By Bernadette Pattugalan
The author is now in Fourth Year high school at St Scholastica’s College, Manila.
We had our class outreach in Pandacan, Manila, a squatters’ area where the houses are beside the railroad. I really didn’t know what to expect when we were going there. When we got off the jeepney, children came and greeted us.
They brought us on a tour around the place. While we were touring, a train was coming our direction. I felt its rush and roar, just a feet away from me. I realized at that moment the danger it could bring. I also asked myself, ‘Of all places, why build a house beside a railroad?’