Tuesday noon, February 9, 2010 – We walked a kilometer to reach our destination in the hot afternoon sun. It was another adventure for me and my team we stepped into mud and it covered all our toes but it is nothing compared how my heart breaks. As we passed the demolished houses because the owner needs the space for new buildings, squatted houses has a red mark, the community that we saw squatted there from generation to generation… they don’t have a place to go to.. What they did was they just moved much further into the mangrove area. The water was totally polluted.
I saw this little kid who doesn’t have hope that he can get out of the swamp he lived in. He doesn’t even know how old is he, neither can recognize his real name. He doesn’t have a birth certificate that will be his proof that he existed in this world.
Before, upon seeing this picture in magazines and posters,within me I was saying, “Well I don’t think there are children who looks like these..hmm.. Maybe they just take a picture elsewhere.. and post it.. I have this feeling that these people doesn’t exist in this world.. No community as poor as this that they can’t even afford to buy their own meal..”
Totally I was wrong. Indeed it was here before my eyes.. a child, and not just a child, but a community who lived in a swamp area that all their lives they were there. The lifestyle that they had was so sad that they just throw their garbage everywhere. No one to teach them the proper way of garbage disposal. They would cut the mangroves to build a house and don’t even know how to plant just to replace it. No permanent job to cater to their family’s needs.. No way of getting to school because they were undocumented.. What else can the future gave to these children? All their lives they spent in miserable situation. This people needs our help to educate them and give them hope. Every kid that we educate will change not only their life, their family, but their community as well.
to be continued