Written by: Ate Charmain Tan, Vice President – External
We are in the middle of the busy holiday season as we headed to Philippine Children’s Medical Center, a government hospital located in Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. The hospital was busy as there were other scheduled Christmas activities for the day. We welcomed our sponsors from Cocentrix Philippines, a global provider of business services. The cheerful group was headed by Ate Ana and Ate Chai. They have done outreach activities in the past, visited orphanage and the elderly. This time they chose to spend their morning with the children of PCMC.
The doctor in charge led us through the Cancer and Hematology ward. There were several rooms in the ward and we divided the volunteers into groups. They went in their rooms as they got to know the children and their parents. Some of the children were as young as a year old and another one was thirteen. Some patients have been there for quite some time while the others are just about to start their chemotherapy. The kids were excited upon seeing us and one of the girls quickly said: “Gift!” and she was all smiles. Some of the parents started sharing their stories to the volunteers as it was indeed a big challenge they are facing. They were appreciate of us being there to listen to them.
After the volunteers got to know the children and their parents we played a game called Bring Me Art. We gave colored papers and scissors to each of the children and their parents. In line with the Christmas season we would specify an item and the children would cut the item on the paper. The first one that finished first got a prize. The items we gave were Christmas tree, candy cane, star, and others. The moms were excited as they started getting prizes. Some of them were really good as they cut the items really fast. The older children were also excited to win some prizes.
After the game we did the Art Workshop. We taught the volunteers how to make a Christmas Tree Pop Up Card. There were two kinds of christmas tree, one outside and one inside the card. The christmas tree inside were made from papers folded accordion style. We then cut them into different sized segments as they were to be the tree bushes. The different segments were attached one on top of the other, starting with the longest one at the bottom. When we opened the card there was a 3D christmas tree popping out. The outside tree was made from square papers folded into triangles. As the volunteers learned how to make the trees they in turn taught the children how to make one. The mothers of the younger children listened intently as they did the cards for their babies. The trees were topped off with yellow stars and christmas messages from the children were written inside. It was heart breaking as some of the kids wrote they wish to get well this christmas.
After the activities it was time for the much awaited gift giving. The Cocentrix office employees each prepared a gift wrapped in a shoeboxex. They got the gifts and the food and gave them to the children in their rooms. The children were so excited they hurriedly opened the boxes and started playing with the toys. The mothers were also very happy as they kept saying thank you to the ates and kuyas for the gifts. As our volunteers brought so many gifts we headed to the different wards to give out more presents to the kids. Everyone was very thankful and happy. In our small way we hope to have brought smiles to these little fighters and give hope to their parents who have to be strong for both themselves and their children. We thank Ate Ana and the rest of the volunteers from Concentrix for sharing their blessings to the children of PCMC.
