From a very young age, Christorey worked for pennies and struggled to face his parents’ alcoholism and their impoverished situation. But thanks to World Vision, he was able to beat the odds and go back to school.

August 2010

By Karen Rivera, World Vision Phillipines. Edited by Tara Becker, World Vision U.S.

Christorey, now 18, grew up in a home where food and a pair of sober parents were rare commodities.

And even though there was nothing he could do about his parents, Christorey put his heart and soul into trying to do something about the food. From grade school all the way to his sophomore year of high school, Christorey lived the life of an adult.

Swimming against the tide

Christorey’s mother would wake him up at 3 a.m. to go work on a fishing boat with his father.

“My hands often had cuts from the nylon nets,” he said. “When I cast the net, the metals that add weight to the nets tore at my hands.”

Even with Christorey pitching in, his family hardly had enough for their basic needs. And much of what they earned was squandered on cheap alcohol.

“When my father and I would get a good catch, he would round up his friends for drinks at home, and mother would join them,” recalls Christorey. “They would get rowdy and would often end in a fight. I remember my sister and I were very scared when the fists and empty bottles were thrown about.”

Regardless of his family’s negligence, Christorey continued to work hard. In order to raise money for school and provide for his family, he took on after-school jobs. He and a friend would wait for the delivery truck at the market and pick up chunks of ice that fell off during unloading.

He would also gather discarded ice that flew off from the ice crusher machine and sell them to the fish vendors. A bucket earned him a measly 20 cents.

Parents didn’t value education

Fishing forced Christorey to spend a lot of time away from his classes, and his grades suffered. He would always be the last to pay for school and submit school projects. He still remembers the embarrassment of being singled out by his teacher, who reminded him of the fees that needed to be paid.

To make matters worse, his mother, Jocelyn, didn’t care much about her children’s studies. He recalls one occasion when she refused to give him money for a school project.

“She said we had run out of money, but when a neighbor came to collect payment for alcohol, she readily paid up,” said Christorey. “She didn’t know that I was listening. I was really upset, [and] when I confronted her, she just stayed silent.”

After that incident, Christorey said his mother started drinking less, probably out of guilt.

The gift of a better life

Christorey is not the only one whose childhood looks like this. A Philippines survey showed that 4 million of the country’s 25 million children ages 5-17 are being subjected to forms of child labor. Economic desperation compels these children to work in hazardous environments like deep-sea fishing, mining, and commercial sexual exploitation.

Fortunately for Christorey, World Vision saw his situation. Our initiative against child labor provided an opportunity for Christorey to get the education he was missing.

“When World Vision staff saw the cuts on my hands and my sunburned skin, they didn’t ask many questions anymore,” recalls Christorey. “I was immediately accepted into the program. They provided me with school supplies and took care of the fees at school.”

“The staff emphasized that we should make education our priority because education makes a big difference.”

Christorey’s acceptance into the World Vision program was just the beginning of the drastic change that would take over his family. His sister became a sponsored child and received support for her studies from her Canadian sponsor. His mother became involved in the orientation and training on child rights that World Vision provided for parents. She resolved to be a better mom, quit drinking, and prevented Christorey from working anymore.

“I am very thankful to World Vision, because I came to understand about the rights of a child,” said Jocelyn, with tears in her eyes. “As his mother, I was the one who forced my son to work. If anything had happened to Christorey, I had myself to blame.”

After awhile, Christorey’s father also began drinking less, inspired by the changes he saw in his wife.

Today, there is hardly any trace of a broken childhood in Christorey’s beaming face. And his hands no longer bear the scars that once got him into World Vision’s program. This year, Christorey received his diploma from a vocational course in automotive work and will soon start working as an apprentice in the city.