(A shorter version of this article was printed in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine on July 27, 2003.)
Looking at a dirty, malnourished, and in many cases homeless and unloved street child, we often wonder where under God´s heaven are their families. Indeed, many of these children wonder themselves.
"Ate, kamusta na kaya ang nanay ko? (Ate, do you think my mother is okay?)" asks Greg, a former street child who is now a ward of Tuloy Foundation, Inc.
The question is simple and direct. One could easily miss the depth of longing behind the query -- but missing it could literally mean missing the child and his greatest desire. After all, like the rest of us, street kids desire to belong, to live in a normal and happy home. Riza Garcia, Greg´s social worker, has noticed over the years that once he mentions his mother it is often a sign that Greg will run away from the Center to look for her.
Among the "old timers" in Tuloy, Greg is now 17 years old and on his seventh year in the Center, availing of the Foundation´s complete rehabilitation program that includes residential care and education directed to empowering the child and preparing him for independence. But in these past seven years, Greg has also left the comforts of the Center several times to search for his mother.
Unfortunately, his attempts to look for her seemed fruitless. He always returned tired and broken-hearted from his days, sometimes even weeks, of search.
Having been separated from his family at a very young age, Greg only has a few memories of his home. He recalls cleaning buses in Baliwag, Bulacan and sleeping under a movie house to earn a few bucks at the age of 7 or 8. Even then, he seldom went home, preferring to wander in the streets or in his words, "gumala."
If Greg had not been admitted in a Center, his life would have followed the formula portrayed in local movies: poor boy does whatever it takes to help family and to survive or more bluntly in Filipino "kapit sa patalim." Befriended by older boys who introduced him to a life of crime, Greg´s reasoning about that part of his life is also typical of the dialogue in movies:
"´Yun lang ang alam kong gawin. Ang nasa isip ko kulang kami sa pera kasi nagkautang kami ng P10,000.00 dahil nagkasakit ang tatay ko. (That was all I could do. We didn´t have enough money and we had owed a lot of money after my father got sick.)"
His early career in petty theft cost him dearly. In one of his adventures, he was asked to break into a store. But his luck ran out when the owner woke up. To avoid getting caught, he ran to the next town in Bulacan where a family took him in.
Misfortune seemed to follow him. Someone recognized him as one of the boys who attempted to rob a store in his town. Greg denied it and at the first opportunity he got, he ran away. Exhausted from walking, he fell asleep in a truck and woke up in Manila. Thus, at the tender age of 7, Greg found himself all alone in a city he did not know.
The sad fact is thousands of street children, like Greg, are not only scarred by the poverty, hunger, and abuse they experience in the streets; many of them are also completely and utterly alone. Not only are they homeless, they are also "familyless". Being separated from their parents and relatives at a far too young age, a lot of them do not even remember where to find their relations.
Greg is luckier than most. He now lives in Tuloy Streetchildren Village in Alabang where he shares a home with 29 other boys in as close to a family setting as he can enjoy. They are under the direction of a volunteer head of house, who functions as a house parent and is in turn assisted by a competent social worker. There are five other houses in the Village, each accommodating up to 30 kids.
Fr. Rocky Evangelista, a Salesian of Don Bosco, started Tuloy Foundation in 1993 to cater to the special needs of street children. Like a true father, Fr. Rocky seems to have been gifted with a special ear for their needs.
Instead of responding to their short-term needs, he envisioned a Village complete with all the facilities and services a growing child requires. Here, former street children like Greg avail of food, shelter, clothing, spiritual and moral formation, recreation, medical and dental care, values formation, individualized counseling and therapy, non-formal education including Vocational Technology, and on-the-job training. The program aims to integrate clientele back into society as responsible and productive citizens.
Music, an important part of Tuloy´s program has also become an essential part of Greg´s life. He is a member of Tuloy´s rondalla and marching bands. Although he had an early experience in stealing, Greg a silent young man at 17 has no record of the offense since Tuloy admitted him in 1997.
One day, Greg´s social worker, Riza Garcia, came up to him and whispered, "May surpresa ako sa ´yo. Kilala mo ba ang kasama ko? (I have a surprise for you. Do you know this lady?)"
Tears came unbidden in the teenager´s eyes, without being told, he knew what his surprise was.
He bowed his head and said, "Basta alam ko siya ang mama ko. (She´s my mother)."
Tracing the family of children under its care is also part of Tuloy´s services. The task in Greg´s case, however, was difficult. Having been separated from his family at a young age, he is unsure about their exact location at the time he left them. Greg´s own attempts to find them only got him as far as Baliwag Transit in Bulacan. His own sister in Batangas also could not give an exact location.
The task of looking for Greg´s parents fell on the lap of his social worker. Coming from a big family, Riza treats the children under her care like her own brothers and sisters. After reading through Greg´s case, Riza became determined to help this little brother. Little did she know, she was in for an adventure.
An unlooked for breakthrough came in May 2002. Greg´s sister was able to come up with a place: Palale, Norzagaray, Bulacan. Riza, in her excitement, left Manila in haste without knowing where exactly Palale, Bulacan was.
When she arrived in Bulacan, she asked around and learned that there is only one jeep that goes to Palale and it leaves in the afternoon; people even warned her that she has to ride a bangka (small boat) to get there. Fortunately, she took a chance, rode a tricycle, and got as far as the first house in Palale. The residents were Greg´s relatives and they gave her directions to his parents´ house.
"Remote area ´yung lugar, hindi nga abot ng kuryente, eh. Rough road ang dadaanan mo, as in mabato, maputik. Talahib ang nakapaligid. ´Yung papunta mismo kina Greg walang daan kahit rough road. Mula sa rough road dadaan ka sa gitna ng talahib tapos bumaba kami sa taniman, tapos ahon na naman. Mula sa unang bahay kung saan nakatira ang tiyahin ni Greg isang oras pa ang inilakad namin. (Their place is so far, they don´t even have electricity. The roads were rough and going to Greg´s house there wasn´t any clear path. We had to cut through talahib and cross rice fields. From the first house we saw where Greg´s aunt lives, after that we still had to walk for an hour.)" Riza said.
Riza arrived in Palale at 2:00 in the afternoon. Having learned that Greg is alive and well, his mother did not hesitate and went back to Manila with Riza within the hour. They spent the night in Riza´s house and early the next morning, Riza sprung her surprise on Greg.
Riza could not keep her eyes dry as she relates the reunion of Greg and his mother. Greg can barely remember his mother, but when he saw her he instantly recognized her.
"Hindi nga nila alam ang gagawin. Pareho silang umiiyak. Makikita mo gusto nang yumakap pero ... matagal na rin kasi silang nagkahiwalay kaya nagpapakiramdaman pa, nagkakahiyaan. (They didn´t know what to do. They were both crying. You could see that they wanted to embrace each other but they still felt awkward because it´s been so long," Riza recalls.
After seeing his mother and visiting their home, Greg has decided to remain in Tuloy so he can finish his education. For this young man, family has become a reality again. No longer does he need to dig deep into memory to know that he has parents who love him. Now, he knows exactly where home is and there his parents will be waiting for him.
As of March 2003, there are 138 children under Tuloy´s care. Of these, 79 have families. Tuloy´s social workers are still in the process of looking for the families of 6 children.
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