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Philippines: Child Friendly Space has Geoffrey singing rap once again
2 Oct 2009
By Karen Rivera
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Children play a game called "The Boat is Sinking" in a World Vision Child Friendly Space in the Philippines.
Photo by Juan Miguel Lago.
©2009 World Vision International |
Geoffrey’s voice can hardly be heard above the din of voices at the grounds of an evacuation center in Marikina. Dressed in a pair of shorts and red shirt, the nine-year-old rapper’s head bobs up and down as he works on the rhythm of famous rap song.
But halfway through the song, he fumbles at the lyrics and stops in midair. Amid the cheering and clapping of the group, he returns to his seat with a silly smile.
“I haven’t learned the other half of the song yet,” he confides shyly.
Geoffrey says that he was learning the song from his brother’s CD before typhoon Ketsana swept their house clean of everything they owned. When murky water engulfed their two storey house in a slum area in Marikina last Saturday, his brother’s CD disappeared.
Geoffrey knows that right now, the odds of getting the CD replaced is nil, considering his family’s long list of priorities in the aftermath of the storm.
Yet it looks like Geoffrey is going to learn the rest of the song after all.
At the opening of World Vision’s first Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) in an evacuation centre where he temporarily stays, Geoffrey meets up with boys his age who are also huge fans of rap music and knows the song well. With a little coaching from his new friends, Geoffrey sings through the parts he hadn’t previously known.
Before the CFS was set up, Geoffrey says there was nothing to do for the children. They would spend the day idling away or chasing each other on the evacuation ground, adding to the general confusion at the evacuation center.
A safe haven after the storm
World Vision established the CFS in Marikina to provide children like Geoffrey, a safe place to play, interact with other children and be listened to.
In the coming days, more than 500 children, ages 5-12, from this evacuation centre will be engaged in activities carefully designed to provide them psycho-social support to help them heal and recover from their traumatic experiences of the flood.
Using creative ways like storytelling, dance, drawing and singing, Geoffrey and his friends will be given the space to express their thoughts and feelings related to the disaster and learn about its impacts. These activities hopes to bring back to the children their appreciation for nature and dispel their fears on their destructive force.
They will also be taught to recognise people and structures in their community that care and support them.
World Vision is setting up three more Child Friendly Spaces in areas badly hit by typhoon Ketsan. Eacn CFS will run until the children return to their homes.
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