"HEED: Childsplay"

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"To a child, the word mother means God." ---The Crow The Hands that rock the cradle are the very climate of a child's world. From birth to pre-teen, vulnerable as he is, the child is under the care of his parents, especially his mother. Almost everything in the child's life is in the mother's control; from the food he should eat, to the clothes he should wear. This post aims to discuss lost childhood despite the mothers' great power over their children's lives. How does a mother feel like when she tried so hard to be a good mother in attending to her child yet something still went fatally wrong? Below are some of their stories:1. Mrs. Chan is a resident of a so-called "pabahay" or a relocation site offered by the government to those people who lived in the squatters area. Her husband is currently unemployed and her family is starving. Sometimes, they rely on the food given to them by their neighbors, yet, more often than not they rely on tap water to fill their empty stomachs for days because they have nothing to eat. One terrible day, Mrs. Chan was shocked to discover the lifeless body of her four years old child, who she thought was just playing, inside their house. The child died of great hunger because they did not eat for days. Mrs. Chan is worried that the fate fate will fall to her other children (She has three more children left, the youngest is an eleven months old baby. When I met Mrs. Chan, I immediately noticed her "tiny" baby. I thought it was four months old but I was surprised to know that the baby is almost a year old! That day, the baby appeared weak and when I asked her if I could carry her baby, I found out that the baby has a fever. I was concerned and I knew Mrs. Chan was worried too yet she was hesitant to bring her child to the doctor because she doesn't have any money to pay for medical assistance. 2. Mrs. Canales is also a resident of "pabahay" and like Mrs. Chan, her husband is also unemployed. When one night two of her children fell ill, she was unable to seek medical help for them because they also don't have money. After a couple of hours, both children died. As if this was not enough, another child of hers fell ill only more than 24 hours after the first two died. Again, due to financial concern, the third child died too after a couple of hours. it is still not clear whether the reason for the Canales' children's death was due to hunger or the unsafe tap water they drink in their area. 3. Mrs. Bernarte of Pampanga was employed as a maid of a family that lives far from her hometown. She was forced to leave her home and family behind for work so that she could provide and sustain her children's education. Curiously, one day, she suddenly felt uneasy for no apparent reason. Somehow, her maternal instinct was telling her something was wrong. She became more worried when (weirdly), everytime she tried to send a text message to her daughter, her cellphone is somehow erasing her daughter's name in the text. Because of this, she went home immediately, only to find out that one of her daughters was missing. Together with the rest of her family and friends, they searched for the child. Each day, Mrs. Bernarte prayed that she would find her daughter...each day they failed. Their search reached a dead-end. Nobody had seen her daughter, not even classmates or friends. Until one day, Mrs. Bernarte was shocked when she discovered the decaying body of her young daughter in one of the dark corners of their house while she was cleaning. She was not able to believe her eyes. Her loving, jolly and responsible young daughter hanged herself. Mrs. Bernarte could still not move on. When I met her, she was still in great grief. After all, how can a mother's heart take the fact of losing her child from a suicide?4. Mrs. dela Torre tried to be the best mother she could be. She has a good husband and loving children. She thought everything was okay even though most of the time they face financial challenges (well, who doesn't right?), until one day, she received a phone call from school telling her that her daughter suddenly fell unconscious off her chair during class. Teachers tried to bring her to the hospital but the doctors were unable to save her life. Mrs. dela Torre was perflexed. In the best of her knowledge, her children were perfectly healthy. Teachers were confused too. Tina, the girl, was never absent because of sickness. In fact, early that day, Tina was perfectly fine and was playing with her classmates during recess! So what happened?! The doctors in the hospital said Tina died of a certain illness that caused SEVEN complications. Even I was confused because it is still not clear whether it's tru or not. -------These are only four of the mothers we have interviewed. I intentionally did not mention their first names. -------I hope you could give me some idea as to how to help them. Again, as I have mentioned in my previous discussion, I am not rich, and I am not influential. I am just an ordinary citizen. I could only do little for them. -------But if ordinary people like us who can only do little or simple things to help would just gather, we can make a HUGE difference, can't we?-------Let's not just talk. Let's not just listen. Let's not just know. LET"S HEED!