When I was a child, I have so many things in my mind that I wanted to do when I grow up, one of those is to serve other people as what I can see my parents does to others and I want to emulate them.

I saw how diligent they are in doing things without any complains because they wanted to show to us that serving other people doesn't have to be forced but you have to do it freely and do it with love.

They were almost present on all organization the church has, spending almost all of their time in service, and they were happy doing it. So I knew in myself where I can be happy too.

That's why when I knew I will be working in the Wheel of Hope as one of the servers, I was thankful and glad knowing that being with them is like being with God too. I was able to know some of their stories, experiences and struggles that made me think, life will not always be bitter but it will not always be sweet too.

At a young age many of them experienced a lot of problems, some resort to dealing drugs to raise income only to eat in a couple of days, some girls got early pregnancy and become young mothers and some were caught from stealing things in order feed themselves every day. I don't know how did this came to be but I know how helpful it is for them to have meals at least twice a day in the Wheel Of Hope. I learn to live with them, know them little by little and share things to them too and so are they in me too.

At least in this way I can feel that I am somehow connected to my distant siblings though in a very naughty version. They doesn't listen to you right away when you have something to say, and they don't mind.

They never care if you are okay or not as long as they can have what they need then it's okay for them, it's this time when you learn how to extend your patience to the highest level as what Ate Rosemela says "you will learn how to broaden your understanding in their situations so as how to approach them in a better way". It's actually very challenging since it is the reality of today that we are dealing to that it needs to be faced. This is where we learn how to pray hard for them and for us too, it is where we get close to God and it's a blessing in disguise.

I realized that being in this program, dealing with diversity of children wasn't easy, that's why I'm impress, my head bowed down to the workers on how they were able to handle the children at the shelter with care and fragility.

There are times when they feel like it's a little harder to handle them and times when they feel like giving up but as emotion goes it changes. Seeing them every day for them has been part of their lives and that makes the difference, because they know they need each other not just to survive but to put meaning in their lives as well.

The workers we have in the Wheel of Hope are beautiful people, they are very patient, compassionate and hard working. They don't leave things undone, they make sure ending the days' work with everything properly arranged. As what my Father used to tell us "do not put tomorrow what you can do today" I was able to exercise this better together with them so as the learning's I gained from them. In the end staying there with them for quite some time now helps me form myself better that what I was, put ends on some of my questions about street children and on how did they come to be that way, and it helps me realized how important it is to handle people like them that leads me to understand myself better.

Maria Josepha

Published: November 29, 2019