Aaliyah and Allysa

I see these two petite girls everyday aged 4 and 5. They are Aaliyah and Allysa. They are my neighbors. Everytime I get out of the house, I see these girls playing with the other children right at the doorsteps. Climbing the pole. Enjoying the tumbang preso. At times, I see them sitting conspicuously on the pavement. Giggling with each other. They are funny. Aaliyah has eyesight problems but she joins the rest of the children without feeling inferior. Their mother sells refreshments to make a living. They are a typical family who struggles everyday like the rest of us.

I make fun and tease these girls when I met them. They always shrugged it off. They would race back to their house, one of their options or join the throng of children playing merrily. When I see them, they asked coins. Nevertheless, I don't give what they want. I thought giving money to these innocent souls would tarnish their fragile minds in the long run. Days before Christmas, they asked for Christmas gifts. I told them to be back and sing simple Christmas songs like what others do.

I haven't seen the girls from that day onwards. They probably had a vacation to their home place or province. Yesterday, I've spotted them again playing with each other. When they saw me, they asked again the gift. They waited patiently as I climbed upstairs to get something for them. I gave raisin bread and ready to eat jelly. They smiled upon receiving the food. It could be the best gift they have received.

Surprisingly, I wondered they did not mention about coins. The never-ending pleas they constantly utter every time I met them.

Jeepney Carolers

Passengers caught stunned and frightened. Negative ideas rule on everyone's head.They might be an orchestrated syndicate victimizing commuters.Robbers looking for preys. Juvenile deliquents on the streets still in hangovers. They could be the negative elements of our society.

Everybody wants to step down from the vehicle, anticipating an unusual event could happen anytime.But when these people hanging on the jeepneys start chanting the hymns of the holidays. Sigh of relief for all.

They are the jeepney carolers. Adolescents trying to feel the spirit of the season through their songs. They run after the moving vehicles. Cling like spiders. Complete with paraphernalias specifically bottle crowns strung in wires. It served as their caracas and chimes. They sing a couple of songs to entertain the passengers hoping the kind-hearted ones would draw out coins from their pockets. "Daygon" as what we call it, done on a broad daylight.

If my memory would not fail me, people do the "daygon" only during the evening, days upcoming Christmas Day.They move from one house to another to spread the holiday spirit in the form of songs. The owners of the house in turn,give something in kind or in cash. The children carolers usually get candies and biscuits.I never see jeepney carolers before.

Do the carolers now more innovative compared to the past years? Does it come with development that they practice at par with it?

So commuters, always prepare coins for the carolers who anytime will cross your path.

We Give Back

It was a very fortunate day for all of us, despite the mild rain that welcomed everyone in a secluded barangay in the city we adopted. It exactly was the place where we distributed our bundles of joy to the residents a year ago. Nothing has changed. The idle lot where we set up our tents still proudly rests together with waist-high grasses adjacent to the high-end subdivisions.

The road in getting there was never easy this time. Brought about by the concrete fence of the pathway we used before, we have to experience the bumpy and dusty steep improvised road to get to the place. From the lowlands, we could see houses clinging on the mountains hanged like ornamentals.

We give back. I remembered someone who said that the giver's hand always stays on top than the receiver.He maybe partially is right. When you give a coin to a beggar, certainly you would drop it to whatever container he has. But on the contrary, when someone holds something that needs his bare hands certainly he would position the hands facing upward. The receiver gets it in the same manner how the giver did it, especially if its fragile. Anyway, we collectively agreed that giving is something uncommon and laudable, more so in these times of crisis and calamities.

Apart from the usual giving of goods to the beneficiaries, we added the endeavor with a more charitable heart. We infused a mass feeding for the children. With "pospas" and a cup of juice, we could see the untainted and genuine smiles on the faces of the children. The words of thanks from the residents made our hearts grew bigger.

Everyone didn't mind the scorching heat of the sun right after the mild rain shower earlier during the day. Nor did it discount our overflowing eagerness of the entire agency to share.