A warm winter break for 14 Harvard students

THE WORLD is a stage that a volunteer team of Harvard students gladly shares with Pinoy street children.

It was a long way from Cambridge in Massachussetts, USA, to Manila, but the distance didn’t stop 14 Harvard University students from doing something meaningful—and keeping warm—while on their winter break.

With 20 selected wards of Childhope Asia and 11 scholars from the Kids in Action program of Aguinaldo International School, the visiting students performed in a show that included a joint ballet and hip-hop dance, a Wushu demonstration, a beat box and rap number, and tableau theater at the Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) theater in Ermita, Manila.

GIANINA Yumul rehearses with the kids.

Prior to the show, the street kids trained in an acting workshop under the EAC students with the assistance of the Harvard students, whose trip here was organized by the Harvard Philippine Forum (HPF).

The Harvard team members were chosen in September last year.

“There were about a hundred applications for this trip and we only selected 14,” said Michelle Denise Ferreol, president of the sole Filipino club in the prestigious American university.

“We don’t have the same courses and concentrations (majors), but everyone has a special talent to share with the kids,” said the sociology major.

The team members did not know one another on campus but became close during the two-week trip.

Sociology and economics student Rahim Mawji said he never realized the positive effect the arts could have on people until he saw it on the children. “The workshop was so powerful that

LUKE Chang and Jeffrey do a rap and beat box number.

every day we saw the children become really engaged and interested and inspired,” he said.

Filipino-American Dillon Cruz, a computer science student, agreed. “Some people see street children as one-dimensional. They would rather ignore the kids than help build their confidence,” he said.

The other Harvard students and their majors were Lilli Beard, religion and applied mathematics; Claudine Cho, sociology; Hanling Petredean, environmental science;  Michelle Geng, applied mathematics; Amarachi Erondu, human evolutionary biology; Gianina Yumul, astronomy; Anthony Morgan, sociology; Luke Chang, computer science; Mark Natividad, government; Javier Aranzales, government, and Dylan Hardenbergh, linguistics.

The Ivy Leaguers gave the street children workshops that included singing, dancing, ballet and martial arts.

“We wanted to focus on street children because they are the most neglected population [in the country]. By pooling together all our talents, we were able to teach them,” said Ferreol.

MIMICRY through a “mirror game” during the acting workshop.

This is the second year the HPF  has organized the volunteer program.

“It worked out last year, so we decided to continue. Hopefully, next year it will be bigger and more organized,” she said.

Prior to the Manila workshops, the Harvard team had connected with Stairway Foundation based in Puerto Galera, Mindoro province, and learned about the situation of street children in the Philippines. Stairway Foundation is a nongovernment children’s rights organization that provides a residential program for street children.

Ferreol said the Harvard team was working closely with EAC for the sustainability of the program.

Innate talent

“They will take over after we’re gone. There are talks right now to make sure that art workshops like this will continue for the kids,” she said.

For convenience, the child performers were picked primarily from the Manila area. Rhea Sabalboro, street education program manager of Childhope Asia, said they chose kids who

ANTHONY Morgan teaches the kids some dance moves for the talent show’s opener.

showed talent and promise.

“If given the opportunity, they can be developed further,” she said, adding that they would be organizing similar activities for other out-of-school youth.

Young performer Jeffrey, 16, said he learned a lot from the workshops.

“It was fun since I [was able to] apply what we were trained for in the show. Now, I’m planning to learn how to beat box and rap,” he said.

Richie, 12, said the program taught him to work well with other people. “Maybe I’ll join again next year,” he said.

For some, if not all, of the Harvard students, it had been a warm—and heartwarming— winter break.