For the longest time, I have been wanting to do something to give back to the community. I wanted to do something more than just buying a full meal for a homeless person I meet on the street. And don't get me wrong. If you do this too, I don't mean to say that this is less noble than any other act of kindness out there. Any act of kindness, whether big or small (on whichever scale people want to measure it), IS an act of kindness. Period. I don't think there's an "Act Of Kindness Marshall" that magically appears while you're doing your good deed, blows a whistle and then goes, "Prrrrrt... (I don't know how to verbalize the sound of a whistle. hihi...) That's not enough. You have done a so-so kindness deed today. Let me put that in my tracker." It's just that personally, for my own gratification, it wasn't enough. The experience and fulfillment I get when I give them food and try to have a conversation with them was no longer enough for me. I wanted to do more.
Since I was (and still am. LOL) incapable of donating a good amount of money, I wanted to volunteer. I wanted to go to an orphanage and offer myself for whatever manual labor I could do. I was willing to do anything from mopping the floors, washing the dishes or scrubbing their toilets. My problem was finding out how and where to begin. But that journey of mine is reserved for another blog entry since I want to keep this one as concise as possible in order to highlight the star of this story - The Missionaries Of Charity Brothers.
Missionaries Of Charity Brothers is home for abandoned special children. My friend Kaye, who had volunteered for this orphanage previously, recommended that we go here. This orphanage that currently houses 27 (if my memory serves me right) special children is situated in Trese Martires, Cavite City. You really don't have to make an appointment if you want to do volunteer work here unless you are a group and are planning to do a full schedule of activities for the kids or if you are planning to sleep over. Everyone is welcome to just walk in and help or play with the kids. No need to buy them anything too but of course it wouldn't hurt if you did. :)
My friend Kaye didn't have her car and I don't have one so we decided to meet up at SM Bacoor. We had lunch first then bought a book from National Bookstore. We took a bus from SM Bacoor that brought us to Kapitolyo. From Kapitolyo, we found a Red Ribbon store where we bought cake for the kids.
Me, my friend, and the book we bought while waiting for the cake we wanted to give the children
Here's the cake! Thank you, Red Ribbon! :)
Right outside Red Ribbon, you will find tricycles that you can call and ask to take you to the orphanage. This particular tricycle driver we called however, did not know the orphanage. So if you're going there for the first time and you encounter a driver like him, just remember that coming from Red Ribbon when you exit the store, the direction of the orphanage is to your right. As you drive down that road (you just go straight. you won't make any turns), the orphanage is again to your right with a big sign that has Mother Theresa's picture so you wont miss it (if this direction is too confusing, feel free to leave a comment and I will be more than willing to give you a 'better' set of directions. hehehe..).
Behind me is the sign of the orphanage with Mother Theresa's picture
The kids were still having their lunch when we got there. So while waiting for them to finish, somebody took us for a tour of the place. I asked the person giving us the tour how they found these kids although I already had a preconceived idea that these kids were probably brought to their orphanage by their families due to lack of financial ability to support their needs. I was wrong. It broke my heart to hear that most of them were literally abandoned. Abandoned in hospitals, in churches and the saddest story I think were the ones that were left in the garbage.
After having their meal, the social worker gathered them and told them that we were there to tell them a story. And tell a story we did! The book we bought was a story of 5 birds. So while telling the story we pretended to be those birds by acting out and making all these bird sounds. After that, Kaye and I started getting our 'groups'. She had this group of special children asking more about the book, my group were kids who just wanted to hear me sing. I felt like I was Taylor Swift with how they listened to me and smiled at me while I sang. Later on, we were asked to go to the playground. One boy grabbed my hand and eagerly brought me there. This boy could not speak unlike the other boys. I think he was one of the 2 boys in the orphanage with Down's Syndrome. He tried to show me the orphanage's service vehicle, took me to the swing, asked for the book for him to look at it and listened to me while I sang songs to him. He didn't speak a word, but it felt like we understood each other.
We finally had to go and said our goodbyes to the children. The brothers and the social worker told us to feel free to just visit any time. We will definitely go back. It was a Saturday well spent.
My friend told me that taking pictures with the kids was not allowed. Behind us is the office of the orphanage and to the right of this photo is the orphanage's playground
Traffic was awful that day, so we decided to drop by District Mall after and had dinner. There is SM Bacoor, SM Dasmarinas and District Mall for you to go to after your volunteer work and have dinner (in case you leave late like us).
I am surprised that I survived dinner with clam chowder, potatoes, corn and carrots, macaroni and a muffin.
I SURVIVED WITHOUT RICE?! LOL
To know more about The Missionaries Of Charity Brothers, please visit their Facebook page:
Here is their address in Cavite:
- 132/A Indang Road Trese Martires
- Cavite City
Have a good Sunday, foxes! :)
