SOS: A house of Hope, of Love, of Life (Final Part)

Aside from the administration building, the SOS has twelve cottages, each housing 10 children, supervised by a “Nanay.” It is she who helps her care live their lives in an atmosphere of a “home.”  She cooks for them, attends to their neds, instills discipline and is the first line of “values formation: for her “children.”She is the surrogate mother to 10 children of different ages, backgrounds, proclivities, and traumatic experiences.

Brothers and sisters accepted into the SOS always share the same cottage to strengthen their bonding. Boys, 14 years above, are transferred to the SOS Youth Village where they are taught how to live on their own.

In a world full of bitterness and skepticism, the 1.4 hectare confines of the SOS is a place where the inherent goodness of man can be found; that despite the problems and cares we all have, there are others  who are in more dire situation than we are. That no matter how heavy the load is pressed upon us,  ultimately, the choice whether to break free or to be squashed flat is still ours to make.

Roger Navarro and hundreds of others before him (and doubtless many more to come) were taught by the SOS how to make the right choices.

The Navarro couple was a hard-working farming couple somewhere in Davao who were beginning to see the fruits of their labor. Unfortunately, some people didn’t like what they saw and murdered them in front of their children (one was so traumatized he developed a stutter that took a long time for the SOS staff to correct). At the age of 6, Roger and his two brothers and a sister found their way into the SOS.

Roger is now the Electrical Maintenance Manager of the Norkis group of companies, a brother is a seaman while the other brother is an engineer at Lear Automotive.  The sister? She’s now a guidance counselor of Colegio Inmaculada Concepcion (CIC), Mandaue Campus.

No doubt, a lot of us know where SOS is but no many know what it does. Otherwise, after 25 years of existence, it should now be able to shoulder at least 10% of its monthly expenses of more than a million pesos through local sponsorship. Sadly, except for the graciousness of the RamonAboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), which donated the lot on which the SOS stands, occasional walk-in donors (used clothing, goods and cash) and gifts from Margot Osmen’s foundation for street children which sometimes share with them whatever grant that comes its way, the benefits incurred upon us have been shouldered by the SOS International in Austria. After 25 years of existence, local sponsorship has been z sad zero. Ironic and tragic, isn’t it? That foreign money continues to support and solve a local problem.

Not that sponsorship is that difficult on one’s finances. A group of twelve working-class people can take turns in putting off buying a pair of shoes, an expensive perfume, a dress or a dinner per month and donate the saved amount to the SOS. A similar number of businessmen can do the same, it shouldn’t hurt to put off buying a new set of golf clubs or an evening in one of Cebu’s karaoke bars, or whatever rich people spend their money on. It’s almost Christmas and companies can put real meaning into it by sharing their blessings with those with less in life. It is prayers in action, of deed, not in words.

Tucked in the invitation cards Raul and Jeane gave out were tiny crimson envelops written with, “This is my pledge of support for the SOS.”

Couldn’t YOU?