June 20 (part 1: a father's day letter)
June 20. A day before Father's Day. But, I suppose you already know that since it was just last weekend. I guess you'll remember the fair weather and the sunny sky that day. One thing you don't know though is that I do some volunteer work for some kids every saturday. Well, almost every saturday.
Every week, we give the kids a something to do. It can be as fun as playing games, or as serious as talking about values. However, it does depend on the children that you're handling. After we facilitators huddled up to assign who will handle what, we proceeded to put our plan into action.
Every week, we give the kids a something to do. It can be as fun as playing games, or as serious as talking about values. However, it does depend on the children that you're handling. After we facilitators huddled up to assign who will handle what, we proceeded to put our plan into action.
The activity for the kids were for them to create a father's day card for their dads. I thought I'd change it for the grade six, first and second year high schools i was handling. So i had them write a letter instead.
For an intro, we started with a prayer like we always do. When i told them what we were going to do, one of them just started to cry. It just struck me like a punch in the dark. my mouth shot first before i could find the right words for it and asked, "Sino dito may daddy pa?"
All, but one, raised their hand. And this confirmed what i just feared... Hindi pala lahat sa kanila may daddy pa. So, to divert their attention, i read to them a text message. I pulled out my phone and i struggled to find the message. Sadly, i couldn't find it. So i had to make one up.
"Sandali lang ang buhay. Yung kalaro mo ngaun na masaya, mamaya malungkot na. Yung makulit mong kasama, mamaya umiiyak na lng. Yung pinsan mo na kasama mo palagi sa bahay, bukas uuwi na sa probinsiya. Yung mga magulang natin na nakakasama pa natin at nag-uutos sa atin ngayon, baka bukas hindi na natin kasama."
So I told them to write all the things they wanted to say to their dads. "It doesn't matter kung andito sila o wala na. Isulat ninyo yung nasasaloob ninyo." After reading a sample letter, they all started writing. Often times, they would ask me what to write or how to write it over and over. However, this time, it looks like they pretty much knew what they were doing.
Nobody asked anymore questions. Some of them looked seriously deep in thought; others seemed very busy being creative; and there were a few teary-eyed children overwhelmed with what they were writing.
Different faces. Different emotions. All kids.
After 15 minutes, someone approached me and gave me her letter. Before i openned it, a short message caught my eye, "Pasensya na po kung simple lang."
It read:
"Mahal kong Papa,
Happy Father's Day po.
Maraming salamat dahil hindi mo ako pinabayaan noong nasa ospital ako. Sana po kapag iinom ka, sana kontrolado mo para hindi makasama sa kalusugan mo. Sana hindi ka magbago. sorry din po dahil lagi akong nagmamaktol kapag inuutusan mo. Sorry din po dahil naging matigas ulo ko.
Happy Father's Day!!!
Nagmamahal,
Jamaica"
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