Deborah Muena

In Acts 20:35, St. Paul says, “In everything I did, I showed you that with this kind of hard work, we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Two months before the September 2007 Bar Exam, my mind was juggling on whether to work in Manila or here in Baguio after taking the exam. Then in one of my visits with Sister Patricia Spillane, she asked me, “What are your plans after taking the exam?” I blurted out, “I will volunteer in SOSCFI.” And so, as of November 2007, I began my volunteer work with SOSCFI – the Save Our Street Children Foundation, Inc.

Save Our Street Children Foundation, Inc. (SOSCFI) is a non-government organization which collaborates with the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSCs). It gives educational assistance and scholarship grants to 130 deserving and destitute children of Baguio City and Benguet Province. It also gives social, medical, financial, and legal assistance to its clients and their families. Through its livelihood programs, it seeks to help families become self-sufficient for the growth and development of their children. Likewise, SOSCFI is an active member of different social program networks in the city, province of Benguet and in the Philippines, serving as a partner organization, either as consultant and/or advisory agency.

As a paralegal of the foundation, Deborah attends meetings, gives legal assistance, manages cases and shares her knowledge with the Juvenile Justice Network, Anti-Child Abuse Network and Anti-human Trafficking Network, to name a few.

As a paralegal of the foundation, I attend meetings, give legal assistance, manage cases and share my knowledge in the Juvenile Justice Network, Anti-Child Abuse Network and Anti-human Trafficking Network, to name a few. Moreover, I extend legal advice to clients and their families. Sometimes I assist them in court. Then and there, I am exposed to the different life stories of children who are in jail (as young as 15 years old); those who are neglected, abused and abandoned children. I try to help spouses and their children who were abandoned by their spouse and/or either parents; teenage mothers; depressed people; and families of salvaged children-victims.

As I spent every minute of my time observing, listening and serving them, my perspective in my life widens. I continue counting my blessings. I aim for higher goals and create plans one after another basing from what I am experiencing.

As part of this social action, I appreciate and value more the people of different status in life, those who belong to the different government agencies, my co-workers, other NGO’s, and benefactors (domestic and overseas). I see how those who work together contribute their resources--time, effort, money, skill and talent-- to alleviate the sufferings of the underprivileged. Despite this cruel and complex world, each one is making a difference in the lives of children and their families, imprinting a significant mark in history that is replicable.

I am proud to be with this team. Since I am with them in sharing the burden of the less fortunate, my life journey has become enriching and wonderful. Some think and say, “You’re just wasting your time. They are not your blood relative! Forget about them.” However for me, this is service. This is the highest purpose of living. Service is synonymous to giving. Let me quote an inscription in a tombstone found in one of the graveyards in Westminster Abbey, England: “What I gave, I have. What I spent, I had. What I kept, I lost.”

God, our loving father, has provided us gifts within and around us. As his children,

Deborah spends her time volunteering with the Missionary Sisters and at SOSCFI.  Here she is pictured with a Filipino woman and her baby (l.), along with Missionary Sisters Romualda Molon, MSC and Isalia Carvalho, MSC.

He gives us the privilege and the gift of wisdom to use. It all depend on us.

Finally, I want to end my sharing with this simple but touching anecdote from Fr. Anthony De Mello:

I saw a small girl on the street, cold and shivering in a thin dress and very evidently hungry. I became angry with God and said, ‘Why did you permit this? Why don’t you do something about it?’

That night I heard a small voice inside me, and said, ‘I did do something about it--I made YOU. What have you done about it?”

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