A total of 26 children are living in the residential homes of Batang Pinangga. Very recently five new children were added.

The children of the flower vendors Jason, five years old, said his name is Eton. He could not pronounce the difficult letters. The letter S is nothing to him but a T. He sounds funny and sweet so that all the other children in the shelter copied his style. Neglected and malnourished, little Jason has been missing his meals and his alphabet altogether.

Jason, together with his older sisters Vanessa, 10, and Manis Mae, 9 came to live in Batang Pinangga since June this year.

The family lived in the mountain village where it is cold and flowers grow in bloom. The parents have not much except for eleven children. They are poor, and could not afford to send their children to school. The older girls married young and still lived a poor life; the boys left home and tried their luck in the city, only ending up as “barker” boys, those who help people park their cars and get loose change in return. They sleep on the walkways at night.

The parents’ main source of income is selling flowers in the city, particularly near the church. The city is far so the parents stayed there, sleeping in a shanty and goes home in a week’s time. The older child, Vanessa, took care of her sister and little brother. However, food was never enough; sometimes they asked for food from neighbors when their parents were not back yet. But soon the time came that the children decided to go after their parents. They walked their way, around 12 miles, and found their parents. Since then they ended up living on the streets; while their parents sell flowers, the children begged for money and food from churchgoers.

Now living in Batang Pinangga, the older sister Vanessa keeps her little brother close by, goes quickly to him when he cries or in defense. Manis Mae always shares her food to her older sister; she makes sure her sister has what she is having. Now the two sisters are in school and have time to play. Jason is still Eton. The letter S is hard to find but his soft laughter isn’t.

Orphaned children of mixed race How lucky it could be to have a child from a different race. But luck was not on the side for Precious Angel, 8 years old, and Cicero, 6 years old. Angel has a Japanese father, while Cicero, a Brazilian. Their mother worked in Japan where she met her boyfriends. She and her Brazilian partner agreed to marry; Cicero was named after his father. Unfortunately in 2007, the children’s mother got sick and sadly died. The children were orphaned; Angel was then five, Cicero was barely two years old. Nothing was heard from the children’s fathers since then.

The children were raised by their grandmother Lily who is poor and also raising her own four children without a husband to depend to. They are living in the slums. Grandmother Lily recalled that she asked for leftover rice from their neighbor’s small eatery and she would boil them again in plenty of water to make porridge for the children. The grandmother sent the children to a mobile school, but soon they missed classes because she would not let them go with an empty stomach. Sooner she noticed that her grandchildren were skinny, looking pale and fragile. They needed help.

So in July this year, Precious Angel and Cicero came to live in Batang Pinangga. The two missed their grandmother whom they called Mama. One day Mama Lily visited them, and she noticed the glow of the children’s faces and how she missed also her grandchildren. Six-year old Cicero told her he wanted to go back with her, while Angel was just happily showing off her Mama to the other children. After lunch, it is time for a siesta, and Cicero left the side of grandmother to go with the other children to sleep. He said he would go home to her. This time, not yet.