Spotlight on the children: Loren

Alive and Thriving Now 16, Loren, who was born in Minolo, Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, had to flee one home to find the happier one where he lives today. He still talks of the day when, at the age of nine, he wept as he walked away from his family’s house to escape his alcoholic father’s beatings. Although he did free himself from that abuse, life on the streets of Alabang, where he ended up, was nearly as hard. He ate only what he could scavenge and slept wherever he could, but he did find work of sorts, cleaning buses and doing other odd jobs in exchange for food. However, like many children living on the street without the care of loving adults, he did eventually at age 11 turn to drugs and crime. Robbing people to buy rugby, the commercial glue many poor Filipinos sniff to dull the pangs of hunger and a harsh existence, he adapted to a thug’s way of life and even joined a gang, an association that plunged him deeper into criminality. Luckily a stab wound in his left arm was the only physical harm he suffered, though if he’d stayed on the streets much longer, far worse fates were likely. A bicycle heist gone awry saved him, however, when a police officer picked him up and instead of throwing him into jail brought him to the Reception and Action Center of the Manila City Social and Welfare Development office. There, he stayed for two weeks before being moved to St. Martin De Porres, where he has since assumed a leading role in the family of children he lives with there. Flourishing in a climate of love and trust, he showed true leadership qualities as Vice-President of the Student Council last year and is, every day, a very caring big brother to the other children of the house. With the safety and security of SMDP as his home base, he is now able to return home to visit his seven siblings and has even been able to resume contact with his parents. He will enter the sixth grade this month.