While most 11-year-old kids are into sports or video games, Ricardo Cruz is playing with fire, in a good way.
Cruz, also called Banny, helps his fellow firefighters at the Pasig Alliance Volunteer Group (PAVG), where he has been an active member for the past four months.
Before you worry about his safety, consider that he does not participate in the actual firefighting.
As a volunteer-in-training, his tasks include cleaning and checking the fire truck, and fixing the gear of other firefighters.
Cruz is an out-of-school youth who used to join his older brother’s nightly patrols as a barangay watchman because there was no one to look after him at home.
“We told him it was less risky to join our group. If he stays with the barangay security force, he might find himself caught in a crossfire, especially should a riot break out,” PACG founder Arnold de Lima told Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Though Banny doesn’t receive pay for his work, the group takes care of his basic needs. It’s a big help considering that his laundrywoman mother has a total of 11 children to take care of.
He dropped out of school because he wasn’t interested in his studies but other firefighters of the PACG urged him to go back. He is planning to enroll as a Grade 4 student at Bagong Ilog Elementary School this coming school year.
When Cruz helped put out a fire near his home at Buenaventura Street, his neighbors saw him as a hero. This young boy made his mother very proud.
“We hope that Banny will serve as an inspiration to kids and out-of-school youth; to those who have strayed off the right path and become a burden to their parents. Banny may be an out-of-school youth but he has already contributed a lot to society,” De Lima said.
