October Orphanage Outreach with Cherry Mobile

If other people would hesitate to do one simple thing to help the sickly, Barangay Cherry Mobile would be one of the few who would do it—with a sincere heart.

Many people would definitely hesitate to care for the sick all the more when their condition would rend the hearts of the people who would help and just leave them depressed instead of satisfied with helping others. But Cherry Mobile employees did not think of themselves as they thought more of giving joy to the kids at Missionaries of Charity Home of Joy in Tayuman, Tondo, Manila.

The Missionaries of Charity Home of Joy is known among Catholics as the spiritual family founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. It is an orphanage for special children who have Down's syndrome, hydrocephalous, and other diseases. Composed primarily by nuns, Missionaries of Charity provide shelter to the sick, abandoned, and the destitute. They accept infants and young children who were brought by their own parents because of their inability to raise them in a safe environment. Many of the children are sickly mainly because of malnutrition. At present, they look after 63 children including those with special condition.

Missionaries of Charity is located right along Tayuman St, Tondo, Manila.

On the second week of October, 14 employees from Cherry Mobile met together early in the morning and went to Missionaries of Charity. A short orientation about the orphanage was held for the 14 volunteers before they were divided into groups and began their household chores. One group helped with the huge pile of laundry. Missionaries of Charity needs volunteers to wash the clothes, bibs, bed sheets, and other garments of all the children in the orphanage. Another group folded the dry clothes and when done folding, helped with hanging the washed clothes and sheets to dry in the sun.

Cherry volunteers spent the morning washing baskets of kids’ clothes and bed sheets.

Cherry volunteers pose during a short break from their laundry task—tired and wet, but happy.

Even tiny garments like bibs and infant garments should be clipped securely along with the hanged clothes at the rooftop of the orphanage.

Piles of clean clothes in all shapes and sizes straight from the clotheslines were neatly folded, ready for the kids’ use.

After almost an hour of doing household chores, the Cherry volunteers went to the kitchen to prepare the food they brought for the children. They also included in the food count those street people whom Missionaries of Charity feed every mealtime as well as the helpers who volunteer to help care for the sick kids on a shifting schedule.

A Cherry Mobile employee assists the volunteer staff in preparing the food into individual containers.

A healthy meal included vegetables, and our employees make sure each individual gets a fair serving of veggies.

When the food preparation was done, some of the volunteers helped with feeding the special children, while the others entertained the kids who spend most of the time lying on their beds. Some of them were teary eyed upon seeing the condition of the kids; nevertheless, they did not miss the opportunity to spend time and give kindness.

It is the aim of Barangay Cherry Mobile to help those who are least served, and at times it would mean going out of the comfort zone to reach those who need just a bit of comfort to survive. These Cherry volunteers took time off work to do household chores they don’t usually do at home—washing clothes and drying them in the sun, folding dry clothes, and feeding children. But it does not matter much when one realizes that this little sacrifice makes life a little better for the sick and suffering.

For a common employee, a usual day in the office could not mean much, but when spent with sick kids who can smile, laugh and infect others with laughter, a usual day would turn into a memorable experience worth drawing insights from. And for these Cherry volunteers, it would not even require a whole day. Just half a day at the orphanage taught them a life lesson worth keeping.

Cherry volunteers pose for a shot with Sister Maria in front of their main office right after the outreach activity.

Written by: Keren Grace Tandico