SUMMARY:
You will see them everywhere... From the side of rail roads, under the bridges, to the streets in most cities in the Philippine islands, you will see children living their lives in the slum. The totality of these street children is unknown but it is estimated that there are a million and a half. The cause of this will teach you that they were runaways, victims of abuse, abandoned, or ultimately, "victims" of poverty. These are some of the reasons why they are working or begging for money in the streets. A missionary named Joe Dean Sola of the He Cares Foundation, a former street kid, does his best to help these children in his own ways. His knowledge on being a street child is enough for him to know exactly the words that will reach the hearts of the children, the advice that he could give them and the companionship he can provide to those who are in need. Through him, the children gained confidence and faith in their lives. The UNICEF is also contributing by teaching them the skills that they need in their current and future situations. Together, Joe Dean and the UNICEF is using the most powerful tool they could use to help these children, that is trust...
EVALUATION:
The documentary did a very good job displaying just enough information to the viewers about the situation of these children. He showed how the families live on the side of rail roads, how the kids survive in the streets and how their current environment could affect them. Although the video was uploaded years ago by World Focus in the video site, Youtube, the situation of these children is still the same today and the number never stopped increasing. The only good thing about this fact is that, it can still be an eye opener to the people who is yet to watch the video. A simple and straightforward video like plus a great dialogue like Mark Litke did might just be enough for the people to be aware and contribute to helping not only these children, but also their families...
REFLECTION:
Poverty seems to be one of the biggest challenge for most countries in the world including the Philippines. Because of this, the economic growth has always been inconsistent throughout the years, that is why most of the Filipinos' lives had not improved but actually made their lives more unbearable. It is inevitable to conclude that it is the government's liability since the corruption is so widespread and publicly visible. Most people, who relied and gave their trust to these politicians, just seemed to accept this unjust actions.
World Focus assigned correspondent Mark Litke to study the lives of the Filipinos who are deeply affected by the poverty. Mark did an excellent job confirming the problem. He had clearly shown the situation of most Filipino children in the streets of the nation. I, myself, had lived most of my life here in the Philippines. Ever since I was a kid, these street children are already found everywhere and as time went by, it became a normal sight to see. I am saddened by this fact and was also blaming the government for not doing anything about it.
Watching the video made me change my whole perspective about this problem. It made me realize that looking for something or someone to blame will not solve any problems we are currently facing. Of course, I feel sorry for these children for experiencing this situation they are not supposed to have and I also feel guilty for not doing something about it. But I think it doesn't just end on just being aware of the situation or saying, "I feel sorry for them." I believe the message being sent to us by this documentary is very clear. As cliché as it sounds, self-discipline is the most important trait that all of us should have. In fact, we should keep it in our minds that doing what we can do for the country is the most ideal thing. We can only achieve this by changing ourselves for the better and setting aside our personal interests. Self-discipline will teach the parents of every children to be responsible, will encourage the leaders of this nation to take the initiative, to be well-organized and to be honest all the time and will teach us, citizens, to be highly-productive and responsive to what is happening around us.
This is what, I believe, the street children will achieve because they are surrounded by kind people today who had been sacrificing their time, like the UNICEF and the missionary in the video, for those who are in need. These are some of the modern day heroes we should put our trust into. If we are all brave enough to be like one of these heroes, the better future for everyone is only a matter of time...
