Missionaries of Charity Home for Abandoned/Neglected Elderly

"The DeSales University group conducted various acts of mercy at the home for the abandoned and neglected elderly at Tayuman, Manila. The home is managed by the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, an organization which was founded by the Blessed Mother Theresa of India. The center at Tayuman also includes novitiates on training".

fr. charles said...
I never gave a thought of spending half a day (on my birthday!) in a home for the abandoned elderly. It was not in my sched but these guys from De Sales brought me there. True, nothing happens by chance! For the gift of life...and people who care, thank God!

danielle k said...
This was an amazing experience. To see people with such devotion and faith is often rare to find. I hope I can visit here again in the future.

BUKID KABATAAN CENTER for Abused Children & The GOOD SHEPHERD SISTERS

About the BUKID KABATAAN (CHILDREN'S FARM) CENTER: "Since the 1970’s, the number of children living in the streets of Manila and other cities of the Philippines has greatly increased. The problems of internal migration of families from the rural communities to the big urban centers and high unemployment have contributed to make it extremely difficult for poor family members to meet their basic needs. Thousands of children began to roam the streets in search of food and shelter. They were also prey for the numerous traffickers of children and were often physically or sexually abused. Many end up in prostitution dens. In response to this growing social problem, the Good Shepherd Sisters opened a small shelter for street girls in 1983 under the auspices of Caritas, Manila, and located in Pandacan, Manila. In 1989, also on the instigation of the Good Shepherd Sisters, a recovery and healing center for boys was opened by Caritas in General Trias, Cavite. The residential center was built on a 6-hectare land donated by Msgr. Francisco Tantoco, then Executive Director of Caritas, Manila. The center became known as Bukid Kabataan (Children’s Farm)."



"Go after the lost sheep without any rest other than the cross, no consolation other than work, no thirst other than for justice".
- St. Mary Euphrasia
Good Shepherd Sisters

DAYCARE CENTER at the Slums, Quezon City

The slum area near the Philippine CONGRESS at Quezon City.

The DeSales group painting the daycare center inside the slum area. The daycare was set up by a local charity group.


Some of the children who use the daycare center.

TULOY SA DON BOSCO: Support Center for Street Children

The Mission of Tuloy sa Don Bosco.


DeSales students and the children at the center playing volleyball.


The impressive Chapel inside the center complex.

What is POVERTY?

According to the United Nations: "Poverty: a human condition characterized by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights."



Furthermore, the No.1 goal of the UN Millineum Development Goals is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

Ati or Aeta Woman: Philippines Aborigines

Fr. Joe:
"We visited the Ati, the aborigines of the Philippines, who were sequestered in a ghetto on Boracay Island. The Daughters of Charity, a religious order founded by St. Vincent de Paul, friend of Francis de Sales, minister to these people. The Ati are called the “black people;” their skin tone is dark and their hair extremely wooly. They are classified as Philippine Negritos, first settled the Philippines, and were at one time a nomadic group of hunter-gatherers roaming freely in the wild without clothes. Modern society forced them in clothes as well as ghettos both of which are socially traumatic for the Ati., who now depend on charitable donations for subsistence. The Daughters of Charity have been their only advocates with the government and in the words of one sister “I will wear out my sandals walking to the local government to petition for these lovely people and to protest the expropriation of their land.” They now live on land belonging to the relatives of the Casa Pilar owners, our hotel on Boracay.

The children are attractive and charming. They learn the basics in a kindergarten that was opened the second day of our visit. We learned that it would be an insult to help them with any physical labor such as picking up trash and beautifying their areas. Francis de Sales and the spirituality of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales reminds us to respect people where they are and to treat them with dignity. Since food was a great need, we decided to purchase rice and other staples for the families. The Daughters supervised us as we respectfully distributed the food to the families. We also gave plantains (small bananas) to the children in the kindergarten and interacted with the teacher and the students".

"A full-grown Ati woman. I actually think she is attractive. She's definitely cute in a child-like way anyway. Note the classical woolly hair of the Philippine Negritos. This is not the same hair as the kinky hair of US Blacks. Other Negritos in the Andaman Islands have peppercorn hair like the Bushmen of Africa".

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