Mga Larawan ng Kamusmusan

Killer Smile

Likas sa ating mga Pilipino ang maging masaya, lalo na ang magbigay ng ngiti sa ibang tao. Ngunit sa mga batang lansangan na ito paano kaya posible ang magkaroon ng magagandang ngiti sa likod ng kanilang mga pinagdadaanan. Nakakabilib na hindi nila hinahayaang maagaw ng kalupitan ng kalsada sa buhay nila ang kanilang mga ngiti, ito ang kanilang tanging panlaban sa hirap at kalungkutan, mga ngiti na pumapawi sa pagod at gutom. Sana bilang mga kapwa Pilipino, panatiliin natin ang mga ngiti sa kanilang mukha, mga ngiti ng kanilang pagka-musmos...

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According to the Philippine Resource Network there are 1.5 million street children in the Philippines. The shadow of a modern shopping mall falls on the intersection where these children and the homeless mother and child sleep. In the corner of a pedestrian underpass, hundreds, perhaps thousands, walk by them daily. This isn’t unusual either. We accommodate to it because we don’t know how to change it, so it continues.

UNICEF reported 200,000 children were victimized by human rights abuses in the Philippines. To escape grinding poverty children are joining rebel movements and taking up arms.
As usual, the Armed Forces of the Philippines denounced the report saying UNICEF had listened only to leftists and the numbers were skewed. This has become a template reaction and it reveals just how distanced from reality the established powers are. When I was in the Philippines a year ago with a human rights delegation my writing was criticized by a military officer in the same way. The Army of the Philippines’ response to human rights abuses is predictable.


The Philippine Resource Network says only 19% of children aged 4 to 6 years old are able to go to public or private pre-schools. More than one-third of the smallest municipalities cannot offer education up to the sixth grade and 60% of children drop of out school by the second grade.

http://perspectives.larryhollon.com/?p=747

Shoeshine Kids

PARA!!!


At ako'y sumakay na ng jeep, at sa aking pag-upo biglang may pumasok, isang batang maliit na may hawak na pranela. Gumagapang, pinupunasan ang lahat ng aming mga sapatos at kahit naka-tsinelas ka pa ay pupunasan ka parin. Tititig sayo at manghihingi ng konting barya, ito ang buhay ng ilang kabataan sa kalsada ng Maynila, well paraparaan lang ang kanilang pamumuhay, at kung di sa mga baryang kanilang makukuha ay patuloy na kakalam ang kanilang sikmura. Ako'y nahahabag sa kanilang mga itsura, mga musmos na kailangan ng pangangalaga sa kanilang katawan, ngunit sadyang malupit ang buhay sa mga batang ito, hindi sila nabigyan ng pagkakataong makaranas ng kahit payak na pamumuhay man lang.


At sa aking pagbaba ng jee na aking sinasakyan natanong ko sa aking sarili, kung ang mga batang ito ay mangangarap, magbibigay daan kaya ang tadhana para sa kanila? Sana nga sapat na ang mangarap para makaahon sila sa ganong kalagayan...

Yosi Kayo Dyan!

"Yosi! Yosi! Yosi kayo d'yan! TAKATAKTAKATAK!

Boy! Pabili nga ng lights at mentos."

Napaka-demanding ng batang aming napagbilhan. Gusto pa niya ang bilhin ko isang kaha na. Sabi ko nga sa kanya bankrupt na ko e, pero next time bibili na ko ng isang kaha.

I'm sure mahirap 'yung ginagawa niya, halos magdamag na nagbebenta ng sigarilyo sa park para lamang sa kakarampot na tubo. Kung mahina ang benta, ano kaya kakainin niya at ng kanyang pamilya? Samantalang ako, parang walang bukas kung maglustay ng pera. Sana dumating 'yung panahon na maka-ahon sila sa hirap. Sana rin matuto akong magpahalaga sa mga bagay-bagay na mayroon ako.

Namamasko Po!

Noong isang linggo, as usual tambay na naman ako kasama ng aking mga katropa sa simbahan. Napagkwentuhan namin ang mga ginagawa namin tuwing sasapit na ang pasko pati na rin ang aming mga plano para sa buwan na ito. Mangagaroling, magpupunta sa mga christmas party, mamimili ng mga pangregalo at magkumpara ng mga natanggap namin noong nakaraang pasko.

Nang biglang may lumapit sa aming mga bata, probably around the age of 7-10 years old. May mga hawak na tambourine na gawa sa alambre at piniping tansan, habang kumakanta ng "Ang Pasko ay Sumapit." Pero bago pa sila matapos, binigyan na namin sila ng barya para umalis na dahil naiiistorbo nila ang aming pagkukwentuhan.

After a few hours, naglalakad na ako mag-isa pauwi. Hindi ko maalis sa aking isipan ung mga batang paslit na nangaroling sa amin. Napag-isip-isip ko tuloy kung gaano ako ka-swerte. Naalala ko ung aming mga pinag-uusapan, how I take Christmas for granted. How I never really cared about the true meaning of Christmas. Samantalang 'yung mga batang paslit kanina, masaya na sa piso o dalawang piso na naibigay namin. Such simple joy in simple things. I wish I can be the same as them.

Perspectives

Walking near Rizal Park in central Manila I passed three street children sitting on the sidewalk. Separated from a beautiful, manicured golf course by a chain link fence, they were sniffing glue.

These three boys looked to be around 12-years-old. They were dirty, barefoot and dressed in worn-out, tattered ragamuffin clothing. My presence nearby was of no interest. They cupped their hands over their noses, squeezed tubes of glue and inhaled. A young adult woman, child in tow, stood nearby also sniffing from her cupped palm. The child toddled around playing in trash on the sidewalk.
Scenes such as this are not unusual. They exist in virtually every city in the developing world. Poverty knows no bounds and it erodes human dignity wherever it exists. But, as with most people I know, I never get used to it. It haunts me.A more haunting image sticks in my mind from two days later as my colleagues and I walked to our hotel along United Nations Avenue. The World Health Organization is on this street and so too are a modern hotel with a glitzy casino, the main office of a large bank, a metro police station and an upscale hospital. It’s a high rent district.

 Darkness was approaching. Trucks, motorbikes and cars jostled for position. Manila traffic is like no other. It is the ultimate in cacophonous, congestion.
In a gutter inches from this nightmarish, horn-honking turmoil a little girl in a tattered dress walked barefoot oblivious to the danger. She was no more than four-years-old. I started to move toward her but a young woman saw her and reached her first.
There was no adult nearby. It’s a reasonable guess she has been abandoned or she’s walked away from a mother high on glue, or asleep and unaware. But clearly, she’s alone like a lost kitten in this dangerously heavy traffic.
I hope the young woman takes her to the police station which calls child protective services which takes her to a safe place. But this is more than likely a fiction I’ve imagined to ease my own feelings of guilt than a practical solution.
It’s more likely she will be walked to the sidewalk and left once again. Someone will find her, perhaps an adult street person, and put her to work begging, taking her earnings and keeping her fed just enough to remain productive for them. Eventually, if she survives, she will be another child getting high or prostituting herself. Sixty thousand children are prostituted in the Philippines according to the resource network.
And I wonder how she will perceive of herself if she lives to adulthood. Having known only the streets and the harsh exploitation and abuse they serve up, will she even question whether she deserves this treatment, or will she have become so shaped by it that she accepts her lot and adjusts to less than human interaction?

 http://perspectives.larryhollon.com/?p=747