Where the Children Are

Where the Children Are by Gisela M. Gonzalez takes you on a journey to learn about and better understand hopeful stories of different children from difficult circumstances in the Philippines. The majority of the children in the country live under trying conditions.

The children face each day with a steadiness and lack of resentment many adults would be hard-pressed to muster: Aninia, twelve, dances in the mountains in the way of her tribe, a way in peril of being lost; Jelwin, twelve, embroiders piña cloth with a craftsman’s calm assurance; Rachelle, also twelve, sleeps atop a tomb; Rochelle, fifteen, and Releonor, twelve, string sampaguita flowers they sell from house to house; Nelson, twelve, the descendant of seafarers, dives from a pier for coins; Paul, thirteen, pushes a cart as he gathers trash to sell to junk shops; Aaron, fifteen, and Czarinah, fourteen, both blind and both nurtured by family and school, move beyond disability’s usual preconceptions; Simon, seven, son of a fisherman, plays the classical violin.