by Ricardo Jimenez
BUSINESS executives seeking a meaningful expression for their corporate social responsibility in the name of public service that will make their stockholders and investors proud, this article is for you.
There is a half way home serving as a temporary shelter for abused and exploited male street children. It is badly in need of Good Samaritans to help transform the dilapidated facility into a comfortable domicile for minors with special needs.
The facility, called PAGINHAWAAN (Tagalog term for a place to find the comforts of home), is located beside the award-winning Davao City Women’s and Children’s Desk (the building was one time the famous Puericulture Center of Davao City). It provides a limited period of custody and sheltering services to male minors, aged seven to 17 years, characterized by licensed social workers as “purely street and working-based children,” according to CSSDO department head Malou T. Bermudo.
Accepted to stay at the drop-in center are homeless male children doing odd jobs for a small fee in the streets when they should be in school preparing for their future, thereby putting themselves at risk to exploitation (with pedophilia as the worst of its kind) and other negative influences.
Minda A. Silvano, officer in charge of the Quick Response Team for Children’s Concerns (QRTCC) which processes admission to PAGINHAWAAN, said the homeless boys prefer to live in the streets, protected by their peers as they remain helpless victims of dysfunctional family relationship. Their parents have practically abandoned their children for reasons of poverty and inability to make both ends meet, she explained.
“Most often the street children are children of former street children themselves. The absence of parental guidance has given way to early sexual relations among the young, giving rise to unwanted pregnancies. It’s like a vicious cycle. PAGINHAWAAN tries to break the cycle by investing in human empowerment programs”, Silvano elaborated.
There are three basic PAGINHAWAAN services: residential care (providing food, clothing, medicines, shelter, water to bathe, etc); psycho-social intervention; and networking/linkages/coordination.
Despite the facility’s structural limitations, iot has success stories to inspire both surrogate parents and the beneficiaries. Examples: some wards have become members of the local police force or employees in the city government looking after the welfare of street children
What prompted the writing of this article is a bulletin board announcement posted at the lobby of PAGINHAWAAN. It reads: PAGINHAWAAN DROP IN CENTER CONCERNS (PDICC) WISH LIST. Topping this list are: cement paint (latex), 5 gallons; educational films (CD or DVD); lavatory tiles with white cement; and one unit of rice cooker (big). There are other items in the list but they need not be mentioned in detail except to say they are needed to make the temporary shelter life a bit comfortable.
What it lacks in facilities, PAGINHAWAAN makes up in terms of devotion to duty. “Some 134 street children were served in 2010. About 767 services were rendered in the center last year,” Silvano cited the center’s accomplishment report.
“We appeal for some help to improve the appearance of the center. This will go a long way in helping keep the children away from the streets, and be able to rear them to a comfortable degree, and further contribute to stheir becoming productive members of the community” Silvano added.
While the center focuses on street children of the make kind, it also extends help to their parents by giving them “Parents Effective Seminar”. This will teach the young adults on capacity building, responsible parenthood and family planning. The CSSDO provides assistance in crisis situation (AICS), which funds proposals for income generating projects. (For your comments, reactions, please email me at rjrjrajimenez@gmail.com)
