CAVITE CITY – KESZ Valdez, 12, showed the faded burn scars on his left arm as he recalled how life was on the streets.
Eight years ago, when Kesz was barely 4 years old, a kid shoved him aside as he and his mother hurried to a newly-arrived garbage truck at the dump in Cavite City. Kesz had tagged along and collected scrap metals that they sold to junk shops.
Kesz fell into a pile of burning tires. After the accident, his mother abandoned him because he brought bad luck.
He was “rescued” from the streets by the Dynamic Teen Company (DTC), a non-profit youth organization that initiated the “kariton” (cart) classroom (also called classroom on wheels) in 2007.
Now in Grade 6 in a public school, Kesz is excited about attending class. He wants to become an English teacher, as the former “kalakal boy” (a term for street children) turned out to be one of the smartest pupils.
Every Saturday since Kesz joined the DTC, he volunteers to teach other children in slum areas.
Kesz mans the first-aid kariton that teaches children about first aid and hygiene. Other volunteers bring carts full of books, toys and other educational materials to dumps and marketplaces and hold classes there.
The kariton classroom aims to bring education to poor communities and help bring back the children to formal school and complete their education.
“The environment plays a big role. Children also need to be taught the proper values, be given the attention and feel that they are loved,” says Efren Peñaflorida, DTC chief executive officer and 2009 CNN Hero awardee.
He says this is the reason he and other volunteers put up the Kalingain Batang Mahirap Foundational Center, a learning and resource facility, to give Kesz and nine other kariton scholars a place for lessons learned from regular school.
‘Walking on dreams’
The facility, formally opened on June 4, is a two-floor building on the 291-square-meter property that the DTC bought out of the CNN grant.
On the first floor is a classroom-type, multi-purpose activity area, where lectures are to be conducted. On the second floor is a library filled with thousands of books and five donated computer notebooks.
The building also serves as office and training center of volunteers.
“Anytime, they can use the library. Not only that we want to fire up the child’s interest (in education) but also to help him excel in his class,” Peñaflorida says.
His group had wanted to build the facility even before it received the CNN recognition, he says. “It’s great we are now walking on our dream,” he says of what he also calls the “kariton building” or their “largest kariton.”
The building was designed to resemble a kariton. Peñaflorida says the building’s finishing would include solar panels in the roof deck that resemble kariton handles.
“Kariton is very symbolic to us. It is our tool in bringing education out on the streets,” he says.
Not a replacement
Peñaflorida, however, said the building is not a school, or a replacement to formal education, as his group wants children to obtain formal education.
In the past, he says, the DTC would only send finances and school supplies to scholars, but the children eventually dropped out of school and the money was used for other purposes.
“There were cases that were unsuccessful. The parents would rather have their kids earn money instead of sending them to school,” Peñaflorida says.
“Peers were also a factor (for children dropping out). Now, we want to see first that the child and the parents are really interested about getting their child to finish studies,” he says.
The DTC takes care of Kesz and nine other scholars, all abandoned and abused children.
Expecting the number to grow, Peñaflorida says his group is now working on having a bigger facility to house more beneficiaries.
In the meantime, kariton classrooms continue to ply the streets.
The DTC is working with the Department of Education to replicate the kariton classroom nationwide.
Peñaflorida says his group has also received an invitation from a foreign philanthropist, who plans to adopt the project in Southeast Asia.
For now, he says his group’s focus is on the streets of Cavite City. “We want to prove that we can do something to eventually take out all children from the streets,” he says.