When
I was around five to ten, I thought that like me, every child in this world are
ought only to play and go to school. Then I learned better. The world is not as
child-friendly as I thought it must’ve been. Some are born lucky to see the
world in the same joyous child-like perspective that I did, while others have
seen the sad view in such an early age.
Jam-al,
an eleven year old boy from the streets of Davao City is the youngest among his
five other siblings who’d forgotten their childhood and how it feels like. He
works as a rose and sampaguita vendor every night.
“Pagkahuman sa
klase muanhi dayun ko diri, mamaligya. Gikan alas-kwatro sa hapon hangtud
kuhaon ming papa mga alas-dose. Kung wala pud klase, naa na ko diri udto pa
lang,” Jam-al explains.
It
was a good thing though to know that he is still studying. But it isn’t a sort
of beautiful life story to hear. Both his parents are working too. His mother
was also a street vendor, his father a tricycle driver. And it’s a depressing
reality that his parents’ earnings are still not enough. Jam-al and his
siblings had to help them work, “para
maka-kaon mi, makabayad sa mga utang, ug maka-skwela didto sa may Quezon dapit.
Pero ni-undang man akong isa ka kuya ug skwela. First year high school unta
siya karon. Human niya sa trabaho, diha pa siya muskwela daw” says the
young boy.
Jam-al
is just one among the other 2.4 million working children in the country. Based
on NGO’s data, in Davao City and in its neighboring provinces, 60% are engaged
and 40% are at risk.
It
was around June last year when Davao City’s Child Labor Task Force reorganized
to continuously ensure and uphold the advocacy to combat child labor through
education. And I guess Jam-al’s parents were not one of those who were provided
a child labor awareness seminar. And there are still a lot more children out
there who are suffering the cruel world of child labor from the obvious to the
worse kind of it.
The
sadness and sorrow in Jam-al’s eyes were deeply evident. He told me his story
in a very disheartening and gloomy tone. But he manages to fake a strong and
mature approach and I can see that he wears a mask to tell me that he is not a
weak child and I must not pity him but his eyes tells me otherwise.
When
I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up and be given a chance to
pursue college, he says, “mag-trabaho na
lang siguro ko te. Sayang ang kwarta. Mas maayo pa itabang ilaha papa ug mama.”
And
those words lingered in my mind like it was the iceberg and I was the Titanic.
From that night on, I will never see those children in the streets selling
different kind of stuff as annoying little brats. They’re little kids who chose
to forget their childhood. They chose to work. They chose to help their
parents, their siblings, their loved ones and not themselves. How about you?
What kind of life did you choose?
