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It’s graduation time in the Philippines, the most important day in
the life for any aspiring student and especially for the children at
the Preda home for girls and boys rescued from broken homes, abusive
situations, brothels and jails. They all have a new life.
This March, two girls, Eileen and Maryann, and
two boys proudly graduated from high school. No easy feat for those
coming from impoverished backgrounds. The girls swept up all the
honors and awards for excellence and leadership. Every hardship can
be overcome, light can shine from darkness and in Easter we need to
see that in real life more and more. No matter how hard, dark and
hopeless life may seem, there are good loving people out there
willing to help and give support to anyone in need.
Maryann’s father, an Australian, who migrated
from Finland, married a Filipino woman and then had two children, a
boy and a girl. But the marriage did not work out. They had a
comfortable home but her father died under mysterious circumstances
and her mother went with another man, reputedly a drug-dependent.
All the property was sold off and spent on drugs.
The children were abandoned, dropped out of
school and Raymond became a street boy. Maryann, then 15 years of
age, was offered a job in Angeles City in a sex bar supposedly to
wait at a table, unaware of the danger she took. She was told she
had debts to pay, was threatened, forbidden to leave and was forced
to give sexual favors to the foreign customers, many from Australia,
the UK, Ireland and America. The sex bars operate with the permits
of the mayors.
Maryann was rescued and brought to the Preda
children’s home for exploited girls. She made a great recovery in
the caring family atmosphere filled with affirmation, support and
encouragement. Today she is one of the outspoken youth leaders of
the Preda Youth organization, Akbay. She is a strong minded and
determined young advocate for children’s and women’s rights.
Maryann is also a talented actress and has traveled for the past
three years to Europe in the star role in the Preda-Akbay play
“Once We Had a Dream.”
Having recovered from a life of neglect,
hardship, poverty and exploitation she studied hard, discovered her
talents and intelligence and is now an empowered young girl we all
admire so much. “I want to work to help the other children that
are abused and enslaved,” she recently told a journalist. “I
don’t what them to suffer like I did, I want parents to be
responsible and have more love in their families.”
The graduation this week is the high point of
her recovery, a valedictorian, academic excellence awardee and a
bunch of medals. She is headed for college and like many other
successful young girls she might choose to become a professional
staff at Preda Children’s Home helping many others who suffered
like her, to inspire and lead the children to recovery and victory
over hardship.
Another victory this week is the story of Joyce.
She is 12 years old. She was raped by her uncle and became pregnant
and was in danger of being abducted before the baby could be born so
that the family of the abuser could have a forced abortion to get
rid of the evidence of rape that could carry a life sentence. Her
fearful parents sent a text message to the social workers of the
Preda rescue team. They hurried to the remote village and brought
her to the protection of the Preda Home for Children.
Within a few months she gave birth to a
beautiful baby boy named Prince, after Jesus, Prince of Peace.
Prince was diagnosed with G6PD, a blood disease. We are getting all
possible medical treatment for him. The Easter joy was the baptism
of Prince in the San Lorenzo Church by Father Roque Villanueva, a
member of the Preda board of trustees. It was a beautiful, happy and
joyful occasion. Dozens of Preda staff participated with Prince and
Joyce and so too with ten boys from the Preda boys home.
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