By Maritoni L. Saberon | Project Officer
April 25 was a red letter day for some 10,000 children coming from several non-government and government organizations and poor barangays in Mindanao who took part in the 10th National Children’s Day or NCD with its theme “ The grandest burst of birthday joy” at the KJC Compound in Catitipan, Davao City, Philippines.
Children’s Joy Foundation, Inc. organized the much-awaited annual event with more than a thousand volunteers who served as performers, cooks, booth tenders, dressmakers, security personnel and more. We were so glad to have so many kindhearted people who worked with us to give destitute children who had not been to a birthday party the rare chance to celebrate their birthdays. Dyan Hortaleza, a CJFI volunteer who choreographed the dance presentations said, “I was so glad that I was able to share my talents to make the children happy. We practiced for a month, day in and day out, but every sacrifice paid off seeing the overflowing joy of the children. Seeing them so happy really made my day.”
At eleven o’clock in the morning, kids started to line up at the five feeding stations that we set up. Volunteers served them with free meals of fried chicken, rice, and juice. More food like bread, ice cream, doughnuts, candies, popcorn, and other treats were available at the fairgrounds called Sonshine Land. There, joy so raw and pure illuminated the innocent faces of the children enjoying every ride, shouting at the top of their lungs at every turn of the Ferris wheel. Laughter so contagious can be heard all around, from the different booths and the giant slide. A grand parade of Disney characters, mascots, life-sized robots and magnificent floats also wowed the children leaving them in awe of the magical experience. “Nindot kaayo ang mga floats, tapos gwapa kaayo ang mga prinsesa. Sa libro lang man nako sila makit-an. Karon lang gyud ko kakita ug mga prinsesa. Lipay kaayo ko (The floats are so nice and the princesses are so beautiful. I only see them in the books. It’s only now that I have seen princesses in real life. I am very happy!)”, said Sheila, 5, a beneficiary of another non-profit organization. At the end of the celebration, the grand dance finale highlighted the event especially when we rolled the huge birthday cake to the dance arena that was later shared with all of the children.
Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, CJFI’s Founding President in his speech greeted all the children a happy birthday. He went on saying that the National Children’s Day was also celebrated simultaneously all over the country. “NCD is expanding every year. It started from my heart. I found out how many of our Filipino children are going to bed without food. In short, there are indigent kids, poorest of the poor. Our desire is to be able to reach the farthest corner of the Philippines where there are children. Our intention is to help these children out of poverty in every way we can.” Thus, NCD was born.
It was past 7:00 p.m. when the event ended. It seemed that the children did not want to leave as they lingered on having their pictures taken with the different characters. They enjoyed their adopted birthdays, savored all the magical moments of seeing their favorite characters and other things that they never thought would come true.
Pastor Quiboloy thanked all the volunteers who helped make the event successful. He further recognized the generosity of the sponsors who have helped CJFI deliver its programs and services to the needy children throughout the years like Global Giving among others. Truly, the success of our endeavors in CJFI will not be made possible without your generous help.
Please continue to support our project to help children have food and good education. Make your donations 50% bigger by donating online on July15th beginning at 9:00:01 EDT via globalgiving.org. “Once you have shown love and kindness to a child, he will never forget it until he grows old”, said Pastor Quiboloy.
Indeed, the 10th NCD was a reservoir of the grandest burst of birthday joy not only for the children but for all of us who made it possible.
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