Kids find hope, break from streets in sports fest

Bea Orante

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Kids find hope, break from streets in sports fest

SARANTALA.COM

'The children learn the value of working hard, practicing, improving your skills,' says Childhope Chairman Chips Guevara of the sports fest

MANILA, Philippines – Do you remember playing games with your friends as a kid? Those were fun times, right? Unfortunately, some children are not so lucky.

For two brothers, Genesis and Jude Natividad, childhood meant spending nights in their barangay hall, and eating leftovers from a restaurant. Play did not factor in a city where they saw children their age taking and pushing drugs. 

Genesis and Jude, in that sense, are not so fortunate, but the same luck brought them into contact with Childhope Asia Philippines, and their annual sports fest.

Childhope, a child protection and education organization, and High Five Hope organize an annual sports festival for children under their program. For 2016, the event began on April 27 and ended on April 30.

Participants can sign up for basketball, volleyball, footkal (football sa  kalye or street football).  

On its 9th year, Hope Sports Fest continues to give children a break from their regular lives on the street and teach them values along the way.

Patricia Bermudez Hizon, a member of High Five Hope’s Board of Directors, said playing sports is about “putting values into action” by giving children a taste of lessons normally just taught and reiterated in a class-like setting.

High Five Hope teaches 5 values: honesty, teamwork, commitment, self-value, and sportsmanship. Sports, according to the event’s organizers, make the characteristics more tangible for the children.

LIT TORCH. The young players and basketball player Harvey Carey stand beside the games' torch during the opening of the Hope Sports Fest. Photo by Bea Orante/Rappler

“This is where they can actually honestly know what teamwork’s about. They can define teamwork with your words, but this time they can actually model it, they can actually experience it,” Hizon explained.

Meanwhile, Childhope Chairman Chips Guevara said, “The children learn the value of working hard, practicing, improving your skills.” With sports, he explained, there is an “immediate realization that you need to practice to get better.” 

For Childhope and High Five Hope, these are lessons the participants can take with them into school and beyond, especially if they decide to enroll in classes.

Character building 

Jepjep, 10, has been playing footkal for 3 years. He said he learned sportsmanship and he is okay with losing games sometimes.

Genesis and Jude, meanwhile, had also seen major changes in their personalities because of the sports fest.

Both described themselves as shy and reserved. Jude said he even hated playing before. “Parang ano ako, eh, lampa, tapos ayoko talagang dumipensa kasi takot talaga ako. Takot na takot (I’m a bit awkward and I really didn’t like defending because I was so scared. Very, very scared),” he said. (READ: How poverty affects street children psychologically)

Now, Genesis and Jude said they are more confident, and have grown to love the sport.

Guevara likened playing in a sport to persevering through a particularly difficult subject, like math. When he was a volunteer math tutor, he would talk to the students who would tell him they dreaded the subject.

When he asked them why they felt that way, they would answer, “Mahina ako diyan, eh (I’m really bad at it)” or “Bobo ako sa math (I’m stupid when it comes to math).”

Guevara would always have the same response: “Walang bobo sa math. Parang basketball lang ‘yan: kailangan mo lang mag-practice (No one is stupid when it comes to math. It’s just like basketball, you just need to practice).”

Over time, students practiced on their own and saw themselves getting better. Guevara said translating the value of perseverance from the court to the classrooms should be the end game, so children learn to keep trying to get better.

“Sports is character building, and this is what these kids need; and also sports teaches you how to deal with people and it’s really the best way to give values in relationship situations,” Hizon explained.

YOUNG ATHLETES. The children participating in the sports fest receive their instructions before they go off to their individual events. Photo by Bea Orante/Rappler

The lucky ones

Genesis, Jude, and Marlon are lucky: Childhope took them in, and they are on their way to a future away from the streets.

Childhope took in many like them. Guevara estimated that 80% to 90% of the children who joined them belong to street families, and 5% to 10% of the organization’s kids have suffered some form of abuse. (READ: Busting myths about children of the streets)

According to statistics from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, there were 3,000 street kids in Manila as of 2010.

Although some street children study, many do not. These kids have also been exposed to the drug trade, sex trafficking, and both petty and serious crimes.

Both Hizon and Guevara noted how this environment is detrimental to the children’s overall wellbeing.

A sports fest, Guevara emphasized, gave children a reason to be excited, and allowed kids to be kids.

Jepjep smiled when he talked about playing footkal with his friends. Although his dream is to be a policeman, he also wants to play football while studying.

It seemed like a tall order for a young boy, but when asked why he loved footkal so much, he answered, “I like playing because it’s fun and I learn a lot.” – Rappler.com

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