Looking Past the Vivid Reality

Under the scorching heat of the sun, a young boy of about ten to twelve years old was carrying a big biscuit tin can with hammered stones inside. He put the load on top of his head. He slowly walked at the dusty sidewalk of the road going to Habitat Village in Bool, Bohol. It was lunch time. The parents of this boy might be behind him or still at the place where they gathered, sorted and broke the stones into pieces. The sight pierced and broke my heart. I felt the pain, thinking why should a kid like him work that heavily when he's supposed to study and learn, play and enjoy with other kids. I kept it to myself as if I ignored what I saw, showing nothing to my friends inside the van where we're in. Deep inside, I struggled, cried without tears, my heart was pounded more than the stones that this child carried. I prayed silently for him and for his family, then I became silent inside and accepted the truth that this is the kind of life we have in the Philippines. Everybody has to help work for and survive his or her family regardless of age. 

Years passed, I went to Makati, a huge city in the northern region of the Philippines, close to the capital city, Manila. It is industrialized, busy and different  people bustle about. Traffic, disgruntling heat, smokes from cars and cigarettes, vendors at the sidewalks, noise and pollution around. A picture of a true big city just like Paris to say. While going downstairs from LRT, a boy of about 12 or 13 was lying at the corridor, sleeping with only a big carton as his mat. People passed by him, he wasn't disturbed though. He might be too tired working the whole night selling 'balot', an exotic food in the Philippines which I have tasted a bit, but not eaten. My instant reaction was to feel sorry for that kid. I was thinking deeply while taking and watching my steps as I went down the stairs. I asked myself  'How could I help such a poor kid?, Where are his rights of food, clothes and shelter?, How could such a sight and a poor reflection of a poor economy  be addressed to the government?'. My understanding on poverty was deepened as I tried to compare what I saw years ago back in our province and this time in a big city. I thought, it's even more grave a condition of a homeless child in a real developed city than one in an urban place, in a province so to speak. However, no matter how tiny or huge the difference was, the two incidents still showed something in common-- child abuse and exploitation. 

As I tried to recall the two incidents I witnessed in the previous years, I couldn't help but cry as I pray for those kids, for still some other kids doing the same tasks, the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the abused, the mistreated, the rejected, the neglected, the unloved and all the inhumane and bad treatments that some of the kids are suffering somehow somewhere in the corners and borders of the Philippines.

As a concerned citizen and fellow, is there something I can do to help these children out? Should I address it to DSWD? How? I am aware that people from this office aren't blind to see the real situation. They know certainly! However, they might have thought that it's too impossible for them to embrace the scope of it or deal with it one by one because it's widespread and the worst is, it's skyrocketing if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't they care and dare do their task? Or let me make it more personalized, Shouldn't I care? There are only two options to choose, to ignore the visible reality or do something about it.