A new feature of the Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) at Pawing, Palo, Leyte is an open area playground where kids can have more freedom to move around and release their hidden emotions.
Nida Jusay, the Center Head, says it is part of the institution’s mission which is to enable the children to overcome their trauma brought by the experiences they have gone through, be it by sexual abuse, maltreatment, or other forms of violence or exploitation and neglect/abandonment as well.
She further tells that as an aftermath of supertyphoon Yolanda, generous groups from afar have offered help to restore the 35 –bed capacity child –caring facility that was, then, badly in need of repair and improvement.
One of these donors is the BISIW, short for “Because I Said I Would,” a non – profit corporation based in Lakewood, Ohio. The BISIW made possible the landscaping and painting of the play area and the provision and installation of play equipment.
“These equipment are useful and therapeutic,” states Jusay of the Monkey Bar, Bridge House, three Swing Sets, Hanging Bridge, Slide, Sand Box, and Picnic Table. The play area, that occupies the 3,462 square – meter- lot, opened in June, this year.
Adds Jusay, the good thing about it is that other children from two other centers within the DSWD Institution Complex can also use the facilities. Also within the compound are the Home for Girls – the DSWD’s temporary refuge for abused and exploited girls, aged seven to 17 years old, and the Regional Haven – another of the agency’s institution that caters to women in especially difficult circumstances, ranging from 18 to 59 years of age.
As of to date, there are 26 children that remain at the RSCC, waiting for kind souls to take them as their own. #DSWDMayMalasakit
