Another Monday morning in Manila, and a group of regular volunteers is en route to Tulay Ng Kabataan, a home for street kids, armed with crafts and books and merienda. We arrive to the usual excited welcomes and so many kids that the small courtyard is bursting at the seams. Our usual bundle of boys, which has grown as graduation approaches, has been expanded further by a lovely group of girls from the neighbouring girls home, and a few of the older, carpentry boys have also showed up for the morning. The neat and orderly lines that Teacher Neil had organized dissolve as we walk in and they all come rushing to greet us – heart warming moments of hugs and “mano po” (your hand please, Sir/Ma’am), that purely Filipino gesture of pressing the back of an adult’s right hand to the forehead as a sign of respect to an older person, or acceptance of a blessing from a priest.
Ma’am Hema calmly restores order with a long session of clapping rhythms and patterns, which always seems to work magic, settling the kids down and getting them to focus on the morning’s activities. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly even the smallest children pick up the routine and eagerly join in, standing in neat rows across the courtyard in order of size, the tiny kids turning to watch the older ones, or clambering up the steps and into our laps for extra cuddles.
This is followed by a singing session: a few old favourites from popular musicals and Play School (will they never grow tired of the frog song?) and I throw in a new one my own kids used to love, about a rainy morning and big umbrellas. They pick up the actions and echo the words and, after only two rounds, most of them have the hang of it. We also have a go at playing ‘Simple Simon’ at which they prove far too skilled, and we struggle to trip them up. When we occasionally manage to catch out the odd one or two, they all dissolve into giggles.
Exercises and stretching follow and then we split the group into juniors and seniors. Hema is having fun creating origami with the older kids in the upstairs classroom, and when I pop up to see how they are getting on, all of them are totally engaged and determined to get it right. They have even written down some instructions and background information in their notebooks, and proudly show me what they have achieved.
Downstairs, a larger bunch of rowdy smalls squeeze into the narrow desks, and we begin with story time. They quieten down quickly as Elise reads to them in Tagalog.
While she keeps them rapt in the story, I chat with Teacher Neil about how such a big group is working. He says the addition of the girls has been a great success. The boys really miss them when they aren’t there, and get very somber and solemn. The older group has been having all sorts of challenging conversations about life experiences on the streets, sexuality and emotions, which he says is fantastic, and all part of their greater education. He agrees it is good to know they feel safe enough to discuss these things together, as there is little other opportunity in their lives for such in-depth talks.
Story time at an end, we hand around the colouring-in sheets, watching and helping as necessary as the kids, large and small, manage the dot-to-dot with alacrity and then set about colouring the pictures with quiet enthusiasm, after some initial squabbling over the crayons. This week we have brought a couple of pictures, one slightly less complicated for the Littlies. Angelica, one of the smaller girls prefers to create her own scribbles on the back, and even tiny Matthew gives it a try for a while, mostly in heavy black crayon. By the end of the session we have cellotaped a lovely display of bright artwork to the blackboard, and a lot of them have moved on to round two, eager to try out both pictures, reassigning colours and clutching their favourites to their chests.
Merienda, biscuits, milk and bananas, is ready and waiting when they are done and we urge them to line up and file in neatly, the older kids leading them in a prayer, before we wave goodbye till next week.