It takes a village

by Yas Jayson Friday, December 14, 2018 1 palagay home sweet home

Yesterday, we welcomed our very first clients to our new pioneering program, the Assessment Center, for children who were survivors of OSEC (online sexual exploitation of children). Two girls, not more than twelve years old were brought to us after their inquest in NBI headquarters. I imagine them answering adult questions that could have significant negative contribution to their trauma. I was told that when the rescuers brought them to NBI, they had to wear something like cloth sacks on their heads.

Today I made sure to meet them. It has always been my routine whenever I get to any of our shelters scattered all around the country to meet our girls and get acquainted even if it is not actually part of my role in the organization. I greeted our first two girls in the Assessment Center just before their lunch. I introduced myself and made some funny remarks to make them feel welcome. For years these girls endured exploitation which they did not know about. To them, showing up on the webcam and posing daring positions meant nothing but a child’s play.

The argument of the perpetrators represents a moral dilemma and a very gray area of excuse: children are not physically abused; they are neither touched nor subjected to any actual physical sexual interaction. In front of a webcam or a cheap mobile phone, in that hyper reality technology provides, the proclivity of the human heart brought about new ways of exploitation while safeguarding both the enterprise and those who solicit it.

I looked at our two new girls and I caught their smiles. Somehow, the thought of knowing that they are now free from their uncle who tells them to pose on the camera gives me comfort. "What then are these children going to be?" Our work begins.

We are starting this new program without virtual financial support. It is a significant part of my job to make sure that our shelters and our programs are fiscally supported. I approached several donors already but we didn’t get lucky yet and the year is ending. With so many problems in development we face today and so little donor base, it is really challenging for me to do my work. A little part of me thinks that I have failed them.

But I am consoled by the fact that this is God’s business, not mine.

He will provide.



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I was waiting at a traffic light to cross the road with Haruki, a Japanese friend. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in a small town on the Tokyo outskirts and there was not a vehicle or soul in sight so I turned to Haruki and said, “Hey I know it's a red, man but should we just cross?” Haruki looked at me and shook his head. “No. We wait for the green, man.”

I was a bit perplexed it did not seem to me that it would make any difference whether we waited or not.

“There aren't any cars, why do we need to wait?”

Haruki smiled then asked me a question in return,

“What if a child is watching?”


Now I know what they mean when they say it takes a village to raise a child.
(Sze Yao Tan, 2004)