A Dialogue at 5-A

I was in a hurry finishing the certificates for tonight’s event. It was already 7:00 in the evening and the show will start at 7:30. The blank ink on the printer was empty and I couldn’t finish printing the certificates because the designs were all in black color. So I called Veejay and never got an answer. Unfortunately, the printer mixed the three remaining ink colors to create the black, but the printing was too slow. I tried calling Veejay for the second time, he answered and said that I’ll just have to deal with what is available because they are about to start the program. The venue for the program is at Brgy. 5-A Gymnasium in Bankerohan (where Davao’s Public Market is situated), all of the volunteers were there and I was left in the office with June, who was busy framing the certificates. We finished the certificates and head to the venue in no time.

On August 14, 2004, the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) of Barangay 5-A with Davao Teen Center, conducted a Parent-Child Dialogue at the Brgy. 5-A Gymansium. The aim of the event is to have a venue where parents and their children discussed adolescent issues that are sometimes a taboo in their own homes. Some of these issues include pre-marital sex, teen-age pregnancies, and drug addiction. A number of parents and their children attended the event. There were even younger kids who attended but were more occupied playing with there colleagues.

The program started with a doxology, an interpretative presentation by my fellow volunteers to the song Bathala of Joey Ayala’s Band, and then followed by the national anthem heartily sung by Liezel.

The show proper began with some dance and song numbers by some of the volunteers and some special guests (?). The first part of the dialogue was the youngsters’ points-of-view on the issues. I got the chance to ask them and with me was Jupanie. Most of them are SK officials from the neighboring barangays of 5-A. I got the chance to ask one of the ladies (there were 2 guys and 2 girls) about her opinion on teenagers getting married to the guy who accidentally impregnated her so they might not be labeled as immoral even though she doesn’t love the guy. She simply answered me that if it would be her case she would gladly tell her parents the possible problems and difficulties she might encounter if she gets to marry the guy. She will openly tell her parents what she thinks about the situation because, as what she said, it is about her future not theirs. There were a lot of questions I would love to ask them but our director was already telling us to cut our questioning short because there are still a lot of things to do that night. We wrapped up the portion and the singers replaced us on the stage.

I never got the chance to listen attentively when the parents’ dialogue came because I could not get the words they were saying. There were problems with the sound system. I was thinking then that some of them might not be able to hear us out clearly lately when we were on stage because of the audio problem.

There was a part of the program where the audiences get to play a “Pera o Bayong”-kind of game. The kids outnumbered everyone on the stage. And fortunately a boy won the contest which kept me guessing how he was able to answer those questions.

After the game and some dances, we arrived to the culmination of the program. We lighted candles and together we sang the theme song of every young people, “Next in Line” by After Image. The volunteers and the staff gathered on the stage as we sang the song and ended the night with confetti and balloons.

It was a tough event, it ended around 11 and we only had bread on our stomach. So we headed to Sir Chris’ house for a late-night dinner. Everyone talked about how well the event was and celebrated until our stomach got filled and felt the need to sleep and rest. We headed back to the center, where some of us stayed to let the night pass.

Another mission was accomplished, another mind was being educated, and another life was being connected. I’m out!