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'Equal and included' - NGO festival to celebrate street children's rights

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17 January 2008

A festival for street children from around Manila will take place on January 26 2008 to promote the acceptance of street children as equal and valuable members of the Filipino community. AVI's Youth Program volunteers are involved.

A festival for street children from around Manila will take place on January 26 2008 at Museo Pambata on Roxas Boulevard, Manila. The festival will commence at 9am and run until 5pm.

The festival is an initiative of PILAK. PILAK (Pinag Isang Lakas ng Kabataan) is composed of a number of former street children from Bahay Tuluyan who have become child advocates. This group acts as a voice for street children and advocates for the rights of all children. PILAK leaders have been joined by other young leaders from other NGOs in planning and running the festival.

"The theme of the festival is 'kapantay at kasali', or 'equal and included'," states Lily Flordelis, Executive Director of Bahay Tuluyan, a local organization providing shelter and services to children in need of special protection. "We hope that through this festival, people will begin to recognize and accept street children as equal and valuable members of the Filipino community."

The festival particularly hopes to draw attention to the 'forced rescue' of street children by government agencies as an ineffective and traumatic response to the issue of street children. The experience of NGOs working in Manila, including Bahay Tuluyan, has shown that forcibly removing children from the street has an overall negative impact on a child and doesn't solve the problem of children working or living on the street. A research study about this issue completed by volunteers in cooperation with Bahay Tuluyan will be formally launched during the festival concert.

The festival will feature approximately 40 booths. These will provide free essential services such as dental and medical check-ups. An important service to be provided at the event will be to issue children with photo ID cards as an attempt to counteract the problems street children have in proving their identity. There will also be interactive educational booths tackling issues such as child labor, child trafficking, nutrition, reproductive health and justice issues. There will also be recreational booths like basketball shooting and dancing for the children to have some fun.

The festival will be concluded with a concert featuring Noel Cabangon and Cynthia Alexander, popular Filipino folk artists. The concert will also feature a dramatic performance from the PILAK members directed by the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and a performance by the Australian Ensemble Tetrafide. Various theater groups will perform throughout the day.

The festival has been organized by a partnership of NGOs including Bahay Tuluyan, ECPAT, ChildHope Asia Philippines, Virlanie Foundation, SPECS Foundation and Kanlungan Sa Er-Ma Ministry and will be the launch of a network of street children in Metro Manila.

The event is generously supported by a number of sponsors including Australian Volunteers International, ASMAE, OSM, Food for the Hungry Philippines, Museo Pambata, Lamoiyan, Art of Living Foundation, and Meralco. More than 200 volunteers from various organisations including Australian Volunteers International, College of the Holy Spirit and Hands On Manila will be sharing their time to make the day a truly festive one. The festival organizers hope to make the festival an annual event.

For further enquiries please contact Bahay Tuluyan on 715 75 54 / 715 8019 or at info@bahaytuluyan.org.

Visit the Bahay Tuluyan website.