MANILA, Philippines — The 11-year-old girl whose parents were killed in the war on drugs finally had her wish for Barbie shoes granted.
The smiles of Mary Ann (not her real name) lit up the otherwise rainy Saturday afternoon in Navotas when she met her sponsor, a 31-year-old single mother who works as a marketing manager in Makati.
“It’s exactly what I wanted!” the girl exclaimed in Filipino as she opened the box, while her aunt Rose (not her real name) took a video of her and helped her put on the shoes.
Kim, who asked not to be identified, saw The STAR story about Mary Ann and reached out to the family to help. Mary Ann had to set aside her P890 she earned from dance caroling this Christmas to buy her slain mother a white lace dress.
Using a P1,000 gift certificate she received as a corporate giveaway, Kim bought a pair of pink Barbie boots at a mall in Quezon city. What Mary Ann had wanted was a pair she saw in Divisoria. But what she got as gift was much more special.
“I chose that because of its message for you,” Kim told the girl. The pink Barbie boots shone with the words “Never lose your sparkle” on its side.
Mary Ann was orphaned after her parents were killed a year apart on suspicions of being involved in illegal drugs.
This was exactly what she had feared would happen, when President Duterte launched his bloody war on drugs, Kim told The STAR.
“That was why I didn’t want President Duterte to win. Because I knew this was going to happen. That there will be orphans,” Kim said.
Mary Ann’s father was found dead with strangulation marks in Navotas on May 12, 2017. Her mother was found with a gunshot wound in the head on Dec. 16.
Kim reached out to this STAR reporter when she saw the story on Dec. 19.
It also happened to be Kim’s birthday when Mary Ann’s mother was found dead along a dark alley in Navotas on Dec. 17. Mary Ann’s story struck a chord in her heart, said Kim, who is a single mother of a four-year-old girl.
“I thought… what if that happens to my own child?” said Kim, who grew up accompanying her father teach out-of-school children at Smokey Mountain. That instilled in her the sense of volunteerism, of trying to help when she can, she said.
Mary Ann no longer has nightmares but is afraid of being left alone in the house since the death of her mother, with whom she used to dance, Rose said of her niece.
Mary Ann still has her aunt, grandmother and great grandmother to watch over her, Rose said.
The girl now has two pairs of Barbie shoes to add to her collection, after another wellwisher gave her a pair of white rubber shoes.
With her new shoes, Mary Ann said she could finally dance again.