National Youth Day delegates distribute hygiene kits to the street children at the Abtanan sa Kaluoy center in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The National Youth Day (NYD) delegates are spending the fourth day of the week-long event by giving back to the community.
The Abtanan sa Kaluoy, a center for street children built by the Catholic Church in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City, is one of these places where delegates do community service and immersion activities.
Read more: Abtanan sa Kaluoy: An oasis of mercy for street children in Cebu
Fr. Carmelo Diola, the Abtanan sa Kaluoy executive director, said the purpose of the activity would be to remind the delegates of the joy of serving others.
“There is joy in giving back especially to the children,” said Diola.
This is what at least 40 delegates from various diocesses all over the country that have been clustered in Cebu City’s North District did on the morning of Friday, April 26.
They did volunteer work in the center where 75 street children, 10 years old and below from Barangays Subangdaku, Mabolo, Lorega, Barrio Luz, and Carreta, gathered.
National Youth Day delegates interview two street children who are being profiled for future services at the Abtanan sa Kaluoy. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio
According to Estee Plunket, the facilitator for the volunteers in the center, the NYD delegates facilitated the five basic service of the center including profiling of the children, hygiene care and bathing, feeding, play and activity, and exercise.
These are the services which take care the physiological needs of street children and served at the ground level of the four-story building.
Read more: NYD delegates to experience Via Lucis in lieu of Via Crucis
Doing volunteer work in the center would be part of the immersion activities that the delegates would have to experience for the NYD. Each host parish have different immersion activities similar to that at the Abtanan sa Kaluoy.
The delegate-volunteers were able to interact with the street children in a controlled venue with some delegates assigned to interview the children for profiling. Some of them were also able to feed the children or bathe the children, while some volunteers played with them.
Jay-Ann Damaua, a delegate from Tugegarao, said the activity was a good opportunity to give back to the poor.
She served in the kitchen and was tasked to feed the children, an activity she said was “very fulfilling.”
Diola said the Abtanan sa Kaluoy will be fully functional by June, and he encouraged groups to become partners in providing organized charity to street children. /dbs