PUNTA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Senior High School Department

Community Outreach Program
Bahay ni Maria
Sampiruhan, Calamba City, Laguna
A Heart Bigger Than A Home
A Reflection
(JMF)
What defines life? Education, money, fame, personality, social stature? Or life is defined in
relation with the relationships or connections we make to other people?

I could never imagine myself living in a home for the aged but if ever I will end up being there- I think, I
would be able to accept it but I don’t think I would ever be happy and peaceful being there.

These are some of my personal realizations upon returning to my classroom after joining the
outreach program of the Grade 11 students in line with their Personal Development subject earlier
today, September 23, 2016 at Bahay ni Maria in Sampiruhan, a shelter for the aged, abandoned, and
even abused women in Calamba City and nearby provinces like Cavite and Rizal.

Indeed, students need to be immersed into real life experiences and situations in order for them to
frame accurate judgment and realistic perspective regarding life. They need to be exposed to social
realities that will help them realize the good things they have in their lives as compared to others.
Exposures that will help them frame good thoughts, caring hearts, and loving spirits and hopefully this
exposure will give birth to better hopes and emphatic dreams within themselves.

Having talked to most of the 25 abandoned women in this shelter was an experience that I think will
help educators like me and our students to develop functional awareness about some existing social
issues that are not commonly given attention to. Social issues that they need to understand through
personal observations. Like the issue on how the elderly are treated in our society at present. Some
Filipino families no longer have close family ties. Some even neglect members of their families especially
if that member is already old and they felt that he/she is more of a liability to the family rather than an
asset. I do not discredit the fact that life is really tough and most Filipino families are struggling in order
for them to meet their daily needs but is this enough reason for some not to take the responsibility of
taking care of their old family member? Of those who are physically ill and mentally unsound? What has
happened to our clos family ties? What has happened to our family values?

Selfishness and poverty equate this social problem. I would never completely understand the feelings
and the the condition of the women we have visited today. But laughing, sharing stories, holding hands,
touching them in flesh and bones, spending time with the grannies along with the other mentally
disturbed women in the shelter gives me the sense of hope that after today our learners will have better
appreciation of their lives and of their relationships with other people, especially their relationships with
their own families.

Bidding goodbye was one of the sad parts of the visit. We were requested not to cry in order for these
women not to be stressed and get depressed. Some lola’s cried, some were asking for us to return,
some were asking few not to go yet, one lola was even asking one of our students to stay.

This scenario tore my heart because I have seen their hunger for attention and care. I just wish that
someone will give them the provision that they need for them not to feel lonely and deprived. I just wish
that someone or something will suffice their need for love. I pray that in their few more years on earth
they would get real attention, care and affection from their families.

Altruism is an ideal word but this is something that people must have in order for us live better. It is true
that we have to take care of our own lives first but we should always leave an open space for other
people inside our hearts. As teachers, we could not just tell our students to become good citizens, at
times we have to show them how to become one.
 SHS teachers
posing with the
grannies.

Lola Emeng thanking me for the

accessory I gave her..

SHS Family with our family extension at the shelter…