Bahay Pag Asa : The House of Hope from Philippines

Dasmarinas, Philippines
21 July, 2018

https://www.elinmerlinda.com/2018/07/bahay-pag-asa-house-of-hope-from.html
We are "Friendship From Indonesia Phillipines"
Bismillah….

This was my story when I joined program of Intercultural Friendship Society, “Friendship from Indonesia Philippines”(ifs.or.id). Me and the other 22 participants were excited with this program. One of our activity is visited Bahay Pag Asa (BPA) or House of Hope in English. It’s located in De La Salle Universities area, Dasmarinas , Cavite, Philippines. Actually, what is BPA? Why did we visit BPA? 

At a glance, BPA is a transformation center of Children In Conflict with the Law (CICL). When I visited it, there were 18 children (all of them are boys) who are CICL. In BPA they study like in the school, they also do extracurricular activities such as basketball, gardening, etc. They got various training to improve their skill. Hopefully, they will ready to compete in their environment in the future.

The first agenda was introduction of BPA, then continued with introduction of Indonesia and Intercultural Friendship Society. The next activity was the main agenda, games. We made five groups which is contain from Indonesian and Filipino. The game rules is we had to find the similar word from Indonesia and Philippines (Tagalog). Each word has one score, and the winner is the highest score. And... my team (Team 2) to be the winner! hahaha. Joshua, one of our team from BPA said that we are "Panalo Team!". Panalo in Tagalog means the winner. hahaha. Oh ya, Joshua said to me "I will visit you, to Indonesia". Okeey Joshuaa, I'll be waiting for you in Indonesia! 😄

https://www.elinmerlinda.com/2018/07/bahay-pag-asa-house-of-hope-from.html
We are Panalo Team!
For the first time, our intention to visit them was to share our happiness, share our knowledge and culture about Indonesia and Phillipines.  Just it. But, did you know? I got more than it. At the beginning, I thought I must give them something special. But, in the end, they exactly gave me something special. More than my expectation. They made me realize how to be grateful and patient as a human.

BE A GRATEFUL HUMAN BEING

When we were born, can you choose which family will we live with? Which religion? Environment? Nationality? I’m sure, all of human will choose to live from happy, rich, and high education family. But, in reality we couldn’t. Most of children in Bahay Bag Asa have some problem with their family and environment.  They just children. When they live in improper environment, it was hard for them to retain from bad impact of the environment. It’s okay if they have close people who are aware with them. But, if they haven’t?

From them, I felt so grateful. Alhamdulillah, I was born in a happy family. My family care with me, especially my parents and my grandma. They rose me so well, so I can live like this now. Alhamdulillah. Thanks to Allah because He gave me my lovely family.

BE A PATIENT HUMAN BEING

Everyone has their own problem. It’s easy for me to complain when I got a problem. But, I realize that my problem is nothing when I compare with children in BPA. In their age, I just a student. My big problem just studied and how to get my dream university. What about them? They have to suffer from social problem. They have conflict with their social status. But, they still patient and strong. I am 24 years old now, but I am nothing.

https://www.elinmerlinda.com/2018/07/bahay-pag-asa-house-of-hope-from.html

It was just a short visit, but Bahay Pag Asa gave me long memories. Thanks for these inspiring experiences! I'll be waiting for them in Indonesia, especially for Joshua! See You! Salamat Po!

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