The Struggle IS Real

The phrase “the struggle is real” has become quite popular recently. When people started using it, it made me laugh. But now, when I hear it, I think of the children whose struggle IS real and daily.

The struggle IS real when:

• you’re abandoned on the streets by your parents when you should be starting pre-school, being read to, and receiving unconditional love from your family.

• You have to fight boys twice your size and age just for food and a place to sleep at night.

• You sniff solvents and smoke cigarettes to numb your hunger and sometimes eat dirt to fill your belly.

• You’re seven years old and found by a social worker.

• You only know your first name. You cannot state your birth date or who your parents are because they are just a memory in your mind.

• You are given the last name of the social worker (who found you) for documentation, and the doctor estimates your age from an X-ray of dental records.

• You are taken to a safe place to live, and the only personal belongings you have are the clothes on your back that are worn, stained, and tattered.

• You prefer sleeping on the floor because you have never slept on a bed before or let alone owned one.

• You’re malnourished to the point that it has stunted your growth. You are the size of the average five-year-old child, but you are really seven years old.

• You should be in the 2nd grade but are enrolled in Kinder because you cannot read or write and have trouble forming complete sentences when speaking.

• You get made fun of at school because you are labeled an orphan, and the only way you know how to stand up for yourself is to fight back.

• You have questions about your family and where you really came from, but no one can answer them….

You see, my friends, the struggle truly IS real for the boys that I work with. This is a generic idea of what their life was like before they came to MCH. I cannot go into the personal details, but after reading this, I hope you have an idea of what the average 77,000 street children of Metro Manila face daily.

These boys all have passions and dreams of graduating high school, going to the University, and becoming doctors, engineers, and artists. They still have many challenges to overcome, but they have beaten the odds. They now know they have a purpose in life, that they are loved not only by our Heavenly Father but by the people who care for and work with them. They bring a smile to my face every morning as they greet me at the door and every afternoon as they hug me goodbye. I have only been here for a short time, but they have truly left a mark on my heart.