“Every time darkness starts creeping at dusk I feel a tinge of sadness. I even get mad at that specific time when my vision is blurred by lack or total absence of light. At certain point, I manifest my disgust by cursing in silence. All these demeanor, however, changed when one day I saw a totally blind man exuding confidence and showing his happiness in spite of the fact that he could not even see anything at all”.
This is how Davao Light & Power Co. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Manager Vic Sumalinog began his message during a gift-giving activity that the company undertook at the Davao School for the Rehabilitation of the Visually-impaired (formerly the Davao School for the Blind) at Bago Aplaya, Davao City.
The annual gift-giving activity in cooperation with the Samaritan Purse, an American charity organization that sends shoe boxes stuffed with Christmas gifts for the children, was held last December 17, and December 21.
This year the beneficiaries of the employee-initiated project were students at the school for the blind, the wards at Love the Children Foundation at Sitio San Pedro in Marapangi, Toril, and the kids at the Angel Barraquel Home in Panabo City. Some two hundred kids and young adults from the centers and from their immediate community were given gifts appropriate for their ages.
At the school for the blind Sumalinog told the young students and the school officials led by their sight-impaired principal Welmo Capoy, that the company and its employees felt great honor to have visited the institution and witnessed how it has persevered despite the great odds.
The principal said he was glad that Davao Light had shown it is not only in the business of lighting of homes and establishments and make profit, but also lighting the path of those who are blind but can “see” the beauty of Christmas by just “feeling” it.
Over at the Love the Children Foundation and at the Angel Barraquel, there was rejoicing among the children. This time, the beneficiaries could not only feel and touch the gifts they received, they could actually see and appreciate them to the fullest. The children played games among themselves and were entertained by mascots of from two food chains.
At the school for the blind the Davao Light employees sang Christmas songs by with the students and the principal who is himself blind. The renditions made them weep. [DLPC/PR]
