Support Staff in Street Children Shelter

Why it is important

Sadly, it is not uncommon in the Philippines to see children begging for food and sleeping on the sidewalk. Some of these children live at home but spend their day on the streets instead of attending school. Others have left home permanently. As international food prices grow and little is done to improve the lives of socioeconomically stressed families, the street children ‘problem’ continues to grow with yet more and more children appearing on the streets of Tacloban and Ormoc City. These children come from dysfunctional homes where typically there is poverty, violence, neglect, or addiction issues. Many have left home to escape from abusive treatment. Others have resorted to begging in the streets because there is no food at home. 

Street children typically sniff rugby (a brand of glue) to overcome hunger pains and cope with depression. Most of the street children are malnourished and in poor health, and vulnerable to sexual exploitation and street crimes and violence. By volunteering to provide education and recreational services for these children you will be contributing to our efforts to improve the lives of some of the less-fortunate children in the Philippines. Volunteers will be placed in a residential/rehabilitation facility for street children in Tacloban City or in Ormoc City run by their respective  City Social Welfare and Development Offices.

Project Profile

The Street Children Center is officially called Social Development Center for Children (SDCC), a social welfare residential center run by the Social Welfare and Development Office. It provides shelter and care for disadvantaged male street children aging 18 and below. In particular the center houses children who are beggars, scavengers, children at risk, orphaned and abandoned, and victims of maltreatment and neglect. The street children program is intended to provide basic social welfare support services to these disadvantaged boys. 

Kids who loiter or roam around the streets are rounded up to save them from bad elements and all forms of exploitation. The centre becomes their temporary home until such time that the family or relatives come to take them home. Most of the kids at the centre stay longer than 6 months. The centre provides them a temporary safe haven. They are given free food, clothing, and other basic needs. These children are also provided educational support and sent to schools for formal education.

The facility is headed by the center head who is a Social Welfare Officer and is being assisted by a few houseparents. It is usually understaffed and underfunded and support from outside like from NGOs and international volunteers and organizations is very much valuable and can make a lot of difference to the lives of these young boys. Tangible contributions, donations or projects which can improve the living condition of the children at the center can be a very big help. 

The SDCC in Tacloban City is located in the northern part of the city and and is accessible via jeepneys and usually takes 45 minutes to one hour from the volunteer's homestay. While the SDCC in Ormoc City is stuated in the downtown area and is reachable via jeepneys also in about 30 to 45 minutes from the homestay.

Why we need you

In most cases, the street children have not had a nurturing upbringing, have dropped out of school, and are typically in poor health. They have not had many positive role models in their lives, and many of them will welcome the attention and services offered by a volunteer. Others may be less trusting of adults and will be more challenging to work with. You will work closely with the City Social Welfare Development Office which runs the facility thru its social workers and houseparents. By working with these young boys in a caring and non-judgmental manner, you will demonstrate that adults can be trusted and respected. Most importantly, we believe that volunteers can transfer their specialist skills, interests and good values to the street children. We need role models for these children and emphasize the importance of obtaining education and eradicating bad habits. Due to the nature of the project and the commitment needed, VFV requires a minimum stay of four weeks.

Dress Code

To conform with the Filipino conservative culture and to look professional, volunteers must dress modestly. The volunteer must report to work wearing the appropriate clothes. Top must consist of shirt of blouse or t-shirt with sleeves. No singlet or tank top. Top should not have plunging neckline. Bottom wear must be long pants or knee-length skirt. Footwear must be shoes or sandals. Outside work, a volunteer can wear more comfortable articles of clothing such as shorts and tank tops and wear flip flops.

Transportation to the Placement

During placement, volunteer will take any of the following public transportation vehicles, depending on his/her destination: jeepney, multicab or motorcycle. Patience is required when traveling to and from placement. In Tacloban City, the volunteer’s daily commute requires him/her to travel from Bliss to downtown which costs 0.14 USD. From downtown, he/she must catch the multicab for “Tagpuro” which costs 0.40 USD. In Ormoc City, transportation costs are the same and requires the volunteer to commute from homestay going to the downtown area where the center is located. The volunteer will be briefed on getting to placement and back during the placement orientation at the beginning of the program.

The volunteer will be working alongside staff such as the social worker and houseparents.The volunteer is required to work at this placement five times a week, from Monday to Friday, even on holidays since the program is always open. Usually the required number of work time is only 4 hours but volunteers commonly render more than 4 hours. Working schedule here is from 3:00 pm until 7:00 pm since the boys are in school most of the day and return mid or late afternoon. 

The boys here need help with their lessons so tutorial is a very useful activity. The boys also like sports, games, some arts and craft, and music. Take note their attention span is not very long so it is important to incorporate fun games and sports in their activities. These are boys who like to be physically active and have fun outdoors. It is also important to teach them personal hygiene and values. 

Our volunteers can use their free time either for their personal activities or for organizing side projects with our sponsored kids, with the Boys and Girls Club or with the moms under our Laura's Craft and Mother's Club. 

The former may include a trip to some of the beautiful white-sand beaches and sandbars, islands, waterfalls, underground river, surf camps, and caves found in the region while the latter can include baking sessions with the local moms, dance tutorials with the teens, or teaching any other craft or life skills to the locals. 

Our volunteers would usually organize those activities as a group during long weekends or holidays. We also have our Volunteer's Lounge which has wi-fi and where volunteers can hang around with fellow volunteers. They can also use the lounge for a movie night once a week.