This changes nothing but I'd like to say to my friends that I love my job even though it makes me very busy and unable to see them for a while. On weekdays, I'd go straight to bed after a tiring day unlike before when I could hang-out and meet some friends in Cubao for dinner or a cup of coffee. So, recently I learned to love weekends not only because it gives me time to rest but it balances my life, and make me ready for the adventure I'll be having for the next week.
So, what have I been busy about? As an answer to a friend...
The work of a social worker in the streets, is a risky yet adventurous job.
Last Sunday, we had rescue operations of street children and street families in Guadalupe. After giving them breakfast, we interviewed them of how we could be of help to them. As expected, their needs are the basic ones - food, livelihood, shelter. For me, the street children and street families are the concrete products of an unequal society. For the last 2 years, I thought that the children who are not given chance to go to school in the rural areas are the most deprived ones. I learned recently that there are children in worse situation than them, and they are the children living, playing, sleeping, scavenging, selling sampaguita, etc. on the streets.
"It's a blurry present and not just future, for these children."
Last Wednesday, we also did profiling of the street families staying in NAIA Avenue. To my surprise, there are families living under the Catcat Bridge near the International Airport. I was fighting my tears to fall, when I saw these pictures forwarded by the barangay officers.
Homeless street families under Catcat Bridge.
Through interviews, I found out that these families have been residing under the bridge for almost 20 years already. The only way to contribute to them in starting their life anew is to give them opportunity for resettlement, before they face threats of demolition. As a friend told, "It'll be your legacy, if you're able to change their situation, for... since I was a child, they are already there."
Me talking to a street child, with my fellow social worker.
Sometimes, I feel so small that I could do minimal things for social change. I am just a social worker and decisions are sometimes under the judgment of people of higher ranks than me. I may recommend these families for resettlement, but the reality of that happening is still under the hands of an entity bigger than me, which is the one to provide an area for resettlement as well as budget for the houses of these families.
But, I still believe that my words in written and oral has a lot to say. I love what I do, and I do my best, and I hope the rest will follow.
