The kindness of strangers

On May 5 at 1:15 a.m. Jimmer, 11, and Niel, 14, board a flight to London with their teammates from the Angeles Bahay Bata Foundation boys’ rugby team. It’s everyone’s first time to ride an airplane, and they behave impeccably. Whatever fears they might’ve had are quelled by the array of in-flight videogames — some of them are so engrossed they stay awake for the entire 17-hour trip. The food, however, leaves them unimpressed. “Sana po may kanin (I wish they’d served rice),” says Jimmer, whose constant smile hides a tendency to worry. “Masarap ho yung tinapay (The bread was good),” Niel adds politely. He’s been at Bahay Bata for almost a year, Jimmer for two years.

All seats taken for cheering, taunting, drinking and festivities.te 3. They were the first to arrive.

Bahay Bata is a center that gives room, board and an education to street children and abandoned kids. Jimmer lives with his parents and two siblings, but attends school at the center. Niel, who resides at the center, claims that he shouldn’t have been there in the first place. He says he was on his way to SM Clark one day when the police rounded up street children and he got caught. (Their chief caretaker, Mercy Lewis, explains that despite their histories the kids remain loyal to their parents and do not consider themselves abandoned.)

Niel is taking vocational certificate courses at TESDA. He has just completed the automotive mechanics course, and is starting on electronics. “Kukunin ko po yung lahat ng course sa TESDA para pag-alis ko sa Bahay Bata may makuha akong trabaho. (I plan to take all the courses so that when I leave the center I can get a job.)” Residents “graduate” from the center at age 17. According to Niel he sees his parents and his five siblings every Sunday, visiting day. “Tamang-tama po, kasi may pera ako pag Linggo (It’s good timing because I have money on Sundays),” he explains. He gets P20 on the days he goes to his classes at TESDA in San Fernando, Pampanga; he saves his lunch money to give his parents.

Clifton College headmaster John Milne, who used to head Brent School and British School in Manila, organized a fund-raising fund day for the kids. Clifton College alumni include Sir Michael Redgrave, John Cleese and various Middletons.

Niel, Jimmer and their teammates are in Bristol, England upon the invitation of Touraid, a UK charity that sponsors sports-based tours for disadvantaged kids, and Clifton College, a highly regarded independent school. John Milne, the headmaster of Clifton preparatory school, had lived in Manila for many years as head of Brent School and then the British School. At Brent, Milne had worked with Matthew Cullen, now a consultant to the Philippine Rugby Football Union (PRFU). The PRFU helps support Bahay Bata by donating the proceeds of its tournaments to the center and training the kids in rugby. Through this series of connections the kids, coach Cullen and Ms Lewis (who can tell you the long, Kafkaesque tale of how the kids acquired papers, passports, visas), ended up in Bristol for a series of rugby-related activities including two matches with the Clifton College boys’ team slated to tour Australia.

Upon arriving in Bristol, the boys are collected by host families — Clifton parents with kids of the same age. Such arrangements tend to be fraught: Is it a good idea to take kids from disadvantaged backgrounds and plonk them down amidst affluence, where they can see the things they do not have?

“We weighed the pros and cons and decided it would be a good opportunity for the kids to experience foreign cultures and lifestyles,” says Lewis. It’s certainly useful for the kids to see how hard their British counterparts have to work — Clifton has a rigorous academic and extracurricular workload, and the students we met are terrifyingly bright and accomplished.

Jimmer and Niel are billeted with the Frasers, who have a lovely 10-year-old named Rachel and a 14-year-old, James, 14, a top student at Clifton who accepted a scholarship to Winchester School last year. Mr. Fraser works abroad; Mrs. Fraser is a hematologist who put aside her career for the grueling task of raising two high achievers. Mrs. Fraser is Filipino, which meant the boys would not be missing their rice and adobo.

The Bahay Bata boys with their hosts, Mr. and Mrs. John Milne, and Philippine Ambassador to the UK Reynaldo Catapang and his wife (center), who welcomed the kids to England and invited them for tea at the Embassy on Wednesday.

Every morning Jimmer and Niel are up at 6 a.m. to get ready for the day’s activities — they’ve tidied up their room, dressed, and are sitting down to breakfast by 7. On the first day the Bahay Bata team trains at Clifton’s sports facility in Beggar Bush, where the courts and pitches are surrounded by a protected nature reserve. In the afternoon there is a trip to the zoo, then training with the Clifton College boys rugby team that is going to tour Australia. Jimmer is a little anxious about the match-up — “Ang lalaki ho nila (They’re bigger physically)” — but Niel thinks the Pinoy kids’ speed and agility will count for something.

The following day the Bahay Bata group visits the spa town of Bath, site of the ancient Roman baths. “Ang luma-luma na niyan ano?” says Jimmer. “Siguro mga 50 years old na yan. (It’s so old, it must be about 50.)” I explained that the baths were built thousands of years ago by the Romans, those guys in the movie Gladiator. “Nauna pa sila kay Jesus (They were around before Jesus),” Niel notes.

 A vital match between the Bath and Newcastle clubs will be played at 3 p.m.; before that there are team drills, then games and amusements on the field. “Do not leave your jerseys, kits or jackets behind!” Lewis reminds them. “If you don’t have the correct uniform you cannot play!” Someone from the Bath Rugby Club’s youth development program shows the kids some exercises, then treats them to some candy. They save the candy for their hosts’ children.

The Filipino kids attended chapel last Sunday in Clifton uniforms lent by their hosts.

Cullen challenges a Bath girls’ under-15 team to a game of touch rugby. The comparatively tiny BB kids win easily. “Come on, girls!” the British coach calls out, “They’re going to put on their under-fives team next.”

At halftime of the Bath-Newcastle game the BB kids join the local kids rugby teams in a parade around the pitch; at the end of it, the Bath kids present the guests with their rugby uniforms and the Bath Rugby Club gives a donation of 500 pounds to Bahay Bata. Throughout the match (Bath destroys Newcastle) British rugby fans go up to the kids to say hello and ask them how they’re enjoying the trip. “Ang babait po nila, ano (They’re very kind),” Jimmer observes. “Ate, nakapunta na ba kayo sa Amerika?” Niel asks me. “Maganda daw doon pero parang mas maganda dito.” (Have you been to America? They say it’s nice there but I think it’s nicer here.)

On Sunday a fund-raising Fun Day has been arranged on the Clifton College grounds; Mrs. Fraser has invited the Philippine Ambassador to the UK Reynaldo Catapang to meet the BB team. The boys will be playing in a touch rugby tournament with the seventh and eighth grade students. Jimmer cannot find his white jersey. “Baka nasa bag mo,” he tells Niel for the 20th time. “Hinanap mo na, wala talaga.” (You’ve already looked, it’s not there.) He might have left it at Beggar Bush. “Naku, masa-strike one ako,” Jimmer moans. Three violations of the coach’s rules and the boys get a penalty. “Hindi ka makakalaro,” Niel explains, “Kailangan mong um-attend ng klase.” (You won’t be allowed to play, you have to go to class.) Jimmer turns their room upside down, then starts all over again. “Mapapagalitan ako (I’m going to get a scolding),” he groans. All the way to the Fun Day. “Naiinis ako sa sarili ko.” (I’m annoyed at myself).

 At the college grounds Jimmer is approached by his teammate Jonnel. “Nasa akin ang jersey mo, nakalimutan mo (I have your jersey, you forgot it),” he tells Jimmer. “Makakalaro ako (I can play)!” Jimmer cries. That’s all the kids really want.