6 Year Old Rescued From Life On The Street
By Amy Muranko
 

       I felt every bump in the road as the old, dilapidated taxi moved slowly through the thick traffic. Having lived in the Philippines for 3 years, I didn’t really notice the heat and stickiness of the night.  I was used to it. Also, an occasional wind through the open windows would cool the taxi as we picked up speed in a lighter area of traffic. My backseat window where I was sitting was broken though and wouldn’t go down.

I was on my way to an appointment and was in my own world sending text messages on my cell phone back and forth with a business associate. I had been in the taxi already over a half hour when the driver broke the silence and jarred me out of my text messaging world.

 “Do you know Diane?” he asked.

Well, this shocked me a little considering there are over a million people living in Davao City and there are hundreds of taxi drivers.

 “Yes.” I responded.

He proceeded to tell me how he had taken my American friend Diane to the airport just that morning. Absorbed now in this conversation and at a perfect stand still in very heavy traffic, I heard a small tapping on the window. I didn’t pay much attention. This happens all the time. The traffic stops and someone is at your window begging.

Out of habit I turned my head to look. There were two small boys. Again, not a sight I hadn’t seen a hundred times before (sadly there are so many children on the street), but all of a sudden my eyes caught the eyes of one of the boys. His eyes popped wide open and he had a look of shock on his face. I think I had the same look on my face.

 “Hey, I know you!” I yelled out loud.

I tried to open the door but it wouldn’t open and my window was broken too. The little boy took off running to the next car behind us. At first I didn’t know what to do. It was JR and he was begging on the street!

“He shouldn’t be on the street…he is only 6 years old and one of the LTCF children. What is one of our kids doing on the street???” The thoughts raced through my head. 

I told the taxi driver, “I know that boy. Call him for me.”

JR doesn’t speak English so it wouldn’t help for me to do the bidding.

The taxi driver started to yell for him but at that moment the traffic broke and we had to go. I quickly called Cindy Chua (director of LTCF) on the cell phone.

“Cindy, I just saw JR begging on the street! What should I do? Should I get him??” I asked her.

“Yes, you must get him,” she said with urgency.

We did a u-turn as soon as possible and went back to see if we could find JR. It was dark out and JR could have gone anywhere. I started to pray that we’d find him.

The taxi driver spotted him first. He and his companion were sitting in the dirt of the street median counting the small coins they had collected that night. We pulled to the side of the road and the driver called for them. I wasn’t sure if they would just run away again, but they didn’t. They crossed through two lanes of traffic to our car.

JR was filthy. His only clothing was a dirty, torn shirt that was too big for him. He didn’t have on any shoes and one of his feet had a big gash in it. I think the combination of dried blood and dirt stopped it from bleeding anymore. I motioned for him to get in the car but he was hesitant.

Again, I called Cindy on the phone and told her that JR wouldn’t get in the car. I asked her to talk to him (in their native language). I shoved the phone over his ear and Cindy was able to persuade him and his friend to get in the car with me to go to LTCF. I cancelled my appointment and took JR and his little companion to Cindy.

I have to admit this whole incident caused my heart to pump a little harder and I felt the adrenalin as we rescued JR from the street.

I learned later that night from Cindy why JR was on the street. A few months earlier JR’s mother had come to LTCF and had asked for JR to come live with her again. She had promised to take care of him. She was even going to take him and his three siblings out of the big city to a quieter village. Obviously, she hadn’t done anything she had promised. She had left her 6 year old son to fend for himself on the street.

This wasn’t the first time, in fact it was the third time. JR originally came to live at LTCF when Cindy and Tony found JR in a dazed state wandering helplessly on the street. He was only 4 years old at the time. No one was watching him or taking care of him. They bathed him, fed him, and took him to the doctor where it was found that he had a serious ear infection and tuberculosis.

After two weeks of living at the center JR went back to live with his mother in their small shack. She was given a second chance to take care of him, but shortly after some of the older boys at LTCF found JR hungry, alone, and begging in the open market. They took him back to the center where he lived happily for over a year until his mother had come again and promised to take care of him.

I was curious why JR wouldn’t get in the taxi with me that night. I knew he recognized me because of the big smile on his face, but why was he hesitant to come with me? When he had talked to Cindy on the phone and then hopped into the car, he snuggled up close to me and put his hand loving on my hand. He was definitely happy to see me and to be going back to LTCF. JR told us later that his mother had threatened him with specific instructions not to go anywhere with anyone. That is why he didn’t know if he should get in the car. I’m so glad he did. LTCF now has custody of JR and his mother will have to prove competence before JR will be released back to her again. Another child RESCUED FROM THE STREET and placed in the loving home of LTCF.



( To learn more about the plight of street children worldwide, read the article 150 Million Street Children Worldwide.  )