Friday, May 02, 2008 Cadets + orphans + crayons = fun By Nikka Corsino
DANICA (not her real name) sits quietly on one of the stone benches and lays her cartolina and coloring materials on the table. She, together with 27 other orphans, were at Grove 55 at Fort Del Pilar to spend a day with cadets of the Philippine Military Academy in what was dubbed "Ate, Kuya Day!" a joint community outreach program for orphans.
Danica, who has just turned 18, is from the Safe Harbor International Philippines in Navy Base. But before calling this her home, Danica was passed from one guardian to another, each time either getting a knife poked at her neck for playing late into the night or being harassed.
As a young girl, she has known neither her biological mother nor her family, and has lived with strangers who themselves are broken families. She decided to flee Sagada, where she grew up with her foster family until she reached Baguio, where she would spend the next two years at The Haven, the Department of Social Welfare and Development's shelter for abused women.
Through the "Ate, Kuya Day!" outreach program, Danica and the other orphans were treated to a day of fun and recreation with a tour of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), gift-giving, and a drawing activity with cadets facilitated by artist Jonz Mejia. The each kid was given a cartolina and a complete set of art materials and partnered with a cadet, who would help them with their artwork.
According to Captain Dennis Solomon, public information officer of PMA, outreach programs like this are the academy's way of fulfilling the five goals of a PMA graduate: as combatants, partners in nation-building, military professionals, managers, and leaders of character.
"Cadets are inside the academy most of the time, so events like this serve as eye-opener to the life which awaits them. It also shows (them that guns are not the solution to everything)," said Solomon.
Claire, one of the cadets, said: "This serves as a means to socialize for us cadets, as well as a way for us to help those who need them."
Chilai de Guia, representative of event co-sponsor Smart Communications, said:
"This is part of Smart's community service advocacy throughout the country, not just here in Baguio City."
After the drawing activity, the kids were treated to a lunch courtesy of Jollibee. Other sponsors of the event include Smart, Turismo ti Kordillera, the Department of Tourism, PMA, SM Foundation, Inc., and the Vocas Group.
Now that Danica is 18, she is due to leave Safe Harbor. On the first week of May, she will be meeting the new family for whom she will keep house in Dagupan City, Pangasinan. From there, she will be on her own. Hopefully, for kids like her, Danica will someday find what she can truly call home.
For now the day she spent with the cadets will be long remembered as one where she could left her hair down and leave the troubles of this very confusing world.
