By Venice Narisma
“Sir Vinz, this is Polangui, Albay, the place where I was born and where I felt the love of my relatives. But this is also the place where I experienced my worst nightmares.
A lot has changed…”
Melvin, who spent 31 years living on the streets, went on to describe how what used to be a grassy expanse was now a national highway.
Dense forests and mountains were now rolling plains.
“I left this place 35 years ago; I changed a lot about myself. I have gradually fixed my bad habits (“kulturang kalye”, the negative aspects of living life on the streets). I hope that in this new chapter of my life, I will be accepted by the people who once loved yet judged Melvin Bobis, the child…”
Caged like an animal
Often complaining, stubborn as a mule—as he himself admits, Melvin is often described as a troublemaker because of his way of rubbing people the wrong way.
While his peers, the other formerly homeless members of batch 5 who underwent the Foundation’s 3-month KALINGA values formation program, have already started working or have returned home to their respective families, Melvin couldn’t quite transition yet.
During his extended stay at the Arnold Janssen Bahay Kalinga (BK), however, the full horrifying details of his traumatic childhood experiences came to light.
At 11, Melvin was sent to a juvenile center in Tanay, Rizal.
I remembered that my uncle used to lock me up in the dog kennel and tie me up…I was even fed in that cage.
There he experienced many physical beatings, the first of many others he would suffer in various prisons later on.
But before these, he first experienced physical, emotional and other kinds of abuse at the hands of his own uncle.
“I remembered that my uncle used to lock me up in the dog kennel and tie me up…I was even fed in that cage,” he shared.
Orphaned from a young age, Melvin never knew the care of his parents.
No one to trust
After his release from the juvenile center, Melvin had nowhere else to go; Luneta and the streets of Manila became his home for 31 years.
On the street, he learned to fend for himself despite having no one to trust.
Hunger pangs is what urged him on.
He found himself behind bars again after getting involved in crime.
After a few years on the street, he contracted pulmonary tuberculosis.
The polluted city air did him a lot of violence; often, Melvin, who was also asthmatic, struggled just to breath.
God obviously had other plans for him when he joined the KALINGA formation batch 5 in January 2022 after being extracted from Lawton, Manila.
Melvin would also get much-needed treatment for his tuberculosis with the assistance of the foundation.
‘Faces from his forgotten yesterday’
January 25, 2024. This was the day Melvin stepped back into the land of his young self.
It was also the date he would see for himself if his relatives would finally accept him.
This day would dictate a new path for him.
Tears fell from his eyes when he saw people who loved him as a child waiting for him, faces from his forgotten yesterday.
It’s like the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son.
Today, Melvin has his own place, near his aunt’s house. He also raises pigs and sells them as his means of livelihood, while his uncle sends him a monthly allowance to start his new life.
Many things can change; we can change, but home remains home.
The place of one’s nightmares can become the setting for one’s dreams. ∎