Recently, Simone Orendain wrote a story for the Christian Science Monitor‘s “People Making a Difference” series on a Philippine man who helps kids.
“For the past 30 years [Harnin] Manalaysay has been a father figure and mentor to hundreds of youths in Cavite City, just south of Manila. … Half the young people he has helped were out of school and on the streets – neglected, abused, or abandoned. The other half were in school but on the verge of slipping into gang life …
“A majority of the young people [he has helped] have gone on to become professionals in fields such as finance, education, marketing, and psychology, Manalaysay says.
“Some have become rock stars of the philanthropic world. Kesz Váldez, his 16-year-old adopted son, won the 2012 International Children’s Peace Prize – the children’s equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize – for starting, at the age of 7, a foundation to help street children live with dignity and understand their rights.”
Manalaysay began his good works at 17, when, having run away from a violent father and some risky behaviors of his own, he found religion and “came across some kids in ragged clothes outside his new church making a lot of noise as they gambled with the loose change they had just begged for. He felt bold enough to scold them for making a ruckus.
“He asked if they were in school. They said no, so he started giving them basic lessons in reading and ABCs. The number of students grew, and he decided to tap some high school teachers, who recommended student volunteers. But he found that even those kids came from unstable families and needed help, too, including lessons in self-esteem and self-respect. Club 8586 was born. …
“Manalaysay credits his mother with this philosophy.
His earliest memories were of her selling home-cooked snacks that she would then give away to the poor once she earned enough to pay for the family’s needs.
That lesson in selflessness and love has stuck with him, and he has tried to pass it along to all of the kids whose lives he has touched.”
More here.
Photo: Simone Orendain
Harnin Manalaysay founded an outreach organization that helps street children in Cavite City, Philippines.
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