Edge Davao 8th anniversary special – Children: Jewels of parents

By Henrylito D. Tacio
Cornelia was a Roman noble lady, the wife of an emperor.  She had two small sons, who were her pride and joy, since she had lost all her other children.
One day, another noble Roman lady came to her house for a visit and was proudly showing off her jewelry to her hostess.  She then challenged Cornelia to show off her own jewels.
Cornelia pointed to her two sons, who had just entered the room.  “These are my jewels,” she said.
 This brings us to a story that happened to Jesus when he went to the region of Judea.  He was busy teaching when little children were brought to him for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.
 But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.  Jesus told them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  After placing his hands on them, he went on.  Check Matthew 19:13-15 for this. 
“Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you,” Lisa Wingate, an award-winning journalist and magazine columnist, once said, “and their souls the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands. Take time with them; teach them to have faith in God. Be a person in whom they can have faith. When you are old, nothing else you’ve done will have mattered as much.”
 In The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents, William Martin shares some timely tips on how to train your children well: “Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives.  Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life.  Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
 Davao City, which is considered one of the safest cities in the world, is a child-friendly city.  In fact, it has been conferred as such four times already.  The city won it for the first time in 1998, then in 1999, in 2013, and in 2014.
 Last December, the national validation team for the 2015 Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Cities and Municipalities came to the city to review programs and initiatives in delivering responsive interventions in the promotion and protection of children’s rights and welfare.
 The three other cities competing against Davao for the coveted award are Baguio City, Mandaluyong City, and Bacolod City.
 The Presidential Award for the Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities is initiated by the Council for the Welfare of Children, pursuant to Executive Order 184 entitled “Establishing the Presidential Award for the Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities.”
 It is given to deserving local government units in recognition of their vital role in promotion of children’s rights to survival, development, protection and participation as well as in ensuring child-friendly governance.
 According to a news report carried by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the last time Davao City won the award was because of the various projects for children that the city had pioneered in recent years.
 “Among these are House of Hope that houses children cancer patients, a child-minding center for employees and residential facilities for abused children, children in conflict with the law and even the mentally challenged,” the report said.
 Speaking of House of Hope, it is a transient home for children with cancer.  “Childhood cancer is curable,” says Dr. Mae Concepcion Dolendo, a pediatric oncologist, who founded the place.  “But the treatment may take several months and even years for some.  I think one of the major stumbling blocks in the treatment and cure among children with cancer is the lack of access to health care institutions that can provide multispecialty care.”
 Unknown to many, one of the avid supporters of the House of Hope is Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, who is currently running for the country’s top post.  His “affair” with the house started when he attended the opening program where he did the cutting of ribbon to officially open the house. 
 Today, Duterte helps raise funds for the House of Hope.   He spends his birthdays and Christmas with the children and even personally giving toys and presents.  “The children know him not as the mayor of the city but someone close to them,” Dr. Dolendo said.
 The oncologist physician has shared several stories about Mayor Duterte which most people don’t know.  Those sort of unguarded moments.  It may the reason also why he doesn’t allow the media to cover when he comes to the House of Hope.
 At one time, Duterte reportedly asked the children with cancer if they know him.  One little boy stood up and proudly told him, “You are our uncle.”  The answer made Duterte to laugh out loud.
 On another occasion, Duterte talked with a teenager whose cancer was already on stage four.  Despite the fact that she was already dying, she was still full of hope.  “You are a strong girl,” Duterte was reported to tell her. 
 After saying those words, Duterte walked a little farther — where people could not see him.  But without his knowledge, Dr. Dolendo watched her from a distance.  “He stopped walking and face the wall,” she recalled.  “I wonder why he was facing the wall.  But my question was answered when he took a handkerchief from the back of his pocket and wiped the tears coming from his eyes.”
 Bertrand Russell was a British political activist.  But he was also a historian, writer and social critic.  He once wrote: “When you want to teach children to think, you begin by treating them seriously when they are little, giving them responsibilities, talking to them candidly, providing privacy and solitude for them, and making them readers and thinkers of significant thoughts from the beginning. That’s if you want to teach them to think.” █