More than the paper boats

About 11 years ago in the slums of Payatas amid stacks upon piles of junk, Erwin Dolera drafted the foundations of a simple but quite unreachable dream-to finish college and ultimately become a broadcast journalist.

So in 2001, he and two other friends, Jayson and Jomer (collectively called the “bangkang papel” boys), wrote their wishes on paper boats and set them sail on the Pasig River towards Malacañang Palace. The real score is the paper boats never actually reached the Palace, Erwin said in a report, but the activity organized by urban poor group, Kadamay, caught the attention of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The boys' predicament in attaining education touched the heart of the newly-installed chief executive that she invited them to the Palace, gave them scholarships and later on presented them to the whole nation in her first ever SONA.The same report went to say year after year without fail, the President would call the children to Malacañang to touch base before presenting them to the media.

True enough, the boats these boys built have propelled them to quite far-flung places now, taking them inches closer to the realization of their dreams. Last March 28, 20-year-old Erwin graduated with a degree in Communication Arts at the Holy Trinity College in Quezon City, citing further his interest in becoming a field reporter in one of the country's leading TV networks.

Reports, however, surfaced that fellow “bangkang papel” boy Jayson eventually declined his scholarship and dropped out of school because according to Erwin, the former's family is better-off than other families in Payatas since they own a carwash and several jeepneys. Nonetheless, their third colleague, Jomer, is in his junior year in Information Technology at the AMA Computer University.

With hundreds of thousands of out-of-school youth who are underprivileged to access education for innumerable reasons caused by poverty and all, Erwin and company could be said lucky enough to get what they wished for no matter how strange their ploy was. If not for the paper boats and for Pasig River that flows along the very yards of Malacañang, nobody knows precisely where else fate could have led them all this time.

But transcending more than the fact that their wishes were granted, the whole tale of the “bankang papel” boys teaches our youth an enduring value of continuously fighting for their dreams, the lessons of not giving up on financial deficiency and making it as an ever easy relief of failing to get college diplomas. Especially in the light of the K+12 system underway next school year, we can only expect more and more of our youth and their parents carry additional burden in their backs, an extra reason for them to tighten their already stretched outbelts.

Still, there is something to believe in the power of the Filipino youth. Their minds are always on the lookout for new challenges, their hearts hungry for dream building. And just like Erwin has revealed, the ways they conquer challenges and carry dreams to reality can be even more surprising. Then it wouldn't shock us anymore to hear children trying what, paper planes next time?

But of course, indeed, more than the boats and all the dreaming, it all boils down to a heart that's willing to listen and understand. For no matter how many boats, children, and wishes they intend to float on how many rivers there are in this country, without a government that's keen to hear their battles, their dreams will remain like one of those paper boats gliding through water. The boat loses track before water completely engulfs it into sinking.

Good for the “bangkang papel” trio, though their boats submerged, they still got what they yearned for. But what about those who yet intend to sail theirs? Will they ever catch the same favor from this government? Fingers crossed.