Thursday, December 06, 2007 Cebu City, NGO give haircuts, gifts to 230 street children
THE Cebu City Government and a nongovernment organization made 230 street children happy by feeding them and giving them gifts yesterday.
It was an early Christmas bash for the children, who spent past Christmases in the street while those with families and roof above their heads basked in the warmth of their homes.
Abeth Cuizon of the Cebu City Center for the Protection and Welfare of Children said it was a “fulfilling” occasion for them.
“It was fulfilling. After all, Christmas is for children,” she said.
The City Hall’s Department of Social Welfare Services, City Health Department, Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries, and Department of Manpower Development and Placement (DMDP) helped in the program.
Cuizon said the Filipino American Magtibangay Foundation Inc. (Famfi) also helped by donating the clothes given to the children.
The City started “rescuing” the children at 8 a.m. yesterday and loaded them into two Kaohsiung buses from the Fuente rotunda, Sto. Niño church and pier areas.
After the kids were rounded up, they were brought to the Cebu City Sports Center where tents were set up.
The children were registered, made to take a bath and given clothes, food and gifts.
They also underwent medical examination by health department doctors and were given haircuts by DMDP barbers.
Cuizon said Famfi, which helped the marginalized for the first time yesterday, promised to return next year for the same outreach program.
She said they did the same activity last October, when they rounded up 150 persons, 43 of whom were from the Fuente Osmeña area, who likewise showed up at the sports center.
Cuizon said much has changed in the way street children think.
While before they ran away and hide when they see the City buses, most of them willingly took the trip to the sports center yesterday.
She hopes the activity will be made a monthly program for the street children.
Cuizon said that 14 of those they gathered last October opted to stay at the Pari-an Drop-in Center and are now enrolled under the City’s Alternative Learning System. (RHM)
