Written by: Ate Charmain Tan, Vice President – Internal
Birthdays are great times to be thankful for all the blessings we have received and a time to share them with others. It was a fun Monday afternoon as we visited White Cross Orphanage in Santolan Road, San Juan. Founders of Morfosis Creatives Inc., Ate Misty and Ate Pai were both celebrating their birthday and at the same time they wanted to do a thanksgiving celebration for their interior design firm. They were joined by their family and Morfosis employees. Sixty adorable toddlers from White Cross joined us that afternoon. White Cross provides temporary shelter for children born from challenging circumstances. It supports the children in their educational, medical and financial needs. A DSWD accredited orphanage, White Cross was inaugurated in 1936.
As the adorable toddlers joined us everyone couldn’t help it but to give them hugs. They were all so energetic but at the same time very well behaved. They started running and hugging us. The toddlers were divided into four groups as we introduced the volunteers to the kids. The volunteers shared their favorite nursery songs and the kids sang with them. They sang the forever popular song Baby Shark, Bahay Kubo, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABC song, and others. The volunteers then joined the different groups. The teams were Powerpuff Girls of Ate Owen, Team Flower Girls of Ate Chi, Team Magic, and Team Baby Shark of Ate Misty and Ate Pai.
The first activity we did was Pass the Balls. We gave one ball to each team as we played the Baby Shark song. Team members were to pass the balls within the circle. When the music stopped the child holding the ball had to stand up. The first one that stood up got a point. Since the toddlers were little the volunteers helped them in standing up fast. In the end it was Team Magic, an all boys team who won the game.
The next activity we did was the Magic Show by Maestro Koby of the Salamangkero Group. He started with a lot of doves flying out of pouches. The kids all shouted and stood up trying to reach for the birds. He then made an adorable bunny pop out from a platter. The kids all wanted to bring it home. He then got one of the girls from White Cross to assist him in his tricks. He asked her to hold on to the end of one table which magically flew up in the air. The kids couldn’t help it but to reach out to the tables.
After the spectacular show we did an Art Workshop by Teacher Blanca. She taught us to make a duck pop up card. She started out by distributing the materials per group. She then asked the kids to fold the colored papers accordion style. The volunteers helped the kids in their folding. Those papers were to be the bodies of the duck. The volunteers then helped the kids into drawing the faces of the duck. We then attached some triangle papers as beaks. The body was glued onto the card stock and the kids could freely decorate their cards. The kids enjoyed it so much. They were so cute as they kept opening the card and started saying “Quack quack”.
After the activities it was time for the kids to enjoy their early dinner. The volunteers helped them as they tried finishing their food. One of their guardians was laughing as she said the rice serving as too much for the kids but the kids diligently finished their food. After eating we gave prizes to the members of Team Magic for winning the game. Ate Misty and Ate Pai gave out school supplies to all the children. They also gave medicine donations to the center. We sang a Happy Birthday song for Ate Pai and Ate Misty as they blew their birthday cupcakes and gave a message to the kids. We thank them, their family, and Morfosis Creatives Inc. for starting their week with the kids of White Cross Orphanage.
