by Kith Baquiran

Metro Manila, Philippines
December 30, 2020

As a motorcycle rider, I have been in the streets of Metro Manila. I cannot deny how many homeless people that I see every time that I pass by the roads of Manila. It’s heartbreaking to see those children or families living on the isle of the roads or on the sideroads where they are so prone to accidents, harsh environments, and sickness especially with Covid-19 still roams our air.

When I saw that Ms. Marissa Langseth offered the chance to help them, I didn’t hesitate to take the chance to help them. Fortunately, my proposal was chosen by HAPI and the Scholars. I know that I cannot do it all by myself and as soon as I knew that my proposal was chosen, I asked around for help since I also work full time. Good thing I was able to hire some help to ensure this goes as smooth as possible.

We started our journey at 1:30PM from my house going to Sucat, Parañaque where we didn’t see much street children but more on families. As soon as we stopped to hand out food, they all came rushing in with joy in their face shouting “Biyaya! Biyaya! Biyaya!” We saw husband and wife with their kids as young as a couple of months old all taking shade from the heat of the sun. It made me think that we are still lucky we have a roof over our heads and money to buy our meals. As soon as we are done giving everyone there, they said “Salamat po sa biyaya! Happy New Year po!” We continued on roaming around the area, and the further we went, the more street families that we saw. As much as we want to ensure that everyone was given something to eat, however, we only had a few pax prepared.

This small act of kindness towards a human being provided us great pride and joy as we’re able to ensure that with this least thing that we did, we were able to put food in their stomach and smile on their faces. We have  high hopes that more will continue this, and we are one of those.