By Fr. Wens Padilla, cicm

Father Wens Padilla, cicm, a native of Tubao, La Union, was ordained in 1976. The next year he was sent to the mission in Taiwan, and eventually he became the Provincial Superior of the CICM Chinese Province. Then he and two other confreres were appointed the first Catholic missionaries to go to Outer Mongolia. Today there are six CICM men in Ulan is the Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia. Father Wens is the Superior there. He tells us of the street children apostolate which the CICM have set up in Ulan Bator.

Dorjoo and his family members were in tears as they embraced each other after not having seen one another for half a year. He was brought to his home in Darkhan, 150 miles away from Ulan Bator City, by two CICM Zairian Brothers and friends of the Catholic Church Mission. But that’s the end of the story.

No Way Out

Back in August 1995, eighteen months earlier, Dorjoo and his grandmother had been on their way to the market, passing by the railway station. He spotted his friends playing on one of the wagons of a parked train and he joined then in their fun. A couple of minutes later, he realized that he and his playmates were on a train bound for Ulan Bator City and there was no way for him to jump from the then speeding train.

Street Life

The playmates who seemed already used to life in the streets of the city tugged him along to their hideouts in underground dwellings, pipeline tunnels, and stairwells of apartments. He became a new member of the increasing number (800 or double) of street children prowling the streets of the metropolis. From the street urchins he got the name “Ulaana” (Red One), owing to the outfit he was wearing. Dorjoo lived as the other street children did, trying to survive from scavenging in market places, stealing from people’s pockets, begging, and frequent soup-kitchens.

Mistaken Grief

Meanwhile, Ulaana’s family became worried about this whereabouts. There was a frantic search for him in Darkhan and in the city of Ulan Bator for three months. The grandfather went to Ulan Bator for three for him. After days of visiting the hideouts of street children and some soup-kitchens, he gave up and went back to Darkhan declaring the missing boy dead. There was grief and mourning in the family.

Children’s Center

In October 1995, the Catholic Church, after three and a half yeas of presence in Mongolia, started a Children’s Center in collaboration with the local government. The center started to give food daily (lunch and supper) to a few street children whose numbers increased in no time to more than 40. And when the five small rooms of the center were fixed and furnished, around 30 smaller children were permitted to stay and sleep in the center. Dorjoo was one of those who wished to stay.

Noble Goal

Three full-time caretakers alternate to give round-the-clock care to the children. Another three part-time workers help out during the day and on weekends. Some young people also volunteer to teach, play, and render service of any sort to the center. The Catholic Mission hopes to bring the children back to their families and help them go to school.

Go Home For Holidays

During the past Mongolian New Year, some children who still have contact with their homes (far and near) were encouraged to spend the season with their families. They were accompanied home. Those who went to see their families all came back after the holidays and wanted to live in the center.

A ‘home’ in the Center

Though Dorjoo enjoyed his stay with his family, he preferred to come back, this time, with his family’s approval. Poverty at home led him to opt for coming back to the Children Center of the Catholic Mission. With his grandparents’ monthly pension, only 6, 000 Togrogs ($12.5 in US dollars), to support Dorjoo together with other grandchildren, his folks saw an advantage in his being cared for in the center.

Because of extreme of poverty, alcoholism and violence of family heads, children sometimes leave home Dorjoo now finds a home in the center together with children of his age.