The Street Children Center is officially called Social Development Center for Children (SDCC), a social welfare residential center run by the Social Welfare and Development Office. It provides shelter and care for disadvantaged male street children aging 18 and below. In particular the center houses children who are beggars, scavengers, children at risk, orphaned and abandoned, and victims of maltreatment and neglect. The street children program is intended to provide basic social welfare support services to these disadvantaged boys.
Kids who loiter or roam around the streets are rounded up to save them from bad elements and all forms of exploitation. The centre becomes their temporary home until such time that the family or relatives come to take them home. Most of the kids at the centre stay longer than 6 months. The centre provides them a temporary safe haven. They are given free food, clothing, and other basic needs. These children are also provided educational support and sent to schools for formal education.
The facility is headed by the center head who is a Social Welfare Officer and is being assisted by a few houseparents. It is usually understaffed and underfunded and support from outside like from NGOs and international volunteers and organizations is very much valuable and can make a lot of difference to the lives of these young boys. Tangible contributions, donations or projects which can improve the living condition of the children at the center can be a very big help.
The SDCC in Tacloban City is located in the northern part of the city and and is accessible via jeepneys and usually takes 45 minutes to one hour from the volunteer’s homestay. While the SDCC in Ormoc City is stuated in the downtown area and is reachable via jeepneys also in about 30 to 45 minutes from the homestay.
Sustainability
In most cases, the street children have not had a nurturing upbringing, have dropped out of school, and are typically in poor health. They have not had many positive role models in their lives, and many of them will welcome the attention and services offered by a volunteer. Others may be less trusting of adults and will be more challenging to work with. You will work closely with the City Social Welfare Development Office which runs the facility thru its social workers and houseparents. By working with these young boys in a caring and non-judgmental manner, you will demonstrate that adults can be trusted and respected. Most importantly, we believe that volunteers can transfer their specialist skills, interests and good values to the street children. We need role models for these children and emphasize the importance of obtaining education and eradicating bad habits. By volunteering to provide education and recreational services for these children, you will be contributing to our efforts to improve the lives of some of the less-fortunate children in the Philippines.
What’s Included
Included in the Program Fee are the following:
– Airport Reception and Drop-off
– Accommodation with Local Host Family with 2 meals a day (breakfast and
dinner)
– Comprehensive Program Orientation
– Basic Waray-Waray Language Lesson
– Volunteers Excursion
– Project Tour
– 24-hour Local Staff Support
What’s Not Included
Visa, flights, travel insurance or vaccinations are NOT included in the program fees.
Trip Itinerary
The volunteer will be working alongside staff such as the social worker and houseparents.The volunteer is required to work at this placement five times a week, from Monday to Friday, even on holidays since the program is always open. Usually the required number of work time is only 4 hours but volunteers commonly render more than 4 hours. Working schedule here is from 3:00 pm until 7:00 pm since the boys are in school most of the day and return mid or late afternoon.
The boys here need help with their lessons so tutorial is a very useful activity. The boys also like sports, games, some arts and craft, and music. Take note their attention span is not very long so it is important to incorporate fun games and sports in their activities. These are boys who like to be physically active and have fun outdoors. It is also important to teach them personal hygiene and values.
Program And Price
Project Duration: 4 weeks (minimum) – 6 months (maximum)
Cost: $960 US Dollars for 4 weeks, $80 for each week thereafter
Breakdown: 55 % – Accommodation (Food, accommodation/homestay, airport
transfer, etc.)
20 % – Admin
25 % – Community-based Projects
