HELPER PREDICAMENT

HELPER PREDICAMENT

For senior citizens with some children scattered in far parts of the world, living without helpers is difficult. More difficult is finding the right helper for the right job.

Nowadays anybody who has acquired a little ability and have saved or borrowed a little money intends to work abroad. We have to choose our helpers from those left behind because they did not pass the requirements and are actually hesitant to work anywhere. We, who need or depend much on helpers, gamble every time we hire one.

Right now we have four helpers at the house and two farmers. One farmer got sick and needed rest, the other one who is illiterate, lived-in with a widow together with her six children. They decided to move to our farm but we rejected the idea for fear of bigger problems later. Our other helper is a high school graduate that we helped finish a driving course. He learned how to drive but is still confused about the Manila traffic maze after 15 years. In fairness, he is our all-around errand boy as well but sometimes abuses too. He is from Iloilo like the illiterate farmer.

My cook-janitor-gardener who finished the Primary grade from Bicol has to be moved temporarily to the farm together with another high school graduate also from Iloilo. We shall be left only with an 18 year old boy who only learned bits of informal lessons taught by volunteers to the orphanage where he came from.

He was an abandoned child that turned torture victim in the hands of his own illiterate uncle. He stowed away and later found a place at “Kanlungan Sa ERMA”, a shelter for the abandoned children. At his age he is now ready for release that is why he is under observation in our care as his temporary foster parents. Upon hearing his story our hearts were touched and we wished to help him.

After 5 months observation he showed some improvements but the call and influence of the street is still embedded in his system. My wife and I can tolerate all his shortcomings knowing that he has no parents or relatives to turn to while we are also prying and hoping that he will improve and later be our support as we age.

One night while strolling at the town plaza after dinner he was mauled by a group of boys after asking if he came from the orphanage. He said he didn’t know any of the maulers. It was possibly a case of mistaken identity. But he took a kitchen knife from the house and quickly returned to the plaza to get even with the maulers who already fled. We also heard that somebody who thought he was mocked by him wanted to do revenge. Street culture is very conducive to troubles and we cannot blame him for his instinct to fight back but we also cannot be blamed for being afraid of possible consequences of keeping him.

We sincerely want to help as we have dome many times before but we also want to be very cautious especially now when criminality is rampant anywhere. We are now in that predicament. To accept or release the abandoned who already found haven in our care.