From The Bottom of My Hypothalamus

CW: Bullying

"Hoy, Mika, pangit!"

Wala pa 'mang sampung minuto ang itinatagal namin dito sa elementary school para sa aming NSTP ay ganito na kaagad ang naririnig namin.

Pagpasok pa lang namin ng silid ay natagpuan namin na binabato na naman nila ang kaklase nila na si Mika ng mga crumpled na papel.

Trina tried to handle the situation again, but she couldn't get the students to listen to her. Hanggang ngayon ay wala pa ring ginagawa ang paaralan sa ganitong kaso ng bullying.

I felt my heart sink as I watched Mika bow down and dodge all of the crumpled pieces of paper that are currently being thrown at her.

My group mates and I are doing the best that we can to help Mika, and to make the kids stop whatever they're doing right now.

This is getting out of hand now.

What these students need is definitely more than just literacy training, but something that will address this kind of situation. I don't know if these kids have an idea about the heavy weight of their words towards their peers, but their environment plays such a huge role in this.

Ang hirap pa kasi walang guardian ang willing makipag-usap sa mga tauhan sa paaralang ito, not even Mika's guardians.

And we cannot simply just say "bata pa lang naman sila, wala silang alam," because how about the victim? Paano si Mika? Bata rin naman siya at walang alam. Like adults, kids are also fragile and can get hurt, too.

"Mga bata, hindi kami magtuturo rito hangga't hindi po kayo tumatahimik." Mahinahong wika ni Trina sa mga estudyante.

"Edi 'wag!" A kid yelled, and everyone else laughed.

To say that I am appalled is really an understatement. They weren't like this during our first LTS session, kaya't kagulat-gulat din na pati kami ay nakakaya nilang sabihan ng ganiyan.

I saw Trina let out a long sigh, and she signaled to us that we should come closer to her and huddle for a while.

"Let's just start this session, next time na tayo magpa-worksheet. Pagkatapos na pagkatapos ay kakausapin natin ang adviser ng mga bata." Wika niya.

Tumango-tango kami sa sinabi niya.

"I think it's also best to ignore their antics muna. Baka kasi the more we try to control the situation, baka ma-reinforce lang natin unintentionally 'yung gano'ng behavior nila." Saad naman ni Chloe, to which we agreed.

For an hour, we did what we had to do. Si Jonathan at si Violet ang nakatoka ngayon sa pagtuturo. Half of the students weren't listening, habang 'yung kalahati naman ay walang magawa kun'di makinig.

After the lesson, we said our goodbyes to them. They waved at us cheerfully.

My eyes landed on Mika. She had her head rested against her arms on top of her armchair, at tago tago niya ang kaniyang ulo gamit ang kaniyang mahabang buhok. There was a pang in my chest which I felt when I looked at her. I wanted to go to her but we were running out of time, kailangan pa naming kausapin ulit ang adviser nila.

"Ma'am, sana naman po ay makausap niyo po ang mga magulang or guardian ng mga bata." Nag-aalalang wika ni Trina kay Ma'am De Castro.

"Muntik na pong hilahin no'ng isang bata ang buhok ni Mika, buti po ay napigilan ko." Sambit naman ni Violet.

"Pasensiya na kayo, mga anak. Sinusubukan naman naming gawin ang lahat para hindi lumala ang nangyayari sa mga bata... pero wala talagang magulang ang dumadating."