« My name is John Charles Quimba. I am 19 years old, Grade 12, and I am supposed to have my graduation now. Instead of celebrating another milestone of my academic student life, COVID-19 changed everything. There are no graduation ceremony and classes are suspended. Our country was put into comprehensive community lock down due to rising cases of COVID-19 infected. It’s only a matter of days and statistics of dead raised up. The virus is like a huge wing that swifts above everyone. Nobody was prepared for it. Social distancing was required, all social gatherings were avoided and it affected local communities harsly. There is nowhere to buy food and work should be done at home. There is a national lockdown. I am sad and worried most of all. It was like everything was put into pause. Until I received a message asking for help. I was one of 13 youth in our municipality who answered and voluntarily rendered our time. We assisted Bingawan Local Government Unit in monitoring citizens who enter and exit our municipality, check the whole community and give food to front liners including those in several checkpoints area. Every day, I wake up at 6am, and I am ready at times that Barangay leaders call for our assistance. My grandmother who is my guardian, though shows her support is also worried about me. To ensure that I am safe from getting affected I strictly follow my routine. I always wash my hands time to time, bring with me alcohol, and wear face mask. We also keep in mind the social distancing even in distributing food. We just put it on front liners tables. Even in the vehicles, we are 1 meter away from each other. In doing this, I get nothing. I even put myself at risk of getting infected by the virus. However, in this time, I can do something to help courageous front liners who are fighting well for our community. We gave them strength while they gave hope to all of us. »
– John Charles from Bingawan, Voice of CAMELEON’s Children, volunteer to help the front liners of his village
