Simply, "Scouting"

Ano ang mayroon sa buhay ng isang iskawt?

"A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens. " -- Lord Robert Baden-Powell

IT’S FIVE O’clock when we had finished our last scouting activity that afternoon. All of us were worn out since we had been challenged by an extreme obstacle course.

Wounds, bruises, and mud kissing my skin -- Those were just the product of the activities we had that day. And yet, we have no more time to take a good bath!

After the activity, we headed immediately to the stream. I was washing my clothes and scrubbing my body to take away all the mud when one thing came into my mind that time... I forgot my soap and shampoo! And I have no enough time to go back to our campsite. Ang malas naman!

After that bad bath (seriously), we straightly went to our campsite and ate our dinner prepared by our outfit advisor.

“Weet!” That’s the sound of the irrating whistle again. We are obligatory to join the assembly at the covered court and must wear our Type C Uniform.

I went out of our tent when, grrr, that mud! My shiny black shoes got dominated by that disgusting mud again. I straight ahead the court for I have no time to clean it.

The scoutmasters started to speak their own experiences about scouting. Discussed there, discussed anywhere, discussed about that, discussed about this, and wrote some lectures here and there.

Next was our campfire and I’m so sleepy. I placed my notebook into my face covering my face like I’m thinking of something and started to close my eyes little by little. But wait! I remembered that we are going to have our pre-board of Review after the campfire. So I grabbed my paper and memorized the Scout Oath and Law.

source: scout.org

The pre-board of review started around 10 in the evening. We had waited until our names were called. It was ONE o’clock in the midnight when our names had been called. There are two panels in the review. The panels interviewed me about myself. Ah! I’m sleepy and I don’t know what to say. “A…e.. “ the words I have said that time. The only thing I want to do is to sleep! Yawn! They asked about my life, my ambition and everything.

After the long hours of waiting, I will be able to sleep now. They've just interviewed me for five minutes. Exhausted and stressed, but after the consecutive misfortunes, there is always the positive one, and that’s the excitement.

Inevitable or ‘solutionable’

Republic Act No. 7658, as affirmed, is “An act prohibiting the employment of children below 15 years of age in public and private undertakings…”

Whatever that law utters, child labor is still an immense dilemma of our country nowadays and yet, is still growing. After a survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO), DOLE secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that, “As of October 2011, there are 5.49 million working children aged five to 17 years. More than 55.1 percent or 3.02 million were counted as child labor while 2.99 million are exposed to hazardous form of child labor.”

With this wow-number of children in labors and the fact that 33% of the population is composed by children ages 5 to 17 years old that marks Philippines as a young nation, it just the same thing despite of the implementations of many anti-child labor programs that started since 1995 under the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos.  

     The issue here is: why do children need to work in their very young age?

A little girl working in a mining area with her shovel
image source: www.newspaper.li/child-labor

Child labors could also be found in some illegal mining areas and banana plantations which are notorious in Davao and its neighboring provinces.     The common child labor in the provinces can be found in the sugarcane plantations. Most parents cannot have their children finish their schooling because of poverty so they are forced to give up the education of their children and have their children worked in plantations. In a 2010, DSWD Bukidnon shows that 22% of children aged 6 to 16 have stopped schooling.

Above are just few child labors present in the country. If you are asking if there are girls who are present in this kind of illegal action, the answer is yes! And the worst is, prostitution is the common among the child labors among girls. Girls involved in prostitution are susceptible to rape, murder, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.  

With the increasing number of prostitution among children, it can be considered as inevitable in spite of the passing of R.A. 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, a penal law against human trafficking, sex tourism, slavery and child prostitution.

But still, the labor chief expressed confidence that the government would still be able to meet its target to reduce the number of child laborers in the country, as stated in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Who and what affects it?

As avowed in the Presidential Decree no. 603 or The Child and Youth Welfare Code, the child is one of the most important assets of the nation. Every effort should be exerted to promote his welfare and enhance his opportunities for a useful and happy life.

There are 2.5 children out of 22.4 children are unaware with this kind of indulgence, claimed by the Department of Labor and Employment, DOLE.

A sampaguita vendor along the
streets waiting for a buyer.
image source: google image

These are some several factors:     

First is COMMUNITY. Everything a child does correspond to the kind of surrounding he/she lives in. The lifestyle of their playmates, neighbors and the people who are connected to him affects the ethics of a child. Children learn not the way he was taught but the way his environment acts. Every child deserves to live in a good shelter.

Second is EDUCATION. A child without a good education marks the weakness of his intellectual growth. Children need to learn…Learning in the way he/she enjoys every lessons that he listens.  Education teaches a child with the values of life.

Third and the most important is FAMILY. Are you familiar with this quotation, “Sa mata ng isang bata, ang isang pagkakamali ay nagiging tama kung ito ay ginagawa ng mas matanda”? Parents must act as a model for they will guide their children to the path they will take.

Child labor can be only prevented if and only if all of us are aware with this kind of misunderstanding. Take ourselves into the reality which we may see the real situation of children beyond on the things we only see.

     “The only reason why child abuse is alive today is because we as adults fail our children when we fail to listen to them.” -- Heather McClane