Sobrang masaya ang pamilya ko dahil nakasama kami ‘dun sa camping sa Nasugbu, Batangas… maayos ang trato sa amin ‘dun… kakaibang karanasan ‘yun na minsan lang dumating sa amin,”Joel Dela Cruz said.
Joel, 31 years old and household head under the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for Homeless Street Families (MCCT-HSF) in Manila, together with his four (4) children aged 6, 4, 2 and 5 months, and his wife Buena, 25, joined the recently held 6th family camp of the Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR) in Batangas.
To the Dela Cruz family, joining the camp is an extraordinary experience that comes only once in a lifetime. He shared that during the camping, they were able to acquire learnings which reminded them of the reasons why they left the street and decided to live in a safer place which they now call “home.”
“Marami kaming natutunan ‘dun tulad ng pagkilala ng kalakasan at kahinaan namin bilang pamilya… ‘dun din kasi namin nalalaman kung ano ba ang dapat naming pagtibayin para talagang ‘di na kami bumalik sa kalsada,” Joel emphasized.
Among the activities during the camping are the conduct of sessions on life skills and character building, journey of life and mobile mapping, orientation on drug abuse, discussion on good grooming and personal hygiene, personality development, night devotion/mass, fun games and sports, and recognition and awarding to outstanding camp participants.
“Minsan lang yung family camp kaya talagang hindi namin pinapalampas ‘yun. Kung nandito naman kame sa Maynila nung panahong iyon ay ‘di rin naman namin makikita ng malapitan si Pope Francis… May nagmisa naman sa amin ‘dun kaya naramdaman na rin namin ang kanyang presensya,” Joel added.
The Dela Cruz family was able to finish the six months provision period for Alternative Family Home subsidy (AFH) but was unable to sustain the house rental, resulting to their return to the streets.
However, subsequent to the reevaluation conducted to the family after the family camp, they are now eligible to avail again the AFH for six months and Joel was hired under the cash-for-work of DSWD-NCR where he is earning P342.00 per day for 10 days as a street sweeper in Manila.
“Sa abot ng aking makakaya, hindi ko na hahayaang bumalik pa kame sa kalsada… magsisikap ako ng mabuti para sa aking pamilya lalo na’t maliliit pa aking mga anak,” Joel emphasized.
The Dela Cruz family is now residing in a newly rented house at Balinggit St., Malate, Manila and they are among the 2,479 beneficiaries of MCCT-HSF in Metro Manila being monitored in compliance to conditionalities of the program. ###