Save our streetchildren (?)
I often pass Makati Ave on my way to work or going home to our house. I already know the time when traffic is heavy or when its not. I also know what lane to stay in or how to find the right one so I can avoid the jeepneys, taxis and cars going into Mandarin. The faces of the street kids selling “sampaguita” were already familiar to me. I can always feel when they are about to approach my car window to beg for some change.
Tonight should have been like any ordinary night. I still saw taxis parked in front of the atrium as if it was really a parking lot. I still tried to avoid the jeepneys. I still saw the same sampaguita kids. One boy – about ten years old maybe – walked to my car window and stuck his face on the glass… begging me for some change. He did not actually have his hand out but his face was mopey enough without his hands doing the begging.
I waved my hands at him and shook my head to signal – no thanks… politely. I was smiling. Like I empathized but did not have any change to give. But he stayed there with his face stuck to the window… and his voice… like he was chanting.
Suddenly, I heard a scratching noise. It did not register immediately – like it was my brain that heard it rather than my ears. When I realized what it was, I started to open my window ready to shout, scream, pull, push, anything. Then I hesitated when the window was midway because I was not sure what would happen if I did open my window. In fear, I shook my hubby’s leg hard… he was sleeping at the passenger seat, dizzy and sick. He woke abruptly and before he could ask I shouted…. Daddy ginagasgas nya yung kotse!!!! (Daddy, he is scratching the car!!!!)
The boy fled when he saw that my husband had stood up. The traffic started to move and we went on our way. I then hoped I was mistaken.
We stopped at the Petron station at the corner of Makati Ave and Jupiter first to fill up for gas and get the P2 discount that was being offered (Full Tank Blaze Fuel only cost us P900 when usually it would be around P1200 – P1500) and second to check out the driver’s side door for any scratches that might have resulted from the earlier encounter.
And there it was. Confirmed. Fresh. The scratch still had the powder that came from scratched paint. Tsk tsk.
I shook my head. I clenched my fist. Then I went back inside the car. What can I do?
Sometimes its really hard to fight for the very people who make your life so much more difficult. Tsk tsk.
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hay frustrating… when I lived in Metro Manila I used to hate seeing these kids, or “mums” carrying naked & dirty tots. Nakakakunsensya. Then around 1999 / 2000 rumours of modus operandi involving these same people spread. My sympathy turned to fear & triple anxiety everytime I’m stuck in traffic. Now they’re scratching cars… Goodness.
@auee
- I totally agree. Now you will see families of four or more with the mom and several very young kids with age ranging from 1 to 7 years of age lying on carton boxes on the sidewalk – in Makati! Most of the time I am torn with sadness but also anger – how can these women bear to have their babies exposed to such harsh conditions? We have shelters around the metro. They may not be much but they are definitely better than the streets.
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