“Look at the world with the child’s eye – it is very beautiful.” ~Kailash Satyarthi
Sheila Mae. She broke my heart into pieces when I first saw her six years ago at the slums of Ulingan in Tondo, Manila.
Covered in soot and with a shaved head, I thought she’s a boy. She was working alongside her father and brothers. We immediately took her out from working and put her to school instead.
Sheila Mae is one of our kindergarten graduates at Project Pearls Learning Center in Ulingan.
From Ulingan, their family moved to the relocation village in Bulacan then back to their province of Leyte. I can still vividly remember how we both fought our tears when we said goodbye three years ago. Up to this day, I am still carrying that heartbreak when we looked at each other crying with the same fear that we may never see each other again.
https://www.projectpearls.org/2011/12/one-child-at-a-time-one-pearls-at-a-time/
Yesterday (June 4, 2016), as soon as we saw each other at Bulacan, we immediately healed each other’s broken and longing heart.
Our Sheila Mae. Always remember you are not just a face or part of a statistics of poverty. Your dreams are just as valid as everyone else’s.
One of the best contributions we can do for humanity is to give the gift of education (and compassion) to children living in poverty.
