How It All Started.

They started it all. The initiators with the street children of  Baguio City

An after lunch photo at Burnham Park. The children eating their ice cream dessert.  

                         

Five young people saw the need to address the problem besetting the street children in the City of Baguio, Philippines. Rather than wait for others to do something for the kids, they decided to do what they could to help the children out. We fondly refer to them at Children First as the "Initiators".

They initiators realized that if they were to work at finding ways to help the children, they needed to get to know them better. It was not to be easy. The children had long learned the ways of the street and did not easily trust people. This was especially true with strangers who started being nice to them. In their young minds, they had learned that there was no one there who cared for them. They had only themselves to rely on. Anyone who came bearing gifts was a suspect.

Everyday, they tried to find time to meet with the children and spend at least an hour talking to them. Dipping into their own pockets, they started inviting the kids to picnics in the city park. At the start, the kids just joined the picnic for the food and usually left as soon as they were finished eating but soon they started to linger. The relationship began to change. The kids had found their big brothers and big sisters whom they addressed as such in their greeting not only that they found new friends.