WHEN JOHN VINCENT PANOLINO OF Barangay Bata in Bacolod City was 2 years old, his parents fought, stormed out of their home in separate directions to unknown places in Metro Manila, and never came back.

The boy was left to the care of his maternal grandmother, Adelaida Panolino.

Now 13, John Vincent is ill. His grandmother, already 60, only sells food to passengers at the Ceres Bus North Terminal in Bacolod and can barely make both ends meet. She worries over the cost of blood transfusion that her grandson regularly needs.

John Vincent was in Grade 4 when he was diagnosed with thalassemia, a blood disorder that causes the body to produce less hemoglobin. Low levels of hemoglobin may cause anemia, which makes one feel weak and tired, and in severe cases, may damage organs and result in death.

The illness forced John Vincent to quit school. Pale with sallow yellow skin, he is often weak and lacks the energy to do much.

But on Nov. 8, he appeared to be a different child. ?He is happy, he is running around with friends and dancing,? recalled his grandmother.

John Vincent is one of 30 children with cancer and other serious illnesses, including those with cancer-stricken parents, who joined the third Suntown Camp at the Maryshore retreat house in Talisay City in Negros Occidental.

That Sunday, which was the last day of the four-day annual camp, the children displayed the artworks they made, some of them already sold. The items included pots, wind chimes and quilts.

Positive vibration

This year?s camp theme was ?Life in Color,? in which art was used as a means for the children to open up and express themselves, Suntown president Millie Kilayko said.

Cielito Narvasa, a volunteer from the Children International Summer Villages in Manila, led the ?Patchwork of Dreams Quilt Making Session,? during which the children painted?using non-toxic paint?their dreams, wishes, and ideas of life and happiness.

Narvasa said she was so happy to have joined the camp and see the selflessness of the people running it. It was more than just the money they donated to the camp, she said, but they put in time and gave and gave of themselves.

?You could feel the positive vibration in the air,? Narvasa said.

Lilibeth Cordova, who has studied art therapy as a way of understanding conflict and completed a masteral degree in Arts in Conflict and Reconciliation, taught the children how to work with clay to make something uniquely theirs, and use recycled materials, such as discarded keys and beads, to make wind chimes.

?It is believed that doing art helps people, especially children, to express themselves. It also takes their mind off their aches and pains because they become so engrossed working on their masterpieces,? Cordova said.

On Nov. 7, the children were treated to their own carnival, complete with all the fun that comes with it and MassKara Festival dance performances.

The children, who were paired off with volunteer parents, laughed, played, danced and sang away.

John Vincent sang ?May Bukas Pa? and charmed his camp father, Waldo Flores, chair of the Philippine National Oil Corp. (PNOC)-Development and Management Corp., who stayed with him throughout the festivities.

Flores promised to help his ward undergo splenectomy, a surgical procedure to remove a diseased or damaged spleen, which the boy badly needs, said Dr. Ceres Baldevia, one of the volunteers.

Waldo did things with the boy he never did with his own children, his wife, Chona, said.

Bonding

Another volunteer parent was Brenda Heffron, a member of Assumption College Class ?65, which throws a party for the children at every camp.

She was partnered with a rambunctious 8-year-old, Azrian Gabriel Anatalio, of Talisay.

Heffron, who has joined all three Suntown Camps, said it had been a wonderful experience. ?Suntown has taught me a lot, it reminds one not to take things for granted, and that no matter what we go through, we should take time to smile and appreciate the simple things in life,? she said.

?I look forward to the camp every year,? she said.

And it appeared that it was not just Heffron who felt the connection. Azrian, who has acute lymphocytic leukemia, did, too.

In his post-camp evaluation sheet under the question what did he like most at camp, he drew stick figures of big people and small people holding hands.

Manila businessman Joey Duarte, who acted as camp dad to Rena Jean Manlapaz, a 10-year-old from Hinigaran town who suffers from bone cancer and has had one leg amputated, said that if the world was filled with people like the children and volunteers, it would be a ?beautiful and different world.?

The camp has changed the life of his family forever and he is thankful for having been a part of it, he said.

Rena, who has been a shy withdrawn child who barely talks, got the courage to dance and sing for the first time at the closing rites.

Many other stories of bonding and love among the children, staff and other volunteers came out.

One volunteer staff member, Aurora dela Paz, said all those who came learned something from each other, and a lot of love went around.

?We have painted each other?s lives with colors,? she said.

This year?s camp directors were Martin Chua and Nikki Cajili.