Part 1: A Road to Anawim

It was a nice and sunny day for the group. A day before the event, I was thinking a lot of things. I couldn’t explain the excitement. Our group had decided to visit the Anawim Lay Foundations, Inc. Anawim Lay Foundations, Inc is a non-profit organization which its mission is to support the elderly “lolos and lolas” who were abandoned, who has no relatives or families who could take care of them. It is an organization who provides care and happiness to all elderly. The Chairman and Founder of Anawim Lay Foundations, Inc is Mr. Bo Sanchez. It now exists for 18 years.   

We had a long ride going to Montalban. It took us 2 hours to get there riding a jeepney from Sta. Lucia Mall Pasig to Montalban, Rizal. Then we had to take another ride which is a tricycle and it took us 20 minutes to finally get to our destination.

Tita Mila, one of the social workers of Anawim welcomed us with a warmth smile. She oriented us on the organization’s background. After our interview with Tita Mila, we went to activity center where they held their mass and other activities. On the same schedule, a group of friends were also there to conduct and activity. There was one lola who noticed us arriving and she immediately approach and greeted us one by one. She was so accommodating and even offered us a chair. Her name is Lola Judith. Lola Judith greeted me a “Maligayang Pasko!” and so I greeted back and hugged me.  After few minutes another lola came near to me and ask me to sit down beside her, she is lola Violeta. She showed to me the stuffs she received from the visitors who went there earlier. She’s wearing a scarf, bracelet and she has a bag with her which she showed to me an empty wallet. After few hours, we had to packed up and say goodbye to the lolas and lolos. We decided to come back to spend another few hours for activities with the lolas and lolos.

As we leave the foundation, we have already planned to bring something for the elderly when we come back. It was a long day, not on the hours spent in the foundation but on the hours spent for the travel. But I guess that day was a day well spent.