A Day with the Kids at Southville Resettlement Tanay Rizal

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Words cannot explain how I felt after spending a day with the kids of Southville10 Resettlement area in Tanay, Rizal. It's a short, fun-filled event that we shared with the kids to impart to them the value of reading while doing it with pure enjoyment.

We arrived at Southville 10 resettlement area at around 11AM. Despite the rains and rough roads going to the area, tired hands carrying heavy goods, what made us feel energized is the smiles painted in each kid’s face as they patiently wait for our arrival.

On our way to Southville 10 Resettlement, Tanay Rizal.

After a few conversations with the acting chairman of the Southville 10 community, we headed to the place where the kids are. Since the area is an open place, we decided to start while there were only 40 children in number. Hence, when the rain stopped, the kids’ number started to increase from 40 to 80 then 100! That was when we got worried because the gifts/stuff that we brought for them is only good for 50 kids. While we haven’t decided how to distribute the gifts, we went back to our prepared program and activities which the kids willingly participated to. At the back of our mind, “tiwala lang”, and we’ll get through this.

Glad that we were able to come up with a good strategy. Instead of distributing those 50 loot bags to 50 kids, we decided to divide the originally 50 bags of school supplies so we can give to everyone. It’s a blessing also that the spare stuff we have for games were more than enough as prizes, we added them to have sufficient stuff to give away. To our surprise, it seems our gifts will be able to accommodate more than 50 kids!

While some fellow volunteer bloggers had the reading activity, the other bloggers arranged games, which the kids really enjoyed. Then came next is the distribution of school supplies, books and snacks to the kids of Southville 10 Resettlement Community. While distributing, my worries turns into amazement.  We came with only 50 bags in our hands but it was so amazing to witness how our supplies reciprocate and finally would fit for 111 children! Right there and then, I remember the same scenario in the bible  [on verse John 6:15]  when Jesus feeds 5000 people with only a few loaves of bread and two fish. I found myself uttering... Thank You Lord! Indeed, He is faithful; we only need to trust Him with all our hearts.

Sometimes they just need to know that they are loved and cared for.

Even if we’re not completely done yet, I can already see the genuine happiness of these kids. They were full of energy the whole time, very cooperative in participating in all the games and so engrossed with the story that we read to them. When we handed them the loot bags, their excitement and gratefulness are evident with the smiles they gave to us in return. To feel that they appreciate the little tokens we gave them is more than enough for us. I personally felt a sense of fulfillment I haven’t felt for ages now.

Based on their smiles, this is a day they will certainly not forget anytime soon.

I was so touched when they said thank you, I felt the words penetrate through my heart. We felt even more how blessed we are and appreciate what we have.

The kids offered to sing for us their thanksgiving song before saying goodbye. But all of them asked for us to come back, which I believe will not be a hard one to fulfill.

The experience was so worth it and I encourage my fellow bloggers or anyone interested to participate in this advocacy. You may visit the website of Bloggers For A Cause  BFAC and discover other bloggers who like us are willing to share some time and resources to our less fortunate kababayan. No matter how small, our presence and our vision to make a difference in other people lives will certainly go a long way.


>> Learn more about BFAC recent programs and how you can help. 
>> To view the rest of the photos, click HERE.
>> If you are interested in volunteering you can also email me directly at voncass@gmail.com

 Thank you for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you. :)

smile & kisses,