Manila, Philippines - Child abuse in the Philippines has been dubbed the “silent epidemic.” In the Visayan region alone, five million children are victims of child labor, 1.5 million children live on the streets, 14,000 children are in prison, and 60,000 children are prostituted. Overnight the figures can change, and like a disease outbreak, the societal problem will be hard to contain.
It took an outsider, a non-Filipino, to respond to the widespread violation of children’s rights. After completing a law degree in France, Laurence Ligier traveled to the Philippines in 1992 in a humanitarian mission. Concerned about the problem of street children she decided to take action. After gathering her resources, emotionally and academically, she returned to the Philippines to set up Chameleon Association, a non-profit, humanitarian organization that has been relentlessly striving to protect young Filipino girls who have suffered physical and sexual abuse, and safely reintegrates the children into their community. As a shelter for street children, Chameleon Association works to transform lives, to build futures, and to give children a dignified life.
In an effort to continually raise funds to sustain the vision of the organization, internationally acclaimed French classical pianist and Chameleon Association’s Ambassadress for France Laure Favre-Kahn performed last night in a benefit concert titled Love Becomes Classic, organized under FrancoPhil by Alliance Francaise de Manille, The Embassy of France in the Philippines, Rustan’s Ros Music Center and Mindset Marketing Communications.
Favre-Kahn serenaded Filipino audience with inspiring classical music that stirrred the senses and evoked a feeling of empathy among society’s less fortunate.