Antipolo until a social worker from Virlanie foundation transferred her there. She's in mid-30 years old and works at Virlanie. Even if she's isolated to her family, she still has communications with them though she misses them and it's different when you're doing the daily routines with your family. During her childhood days, she can't help but feel sorry yet blessed with her disability of walking. quot "palagi kong tinatanong, bakit 'di ako ganito, ganyan? nakakalakad. Pero nagpapasalamat pa rin ako dahil yung iba nga mas malala pa sa akin." As we enjoy our chitchat, I couldn't help but ask what are her dreams. Ate MJ always wanted to be a famous artist or journalist. And as a journalist she wants people to know her story, struggles and how she coped up with them. In this, she thought she could still inspire people with and without disabilities.