Teacher Educates Filipino Street Children

By Maruxa Pita Lissarrague

Seeing the same things over and over can make us indifferent. Living in the Philippines since 1960, I have seen children of all ages in Manila, which has 14 million inhabitants, begging, selling, and wandering about in the streets and plazas, when they should be in school. There are 11 million children not being schooled in the Philippines.
For 18 years I worked with the Teresian Association in a school with about 600 students that were considered to be more or less well-off. I later went on to work at the Cultural Center of the Spanish Embassy in Manila, until I retired in 1995.

After my retirement, unable to just sit back and watch all these children in the streets I felt the call toward a new mission. With the help of several former students from the school I had worked in and with support from the Teresians, we launched the Makabata Foundation to provide children, who too often are ignored, with an education.

Educating street children, who spend day and night selling things, lost in the crossroads of getting something to eat, exposed to dangerous traffic, street violence, drugs, and all types of abuse in the streets and at home, is riveting work, which not only seeks to provide a  formal education, but also teach about health, nutrition, hygiene, culture and family formation. This is what Makabata aspires to accomplish.

The school offer classes from kindergarten to high school and is recognized by the Philippines’ Ministry of Education. In April 2009 Makabata held the third graduation ceremony and nearly all its high school graduates have gone on to enroll in the university.

The school is not just classrooms for children. We always begin by visiting families at home, which frequently consist of nothing more than shacks. We give them textbooks, school supplies, uniforms, shoes, food, and assist with transportation in the school’s bus.  We are in contact with doctors, dentists and social workers—some are alumni from the Pedro Poveda project—who offer services at no charge.

I never get us to seeing children in the streets and hope that I never do. With all its struggles, the streets are no place for the smallest of God’s children. Despite my age and the many years of work, I could never sit back and just enjoy retirement. Not as long as there are children in the streets of Manila, who continue to be denied the opportunities that are enjoyed by so many others.  Makabata provides the best way to respond to what God teaches and reveals and I cannot think of a better way to spend my retirement.

Your turn
Do you think it is a worthy goal in life to work and retire to take it easy and enjoy the rest of our life? Do you consider that Maruxa should not have complicated her life after having worked for so long?