I've written about our plans of giving some of our son's items when he turned one. After Ondoy and Parma hit, we were all the more committed to that, so for Rafa's party we asked our guests to bring used toys or art materials we could give away, instead of bringing gifts for our son.

Sorting the donations.

Our guests very generously gave a lot of toys (some brand new), books, and art materials for Rafa's birthday giveaway. We spent a morning sorting them according to age group, and then put them in boxes in preparation to be given away.

Yesterday, my son, his nanny and I brought some of the baby items to CRIBS, a home in Marikina for abandoned, neglected, and surrendered babies. While we were signing the documentation for the donation, a baby in the next room started crying, and Rafa looked up, trying to find the source of the sound. We carried him over to the window where he could peek into the newborn room and he looked with interest, pointing at the babies through the window.

Playing with a toy car before we turn it over. (We weren't allowed to take photos of the babies.)

Afterwards, Rita, one of the staff members at CRIBS, led us to the crawlers' room, where the slightly older babies were (I estimated them to be around 6 to 14 months old). Piped in dance music was playing and there were four little boys around Rafa's age romping around the padded room and playing with the toys that were on the floor, while around 4 other younger babies were in their respective cribs. Ate Norma, the caregiver in charge of this age group, welcomed us and told us a little about the babies in the room.

CRIBS currently has around 24 babies in all, most of whom were abandoned. Ate Norma told us that unless the babies go to foster or adoptive homes, or are taken back by their parents, they stay in CRIBS until they are 2 and a half years old, after which they are transferred to other institutions for older children.

As far as I could tell, there was one caregiver for each age group. Of course, having to look after around 8 babies at at time meant that Ate Norma couldn't attend to all the babies' needs immediately. While she was tending to one baby's needs, another was crying because of a wet nappy, another was crying because she was hungry, and another was crying because he wanted to be picked up. Ate Norma expertly moved around the room, taking care of each baby's needs, but while we were there, we let Rafa toddle around with the 4 other walkers while Rafa's nanny and I did what we could to help.

One baby stopped crying as soon as I picked him up. Ate Norma explained that he was one of those babies who simply liked to be carried. Of course, I was more than happy to do the carrying. Meanwhile, Rafa's nanny went over to feed another baby who was crying for her bottle.

Meanwhile, Rafa enjoyed himself in the room. Along with the other walkers, he bounced around to the music, explored the different toys, and walked over to the giant mirror and laughed at his reflection. One of the other boys seemed to be amused by Rafa and started following him around the room, to our delight.

We stayed about 30 minutes before heading back to the office to bid goodbye to Rita. She encouraged us to come back again and visit. Visiting hours are 9 AM to 11 AM and 2 PM to 4 PM, she said.

I'd visited CRIBS before in college, and some of my friends also volunteered for a college organization that used to visit CRIBS weekly. I remember a friend explaining to me that their volunteer work was really primarily about carrying the babies, giving them the one-on-one time that all babies need.

Of course, visiting again as a mom was a different, richer experience. And bringing Rafa was great too: he enjoyed playing alongside the other babies.

Now that Rafa's Gymboree sessions are over I'm thinking of maybe bringing him to CRIBS instead, every now and then, to play with the babies there. I think both he and I will enjoy it, and I hope the CRIBS babies will too.

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