Written by: Richard Yatar
It was an awesome day for Ate Abi and Kuya Alec because they chose to celebrate their special day with the kids of National Children’s Hospital last September 3, 3017.
Most of them were young professionals and just passed the civil engineering board exams. Some of Abi’s friends were still students and some were close relatives of volunteers. At first, they were all shy when they introduced themselves to the beneficiaries. But as the program went on, they became more comfortable to be with the kids. As always, the event won’t proceed to fun parts without knowing each other first. The event didn’t go like the usual energetic conversation because kids were not feeling well but our ates and kuyas managed to get their attention and let the kids participate. We saw the struggle in our patients’ faces but we were all thankful that the kids managed to set aside the pain and focused on having a great time only. They shared to each other their favorite actors and actresses and their dream when they grew up. From that, we still feel the passion and the faith of those kids.
They had ice breakers and few games on the event. Since our kids can’t move that much, we tried to give them an artsy kind of game. It was called “Bring Me Art.” Basically, they just needed to have a cut-out of the thing that Ate Te described. Kids and our ates and kuyas were all competitive. What amazed us was not their competitiveness but their great creativity. From a very limited time, they managed to give us a beautiful craft to submit. Next game was “Act It Game.” Each group had to do the usual reaction in the given scenario. Some of the scenarios were winning a lotto, seeing Coco Martin and more. Everyone was participating but only one team emerged as winners. It was Ate Ann’s team. After that game, kids went back to their own wards to proceed with the next program — it was STORYTELLING! Seeing on the photos, kids were all attentive as their ates and kuyas read stories to them. In fact, few kids requested for different set of stories after finishing the first book.
After the stressful yet very happy and fun-filled games, we distributed food and we ate to recharge our lost energies. Even on their snacks, their ates and kuyas didn’t leave their partner kids. Finally, our ates and kuyas gave their gifts to the kids. They handed toys to the patients. Ate Abi brought different kinds of toy but our kids didn’t choose for any kind. They were all just thankful to what had been handed to them. With this, we saw contentment to the kids and that was so awesome.
It was a heart touching moment to see children smile the whole day. In spite of the pain that they carry, kids still spent few hours with us. With that, it wasn’t just them who feel blessed to have people helping them but also our volunteers for making us realize to take care and value our community more. Those kids managed to open our hearts to everyone especially to those who are in need.
