The Lost Boys

One of my favorite stories as a kid was Peter Pan. Virtually everyone knows this story. Peter Pan wanted to be a kid forever. In Never Never Land, this wish comes true. There, we meet his so-called posse, “The Lost Boys”. There’s something charming about these kids. Although they’re not accustomed to following authority and most would disregard them as savages, you can’t help but fall in love with them. Perhaps it’s because they’re cute, carefree, and happy. Whatever it is, we just know we like them. This week, we met our own version of the Lost Boys – a bunch of kids that found their way into our hearts.

We met up with one of my friends Erin and her friend Mervie, who took us out of the city to help out with her street kids outreach. She has been helping run this program for about two years now. What started as a bunch of kids begging from her and her friend Krista, progressed into a brother-sister relationship. They began to know each kid by name, by their silly grin, and by their story. Due to certain confidentiality issues, we can’t mention names or places, but let me do my best to tell you about these kids.

This was the first guy we met. With only one roller blade on, he rolled his way to us, smiling from ear to ear. We were to meet Erin and Ate Mervie at the town center, but we had trouble finding them. This boy looked at us and waved. You couldn’t help but notice his big, bright brown eyes. In Tagalog, he said Ate Erin and Ate Mervie were looking for us and to follow him. He led us to a group of ten kids around the ages of 7 to 14. There, Erin was playing nurse, treating some cuts on the kids, while Ate Mervie was talking to some of the other boys.

There is actually no fixed time or place that Erin, Ate Mervie or Krista meets with the kids. Instead, they try and find one of the kids they know, talk to them and ask where the other kids are. That kid will then go around the streets finding the other kids, telling them that the Ates are here to see them. By word of mouth, they gather together excited to see Erin, Krista and Ate Mervie.

We were able to take over for Erin in the first aid department. I was armed with band-aids, while Rebecca had the Polysporin and Iodine. It was so cute seeing the kids gather around us, lining up for their turn and hearing all of them call out, “Band-aid! Band-aid!” with their Filipino accents. Lucky patient number one was this boy:

His smile was so contagious. He pointed at his elbow, to which we saw a small cut. Many of them had similar cuts. With limited clothes and only a pair of flip-flops, they often get hurt from different things on the streets. Most of them also had strange white flakey spots on their skin, a fungus caused from the lack of bathing.

We continued with our makeshift first-aid clinic, bandaging arms, legs and feet – hoping the bandages would stick, since they’d only sit still long enough for us to put the bandages on before they’d start running around.

Erin and Ate Mervie started their program. The kids were so attentive as Ate Mervie interacted with them.With pictures, she told them about Joseph and his coat of many colors.

After the story, the kids colored. Erin handed out their folders full of coloring they had done from outreaches before. One of the boys passed me his folder proud of the past coloring he had done. I smiled and motioned a thumb up. I truly was impressed by his coloring: perfectly in the lines and scribble-free – even that was rare for the kids I had taught back home. It stuck out to me the amount of potential I saw in these kids, if only someone would give them a chance.

After the lesson had finished, we handed out Fudgee Bars (a brownie-type snack) and the kids devoured them. One of them even started eating the paper wrapper that came with it. We tried to warn him, but he just continued to chew and smile. Paper’s biodegradable anyway, right? I heard laughing to my right and saw one of the boys dolled-up in his school uniform joking around with his friend, as bits of chocolate brownie spewed from their mouths.

On the car ride over, Erin told us about her school sponsorship program for the kids. It was always her dream to see these kids maximize the potential she knew each one of them had. She began to entertain the thought of sending the kids to school. After asking her partner Krista if sponsoring kids to go to school was feasible, they started to ask the kids if they were even interested in going back to school.

At first the kids were hesitant, and understandably so. Many of them had started in school, but had to drop out because they could not afford the tuition fees. Often, the other school kids teased them because their clothes were falling apart, or because they could not afford to buy a snack during recess. For them, school held bad memories. After talking to the kids about it again, some reconsidered. A handful of them were serious about attending school. And with that, Erin sponsored them: talking to schools, buying uniforms, school materials and setting out all sorts of logistics.

If you ask the kids, they’ll tell you they enjoy school! For them, it’s a second chance to learn and do well. Even their teachers who have had them as students in years previous have noticed an incredible change in their attitude and motivation to learn. While this is great news, unfortunately, not all the kids that want to study can.

Beside the uniformed boy was one of his best friends dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. The bandage we had put on his knee was beginning to fall off. Erin had told us that he desperately wanted to study, especially since all his best friends would be studying that year. His parents had abandoned him and moved to another province when he was younger. Only once every few months does his mom visit to check on him. Because of this, he lacks the proper documents (such as a birth certificate) to enroll in school. When he found out that he couldn’t study, he cried – a thirteen-year-old boy crying because he can’t go to school. Erin and Krista assured him that they would do what they could to help him out.

We ended the outreach taking pictures of the whole group. They were so amused by our cameras saying, “Ate! Picture!” and posing accordingly. I tried to get a picture of the whole group with Erin and Ate Mervie, but of course they’re kids and moved too much before I could get the shot.

I showed them the picture and they laughed at one another because of how silly they looked. We said our good-byes, but two of them followed us as we walked to our car. Although we waved bye, one of them got behind the car to hold on to the bumper. I don’t think we would have noticed if not for his mischievous giggle. After we asked him to let go and said bye one more time, we drove off with him running and waving beside us. I thought of how much these kids absolutely love and look up to these ladies.

A few hours later, we drove to a nearby city to do another outreach. Some of these kids move back and forth from the two places to beg for money. They usually gather at an overpass right beside a mall. We walked towards them and noticed that they were much older than the kids from the other city. Some of them were as old as 19. What was endearing though was that the older ones watched out and tried to take care of the younger kids.

We watched them laugh, joke, hug, and just love on another. This is a real community.

Although they seemed nervous at first, their apprehension quickly disappeared once we took out our video camera. These kids just wanted someone to pay attention and listen to them. As we recorded, they smiled at us and even busted out in rap. As the older kids beat-boxed, one of the younger ones rapped, a little girl danced and the rest clapped along.

Erin had told us that once in a while, they would notice that something was off with the kids. They found out that they had been sniffing a household glue called “Rugby”. I learned last year during my internship here that this was a common problem within the street kids community. Many of them sniff glue as a vice because they’d rather have an escape from the many problems that plague them everyday.

But this time around, they were in a sober state laughing and enjoying life. Take away their dirt-stained clothes, unwashed bodies, and scabbed skin. Take away the disapproving looks those passing by gave them… and they’re just like any kid, carefree and full of life.

At that moment, I wished that their lives were that joyful everyday. I prayed that life wouldn’t be so complicated, their homes would be safe enough to come home to, they wouldn’t need to use sniffing glue as a vice, they’d be surrounded by people that love them and that they would never lose hope, but instead find it in Christ.There’s something special about each of the kids we met that day. Like the Lost Boys of Peter Pan, they’re charming, cunning, and carefree. But I truly hope these kids can have a happy ending being found in the God that loves them.

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,’” - Matthew 19:14