Written by Vice President for External, Ate Charmain Tan
It was one of our biggest events for the year. It was a Career Day for 60 children of Virlanie Foundation. Virlanie is a private non-profit organization reaching out to street children in the Philippines. It was founded in 1992 and since then the organization has helped more than 17,000 children who need special protection. Virlanie has several programs currently running and one of them is their residential program. There are several Virlanie homes in the area which houses the children by age group. We have visited these children and they have always welcomed us into their homes.
Today we were joined by these energetic children from the different VIrlanie homes. We had the event at Makati Coliseum in Mascardo, which is right by the Virlanie homes. The theme of the event was Career Day, aiming to design the future of these children. We invited professionals representing different professions. The professions were doctor, lawyer, teacher, chef, businessman, fashion designer, flight attendant, and soldier.
As the volunteers and kids arrived, everyone was eager to start the day’s activities. We grouped the children into 8 and they were joined by the professionals. We first played Bring me Art. Kuya Harvard gave a profession and the team members were to cut out items related to that professions within a given time. One item counted as one point. The first profession was teacher. The kids and volunteers cut out as many items as they could think of related to being a teacher. They made notebooks, pencil, board, projector, and many others. Some of the groups were very creative and very fast. Team members also had to decide among themselves who would cut which object to avoid repetition. The second profession was doctor. The members of my group were funny as one of them crumpled a paper saying it represented a cotton ball, while another one said it was medicine. One volunteer also made a pop up bed, blanket, and pillow using the paper. It was nice to watch as everyone was trying to cut and fold as fast as they could before the time ran out. The last profession was police. They made handcuffs, police uniform, hat, whistle, and grenade. In the end it was Team Chef that accumulated the most number of points.
After the game each group had to prepare a skit that would explain the different professions. The professionals in each team gave out instructions to the kids and volunteers on what their role is in the skit. Team Doctor did a great presentation by showing the different scenarios in an emergency situation. Dr Amy even brought stethoscope, masks, and syringe to be used in the skit. The kids excitedly borrowed the stethoscope and tried listening to each other’s heartbeats. Team Lawyer, led by Atty Anton, Atty Chito, and Atty Geraldine, showed us how a court trial is. Present were the witness, defendant, and the lawyers. Team Soldier, led by Captain Jose Carlos Coruna and his wife Captain Winnie Coruna showed us how conflicts would arise and it was their duty to serve and protect the citizens of the country. PAL flight attendants Ms Rhea and Ms Raj showed us the scene when we are on board the plane. Passengers entered the plane while the flight attendants checked their boarding passes. They also explained the importance of the safety demonstration and what to do during turbulence. Entrepreneurs Mr Japs and Ms Jane presented a scene from a sari-sari store showing us how trading in business works. The other teams also had great presentations led by fashion designer Ms Cheena and Chef Kittin.
After each presentation the professionals then went to the different stations where the art workshop was set up. Each kid then chose which profession they want to become by heading over to that station. Each station had its own art workshop based on the profession that it represented. The participants in the doctor station made a stethoscope. The fashion designer team did a pop up artwork by painting a woman on a paper then dressing her up using different materials. Some used beads to embellish the skirts while others used tulle and Japanese paper for the clothing. The Chef team did a really cute chef’s hat made of white cartolina. All the kids had fun as they wore their hats afterwards. Team Soldier did a military patch for the kids to wear it on their shirts. Team Lawyer did a superhero masks as lawyers work to fight the injustice in the community. Team Teacher did a 3D apple as teachers have always been given apples as a tradition. After the art workshop the kids and volunteers got to have their lunch together. We then gave gifts and story books to the children.
We are grateful to the group of professionals who, despite their busy schedule, took the time and spent the morning with us. The teachers from Signal Village National Highschool was in full force as around 10 of them attended the event. Multi media arts professor Mike Tan from DLSU – CSB joined the teacher’s group in the activities.
Through this event we hope to have inspired and encouraged the children to work towards what they want to become in the future. The future of our world lies in the hands, hearts, and the minds of our children.
