Give a Helping Hand by Jerome Domingo

Every year, our school is conducting an outreach program to GIVE A HELPING HAND to the less fortunate ones. This also serves as our acquaintance party. Last Friday, 29 July 2011, our school conducted its latest outreach/ acquaintance party. The high school students were grouped according to their corresponding year level. Each year level is assigned to a place where they will do their outreach/acquaintance party. The sophomores was assigned to special, gifted people at Elsie Gaches Village in Alabang, Muntinlupa. We prepared a short dance presentation to these people.

Earlier that day, we spent almost 2 or 3 hours of rehearsing our dance presentation. Some of our subject teachers are generous that they let their time be used to for our rehearsals. As the class secretary, I helped our class president, Rebeka Paller to organize the things we need and to guide our classmates on what they need to do. As the time goes by, excitement and fear is within me. I prepared my things before we departed from our campus. At exactly 1:30 pm, we went to Elsie Gaches.

While in the van, me and my classmates are having fun. Imagining what would it look like? What people are we going to encounter? What kind of people are we will spend time with all afternoon? — Finally, we arrived safely in our destination. On our way in, our teacher, Tchr. Jhonn, told us to be kind and polite to the people we will encounter.

There’s this guy who had briefly oriented us about the place and the people we will spend the afternoon with. He gave us some trivias about Elsie Gaches. As far as I could remember it, it was named after the wife of Mr. Samuel Gaches who donated their 16 hectares of land to DSWD-NCR in the year 1964 during the Macapagal administration. It aids people who are abandoned and mentally challenged like people with autism, down syndrome, celebral palsy and hydrocephalus. The people we will spend time with are 5-76 years of age. He also told us you can classify people that are mentally challenged if their IQ level is 70% and below. Due to their IQ level, they’re only capable of understanding shapes, color and sizes. An estimated 600 clients are living with them. Their average consumption of rice is about 6-7 sacks each day.

My experience there is amazing. It was unforgettable. I felt sorry for them for being abandoned by their own families. Imagine? Your own family will abandon you just because your mentally incapacitated? How awful, isn’t? I also envy them in a way because even though they’re incapacitated mentally, they kept on smiling every now and then, despite the bitterness of their past. They set aside the past and focus on what they have. I hope we youngsters will learn from them.

From now on, I decide to let go of my past and focus on things that I will encounter in the future. In this outreach, I learned to value the time I have with my family. I’m thankful because God gave my parents who loves me so much despite of my failures and setbacks. Life is all about giving a helping hand.