An “unli call” for unlimited rice.
This is not a promo from a telecommunications company in a tie-up mood with a fast-food restaurant.
It is an appeal for generosity and compassion from individuals, groups or companies to help
needy street children by donating sacks of rice on an unlimited basis.
“Rice Up for Street Children!” is an intensive campaign initiated by Virlanie Foundation that aims to gather pledges and donations of a maximum of 50 sacks of rice a month to feed thousands of impoverished children living in the streets of Metro Manila, particularly in depressed communities in Manila’s Binondo, Quiapo and Divisoria.
“Every child’s well-being starts with a healthy meal,” said Dominique Lemay, Virlanie’s founding president.
The appeal for rice is also a way of teaching families the value of moderation by cooking only what is enough to avoid wastage, and to a larger extent, to prevent a rice shortage.
“We teach children to share, not to throw away. If they want more rice, they can always ask for it. They cannot come back when there is still food on the plate,” said Marie Française Michel, mobile unit coordinator, a French national who has been in the country for 12 years now. “And of course, we also teach them to eat vegetables.”
Taking part in the campaign are top restaurants like Aubergine, Azuthai, CAV, Chef Jessie, Cibo, Felix, Sala, Sala Bistro, People’s Palace Thai, Banana Leaf, Café Ilang Ilang of Manila Hotel, Circles of Makati Shangri-la, Cru Steakhouse, Crystal Jade, Escolta of Peninsula Manila, Indigo, Kai, Keizo, Kimpura, Kirin Chinese Dining, L’lncontro, Le Bistro Vert, L’Entrecote, Lili, Lusso, Mabuhay Palace, Mamou, Masseto, Ninyo Fusion Cuisine, Opus Restaurant and Lounge, Palermo, Ristorante Pia Y Damaso, Sugi, Thai Patio, The Tivoli and Umu.
Virlanie Foundation is a nonprofit and nonsectarian institution involved in preventing the physical and psychological abuse of children. Since its establishment in 1992, it has helped over 13,500 children by sheltering them in their 12 homes and 12 outreach programs within and outside Metro Manila.
It all started when Lemay, a French national who studied social work and psychology, went to the Philippines in 1989 to do research work. “That marked the beginning of my journey and Virlanie’s,” he said in the foundation’s 2009 annual report, which also mentioned Virlanie’s branches in Belgium, France, Quebec and Switzerland.
For 19 years, the foundation, which got its name from Lemay’s two daughters, got funding from individuals like chef Colin Mackay, Johnson & Johnson, Megaworld Foundation and Lemay’s friends in Europe.
Celine Santillan, the foundation’s executive director told Inquirer that the beneficiaries usually have parents who work in the markets of Quiapo and Divisoria.
Havens
“These are havens of informal jobs like market porters or aides (kargador) and their children who have no place to stay are forced to sleep on the sidewalk or under the bridges when nighttime falls,” she said.
Lemay said these street children are not only the poorest of the poor, they are abandoned, neglected, abused and in need of special protection.
A mobile van marked “Virlanie” goes to areas near the vicinity of Binondo Church and stops there at 2 p.m. every day, except Thursday and Sunday to serve food and hold classes for 90 to 100 kids, said Santillan who has been with Virlanie for three years now.
The van contains a blackboard and books and a classroom set-up. Basic lessons in reading, mathematics, Filipino, health education, rights of children and proper hygiene are taught, with mothers and their children in attendance.
“Empowering children to have a brighter future will always be greater and more important than individual affiliations and beliefs. We hope that more people will find ways to help these disadvantaged children become self-reliant, productive and independent,” said Lemay.
Special training
Virlanie has two specially-trained teachers for street education, a nurse and a social worker.
“The nurse provides mothers with medicines and vaccination, teaches them the basics in treating their sick children or briefs them on maternal care,” Santillan said.
She added that only 60 to 70 children attend classes on a regular basis either because some of them have to work, or their parents have asked them to take care of their younger siblings.
“If there is one who moves up from the mobile unit to a normal school, that’s an indication that their life has changed,” Santillan said.
Virlanie’s other support facilities include a Reception and Action Center, a temporary municipal shelter which welcomes people rescued from the streets, Sibuhi Creativity and Development Center, Magellan Learning Center, Balik-Probinsiya Project, Children’s Legal Rights Office and Open Day Center in Quiapo, Manila.
Of the foundation’s 12 homes, 10 (Mother and Child Home, Drop-in Center, Marco Polo Center, Caress Home, Elizabeth Home, Aime Home, Ella Yalla Home, Herrod Home I-Tanglaw, Herrod Home II-Masaya and Gabay Buhay Home) are located in Makati City.
The Patricia Half Way Home in Tagaytay City in Cavite province is for young adults in conflict with the law, while Jade Home in Dasmariñas City, also in Cavite, is for children and adults with special needs.
“It is fulfilling to see the changes in the children—and even their parents—that take place in a short period of time. They come to us to share their lives and we help them solve their problems,” Santillan said.
Family-centered
“Caring begins with the family. We don’t only care for the children. We also care for the family. Children do not belong in the streets, but with their families,” she said.
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