My friend and I walk towards the car, one early morning, after a night spent sitting and talking about ourselves, the world and our future plans. It is around four in the morning, I think. We are twentysomethings, at the prime of our lives. We've been to places, experienced a lot of things. I am a medical student, my friend works for an IT company. Sounds good. We have a secure future. All possibilities lie ahead of us.

Then from out of nowhere, a little girl, thin, frail, her curly hair framing her face, runs towards us and holds out her hand clutching around three strings of sampaguita (that's our national flower-small, white little buds strung together to make a necklace). "Sir, bilhin nyo na 'to, para makauwi na 'ko…" (Sir, please buy this so that I can go home).

This is a typical scenario. It is around three or four am. Hmm, I wonder… usually, we brush these kids off, with thoughts of 'doing this for their own good', or sometimes, plain indifference. But after a night of talking about our plans and how we dream of someday "putting up a foundation", or "making a significant contribution to society", we are more inclined to do otherwise. So we ask her to "walk with us to that side so that the other kids won't follow us" (there are other kids as well). After giving us the sampaguita in return for twenty pesos ($ 0.39), the little girl cheekily says: "You know, it's my birthday today, January 22". She looks so happy. We are charmed. "Oh really? How old are you?" "Eleven". "Wow, happy birthday!" "Thank you, laban nga po din ni Pacquiao ngayon eh…" (Thank you. It's Pacquiao's match today) [Manny Pacquiao is a world champion in lightweight boxing, the pride of the Filipino]. Obviously a smart girl, she beams with pride.

I can't forget the girl's face, as she hopefully, wistfully smiles at her future. At 4am, she has to walk the streets, hoping to sell some strings of flowers so that she can have something to eat for tomorrow. I wonder if she really goes to school, if she studies, at all. When she has to think about filling her tummy for tomorrow, how can she even 'make plans' for her future?

Multiply this scenario a thousand times over. Maybe a hundred thousand more. Last year, the streets swelled with children, doing odd jobs, wiping windshields during stops, begging, doing this and that. Trying to scrape some money off the streets. When questioned, all they say is: "we need it for some food for tomorrow". What's going to happen?

And these are just the children. How many more people were once images of these street children? What becomes of them when that is all the reality they know? Poverty is crippling. It robs people of their childhood, and every other right.

Hence, I return to the original conversation with my friend... that poignant ending of our night was simply a reminder that our plans were not to be in vain. We are young, we have freedom and opportunity. I know that we are not the only ones with these thoughts in mind. There are a lot of twentysomethings on the way to a career with a significant percentage of their thoughts on "helping", doing the best they can. Multiply this a thousand times over, and you see the scenario in my country. Over two thousand NGOs are the 'silent hands' that lift up this country. The unsung heroes, who could not live beside a neighbour in need without doing anything.

Is it too late? Will it be too late? Will we even achieve a measure of the goals UN set out? Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day…? Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger? Quite a tall order, don't you think..? A daunting task. All these questions crop up, haunt, taunt. But that shouldn't be the focus. We, as medical students, future doctors, definitely have a role to play. Like it or not, society puts a large weight on who we are and what we stand for. I think the best we can do is to be living examples, redirecting people to the true meaning of service. Our whole beings should radiate with the hope and conviction that, indeed, something can be done. The strength of our advocacy need not be buried under the weight of our responsibility. Instead, it should be the bastion that will support all our actions.

At the end of the day, we go back to who we are and what we're doing. In med school, we were taught to look at symptoms, come up with our differential diagnosis, diagnose, and treat the underlying problem. In this bigger school, our problem cuts through deeper flesh, and we know the management may be long winded. Still, we go on. There's a lot of work that needs to be done and the best is to start where you are!

Jaymie Ang is currently a third year medical student at the University of Santo Tomas. She is actively involved in numerous advocacy programs on youth empowerment.