I expected a day of juvenile drama. I expected back stories Maala-ala Mo Kaya producers will greedily sink their teeth into. I expected unruliness and disorder. But when the day ended, I realized there's one thing I failed to expect. I never expected that staying with those children will make me realize that I can be extremely ignorant. They are not any different from most kids. They laugh. They play. They sing Jennylyn Mercado songs and dance to Mark Herras music. They enjoy Pixar/Disney movies. If there's any difference between them and the kids raised "normally," maybe it's the little fact that they can be more pleasant and more appreciative. They don't have much. Some of them might not have anything but sets of clothes and the food and shelter provided by their institution. But you can see how they appreciate the company of their peers and the company of others. Maybe next time when I return to visit them again, I'll shed off these fears masked as false perceptions, and be someone those kids want to spend a day with - a human being.
1 comments:
something like a day in Kuya? a shelter for little boys in New York, Cubao. My sister goes there.
I learned that one group, I'm not sure if it's Bantay Bata, doesn't allow students from a certain university in QC to visit them anymore because there was a student once that hurt one of the children. Guests/charity workers/sympathizers need to be prepared/oriented first before they interact with these children or victims of whatever.
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