Former Street Kid Shares Story (Tagalog Version)

Roberto Tablatin Jr., a former street kid, who now plays football and dreams of becoming a chef, shared the following story during the annual membership meeting of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries at the WackWack Golf and Country Club in March 2014.  To read this story in English, please click HERE.

Ako po si Roberto Tablatin Jr., 20 taong gulang.  Panganay po ako sa tatlong magkakapatid. Elementarya lang po ang aking natapos bago ako dumating sa Magdalena. Hindi na po ako nakapag-high school noon dahil hindi na po ako kayang pag-aralin ng magulang ko.

Nagtitinda ng balut ang nanay ko. Ang tatay ko naman po ay hindi masyadong makapagtrabaho dahil po marami po siyang nararamdaman at di matukoy ang kanyang sakit dahil po sa kakulangan namin ng pera. Naninisid po siya  ng tahong, halaan, o kaya naman po ay alimasag.

Hindi po sapat ang kinikita ng magulang ko para po sa pang araw-araw naming pangangailangan.

Simula po noon naging batang kalye na po ako. Naging  tindero rin po ako ng prutas at gulay sa palengke ng  Las Pinas tuwing umaga, at sa gabi, balut at mani naman po ang aking tinitinda. Isang beses po, inabot po ako ng bagyo at baha sa kalsada. Apat lang po na balut ang naibenta ko noon. Ala-sais na po ng umaga ng nakauwi ako pagkatapos ng bagyo. Kaya gusto ko pong magtinda ay para makatulong din po sa aking ina at para din po may pambili kami ng pagkain. Minsan po kasi sa maghapon, isang beses lang po kami kung kumain, minsan po wala.

Sa pagtitinda ko po ng prutas at gulay ay doon ko po nakilala si Lola Ruth. Lagi po siyang namimili sa amin tuwing Linggo. Kasama po niya si Kuya Angel Diel, isa sa pinaka-unang staff ng Kaibigan Ministry. Kapag napunta po sila sa amin, pinapakain po nila kami. Isang araw, tinanong po kami ni Lola Ruth kung gusto po naming mag-aral. Tanungin daw po namin ang mga magulang namin kung papayagan kami. Pumayag naman po ang mga magulang ko na mag-aral kami. Pero noong araw po na pupunta na po yung mga kasama ko sa Magdalena para mag-aral, hindi po muna ako sumama. Inisip ko po kasi na walang makakatulong ang nanay ko kapag sumama po ako, na  mas lalo po siyang mahihirapan. Kaya po nagpatuloy nalang po ako sa aking pagtitinda.

Kaya sinama po ako sa Magdalena noong April 3, 2012. Bale po mag dadalawang taon na po ako sa Magdalena.

Hindi po naging madali sa akin nung bago pa lang po ako dun sa Magdalena. Ang dami pong pinapagawa. Marami pong mga patakaran tapos kailangan mo pang gumising ng alas-kwatro ng umaga para mag devotion.  Mahirap po talaga para sa akin, pero nagbago po ang lahat sa tulong po ng Panginoon. Naunawaan ko po na ang lahat ng iyon ay para sa amin din po. Natuto na po akong  sumunod sa mga rules.

Doon ko po naunawaan at natutunan ang kahalagahan ng isang pamilya. Dahil mawala man po ang lahat, hinding-hindi po tayo iiwan ng ating pamilya. Noon ko din po natutunan ang mangarap. Salamat po sa Panginoon kasi po Siya ang nagturo sa akin kung paano mangarap. Gusto ko pong maging isang chef sa isang barko at mag-ikot din po sa iba’t ibang lugar.

Pangarap ko  rin po na maiahon ko ang aking pamilya sa kahirapan at makapag-aral po ang bunso naming kapatid. ( Ngayon ang nanay ko na lang po ang nagtitinda kasama po ng bunso kong kapatid na hindi na po nakakapag-aral  Wala na po kasi ang tatay ko. Pinatay po kasi siya noong  Enero 13, 2013. Napagbintangan sila ng tito ko na nagnanakaw ng manok at pareho silang pinagbabaril.)

Salamat po sa Panginoon dahil binigyan Niya po ako ng talento katulad po ng paglalaro ng football at pagtugtog ng gitara. Nakapaglaro na po ang football team ng Magdalena Campus na  CCT- Binhi sa Coca- cola Cup at Alaska Cup sa Alabang. Isa na rin po ako sa tumutugtog sa CCT Community Church sa Magdalena. Isa pa pong pagpapalang natanggap ko ay makakapunta po ako ng Malaysia sa June bilang kinatawan ng Boy’s Brigade sa Magdalena, Laguna. Salamat po sa Panginoon dahil ang isang batang kalye na tulad ko ay nagkaroon ng ganitong mga pagkakataon at karanasan.

Salamat po sa Panginoon dahil nakilala ko po Siya at patuloy Niya pong binabago ang buhay ko.

           

Sa Diyos po ang kapurihan!

Former Street Kid Shares Story

Roberto Tablatin Jr., a former street kid, who now plays football and dreams of becoming a chef, shared the following story during the annual membership meeting of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries at the WackWack Golf and Country Club in March 2014.  (To read Roberto's testimony in Tagalog, please click HERE.)

My name is Roberto Tablatin Jr. I am 20 years old and the eldest of three children. My parents could not afford to send me to high school, so when I started studying [at the Visions of Hope Boarding School] in Magdalena, Laguna  two years ago I had only finished grade school.

My mother is a balut* vendor.  My father dove for mussels, clams, or crabs. He couldn’t do much work, though.  He was frequently in pain but we lacked the money to find out what his illness was. They never earned enough for our daily needs.

So I became a street kid. I helped my mother by selling fruit and vegetables at the Las Pinas market during the day and balut and nuts at night so we would have food to eat. Once, when a typhoon flooded the whole place, I sold just four balut all night.  It was six in the morning before the rain and wind stopped and the floodwater subsided. 

Grandma Ruth [the founder and president of CCT] often bought from me on Sundays. She and Brother Angel Diel, one of the pioneer staff of the Kaibigan Ministry, would bring us food every time they came. 

One day Grandma Ruth asked me [and other street children with me] if we would like to go back to school. She suggested that we ask our parents if they would allow us to go to Magdalena.  My parents agreed to let me and my brother, Rolly, go, but on the day we were supposed to leave I decided to stay with my mother knowing she would find it even more difficult without me. I went on helping her with the selling.

About a year later my mother suggested, “Why don’t you join your brother in Laguna?”  She was worried that I might fall into vice or  become wayward if I stayed at home. 

I started studying in Magdalena on April 3, 2012. Adjusting to life in Magdalena wasn’t easy. There was so much to do and many rules to obey. Rising time was four in the morning for devotions. It was difficult, but everything changed with the Lord’s help. I came to understand that everything was for my own good. I learned to follow the rules .

I grew to understand and learn the importance of a family. You may lose everything but your family will never leave you.  I thank the Lord that He taught me to dream. I want to be a chef on a ship and travel to a lot of places someday.

I also hope to lift my family out of poverty and help send my youngest brother to school. (My brother has had to drop out of school. My father was killed in January 13, 2013. Someone accused him and my uncle of stealing a chicken and shot them both.)

I thank the Lord for giving me talents for football and guitar playing. The  CCT Magdalena Campus Team has played in the Coca-Cola Cup and in the Alaska [Milk Corporation] Football Cup. I play the guitar at the CCT Community Church in Magdalena. Another blessing is the chance to go to Malaysia in June representing the Magdalena Boy's Brigade.  I thank the Lord that a street kid like me has this opportunity.

Thank God that I met Him and He continues to transform my life.  To Him be the glory!

*Balut is a Filipino delicacy and street food.  It is a boiled duck egg with a small embryo inside.