Tag Archives: help poor children in the philippines

Shelley Callahan | En Español

Since I had arrived in Tacloban to visit our affiliated sites in early January, I had heard so much from our volunteer coordinator, WimWim, about Typhoon Yolanda and how it had devastated the city ten years earlier. WimWim explained that although very tragic, the entire community and the government of Tacloban learned a valuable lesson in the aftermath about emergency preparedness and the importance of having a plan in place in case a storm of such magnitude occurred again.

As WimWim, Ester, and I drove from the Volunteer for the Visayans office to the Santo Nino Center on the morning of the third day of my visit, WimWim told me about how the Santo Nino Center and the Cancumbang Center, two of the three affiliations Children Incorporated has in Tacloban, both serve as evacuation centers for the neighborhood, where residents can gather and safely wait for further instructions about how they should cautiously proceed through harsh weather — or if nothing else, stay dry when the water starts to get high.

I found myself very grateful to know that they had a place such as the Santo Nino Center to meet their daily basic needs, but also help them if an emergency were to arise.

The Santo Nino Center is roughly a 45-minute drive from the VFV office, and located in a quaint neighborhood on the outskirts of town. Although not what I would consider very rural, compared to the bustling city center where the Visayans Center at Bliss is, the Santo Nino neighborhood was very serene, where most people walked or rode on small motorbikes, and animals freely roamed the streets, not needing to be concerned for heavy traffic.

When we arrived at the Santo Nino Center, before we went inside, we walked across the street and proceeded down a narrow walkway down about 50 yards to a row of houses. Ester explained that a few of our sponsored children lived in these houses, and the support they received from Children Incorporated was especially important because most of them lived with either a single parent or only had one parent who was working, as farming or service jobs in the area paid very little or were mostly seasonal.

Sponsored children walk with their mother to the Santo Nino Center for the monthly distribution of basic needs items they receive.

I could now see exactly why the Santo Nino Center was crucial as an evacuation location for this area — the houses were little and built below the road, and even on a dry day like today, there were pools of water collecting on the ground, with little drainage and little direct sunlight due to the heavy foliage that surrounded us.

We then made our way back up the small hill to help prepare for the afternoon feeding program at the Santo Nino Center. Thanks to our sponsors, children receive four meals a week at the center, and monthly distributions of food, hygiene items and school supplies. Although a simple and small building, the center was perfect for not only the Children Incorporated programs that were facilitated there, but was more than sufficient for an evacuation site. The one room building had folding tables, a small kitchen, a storage area, a bathroom, a handwashing station and a water filtration system that all could help ensure families would stay safe as needed if they were waiting out a storm.

It was the kind of safe environment that all children and families deserve.

Once the VFV staff finished preparing a lunch of chicken, rice and stewed vegetables, the children started to arrive, each having a reusable container and drinking cup with them. The children were allowed to come eat anytime between 12 and 2 pm, depending on when they were done with school for the day. I loved the flexibility of the system in place — there was much-needed structure for when the center was open, but an understanding that the children might be on slightly different schedules.

As I watched the children enjoy their meal and chat with each other and the staff, I found myself very grateful to know that they had a place such as the Santo Nino Center to meet their daily basic needs, but also help them if an emergency were to arise. It was the kind of safe environment that all children and families deserve, and I was proud that Children Incorporated played such a huge part in all of it.

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How do I sponsor a child in the Philippines?

You can sponsor a child in the Philippines in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in the Philippines that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

After spending the morning with Ester and WimWim, our volunteer coordinators at the Volunteer for the Visayans, it was time to get ready for the monthly distribution of supplies to the children in our program at the first of three affiliated sites in the Philippines I would be visiting during my time in Tacloban.

Located in the neighborhood of Bliss, VFV runs all of its citywide programs out of the same building where families also come to receive basic needs on a monthly basis.

We didn’t spend long traveling to the first site — in fact, all we had to do is walk downstairs from the office to the first floor of the building, and we had arrived! Located in the neighborhood of Bliss, VFV runs all of its citywide programs out of the same building where families also come to receive basic needs on a monthly basis and children come for the afternoon feeding program and tutoring support. The center also serves as the location where the volunteers with VFV come every morning to receive their assignments which include shopping for food, preparing meals, and helping feed the children each week.

Getting ready for distribution

Although the first floor of the center consists of only three small rooms — a front common area, a dining room, and a small kitchen — the space has been used very efficiently. Shelves lined the walls that were stocked with books, clothes, bags of rice, canned goods and other donations from the community. WimWim even showed me drawers filled with school supplies that had been built underneath the stairs to maximize storage, something I found to be so neat and creative.

Monthly distributions at the Bliss Center help ensure children and their families have basic necessities.

As other staff members started to arrive just shortly before 2 pm, the energy on the first floor started to rise quickly. It was obvious everyone was well-trained in the process of the distributions and each person had their own tasks to perform. Ester began opening rice bags and unpacking boxes of soaps and nonperishable food items along folding tables near the front windows of the building. WimWim and another staff member took folding chairs outside and lined them along the narrow sidewalk. A tarp was tethered to the outside of the building, as locals always anticipated the possibility of rain.

Other staff went over spreadsheets that had been prepared with the name of each sponsored child and the list of items they would be receiving — everyone receives the same items and an equal amount each month, but VFV still keeps meticulous records on each individual child.

To increase the feeling of investment in the program for the families involved, it was expected that they bring their own reusable bags for rice, which had been made by VFV staff out of old vinyl and denim, as well as the egg crates they received during the last distribution to be refilled.

WimWim explained the importance of the structure that VFV has established over the many years they had been working in the community. WimWim herself has worked with the organization since 2005 — the same year the center opened in Bliss. She said they have had to learn a lot from trial and error about how to best support the community.

Even though life was tough for many families, struggling day to day to make ends meet, it truly did feel that all of them had found some bliss in this community.

She, having grown up in the area and currently living in the neighborhood herself with her husband and children, was very aware of how many families were living in poverty and really needed the help. But, she explained that, at the same time, she felt that when families don’t feel a connection with the center, then they don’t always remain consistent with participation, and that would cause issues.

The importance of sponsors

Sponsorship, as WimWim described, has always been a valuable means of keeping families involved with the center and making them feel a part of what VFV is doing to help. She said that not only do the sponsors ensure that the children have supplies on a regular basis, but it reminds them that someone cares about them, and that is powerful in showing families that there are ways out of the poverty in which they live. Additionally, thanks to VFV, families in Bliss can make a little extra income by offering to host their volunteers for a few weeks or a month at a time as a part of the center’s immersion program, which really increases their desire to be involved.

About 30 minutes after the staff started setting up, the children and the parents started to arrive, seating themselves outside, waiting patiently to be called into the center one at a time by Ester. I started to see how valuable it was for VFV to have this system in place — with more than 50 children to provide for in one afternoon, it took 2 ½ hours to get everyone their supplies, which would have taken so much longer if not for the process already in place.

Watching this well-oiled machine at work was a delight, and everyone seemed to be having a good time, as parents chatted with one another while waiting their turn, and children played with one another outside the center. Even though life was tough for many families, struggling day to day to make ends meet, it truly did feel that all of them had found some bliss in this community.

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How do I sponsor a child in the Philippines?

You can sponsor a child in the Philippines in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in the Philippines that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

My flight to Manila from Washington, D.C. arrived in the late evening, so I didn’t have a chance to see much of the city before our volunteer coordinator from the Fortune’s Children Center (or Fortune Center), Joy, picked me up the following morning.

It was a beautiful day in mid-January in the Philippines, and as Joy and I made the 45-minute journey from the Makati district to the Marikina neighborhood of Metro Manila, we excitedly talked about how it was my first time in the country and how I was looking forward to learning more about Children Incorporated’s decades of work with the Fortune Center.

Joy has been our volunteer coordinator for nearly 10 years since our former and long-term volunteer coordinator, Polly, had retired. Polly started the Fortune Center many years ago, and worked tirelessly within the community of Fortune, which she named the center after, to help children and their families living in poverty — much in part thanks to the support the center received from our sponsors and donors.

The Fortune Center supports local families and their children in the Marikina area of Metro Manila.

When we arrived at the Fortune Center, a crowd of children and parents was already there, anticipating our arrival. It was a Saturday – a day in which the children usually wouldn’t be at the center, but essentially a perfect day for my visit since the kids were out of school for the weekend and at least one parent was not working that day so they could also come to the center to meet me.

Nearly all of the 40 children enrolled in our program were in attendance, ranging from 1st grade all the way to high school — and to my surprise, even some graduates from our program had been invited and were there as well! One of the graduates was a young man named Genesis, who was acting as host for the day, standing behind a podium with a microphone on a stage in the main room of the center.

Joy had arranged for some of the children to perform songs and dances in celebration of my arrival — it had been almost five years since a representative of Children Incorporated had been to the Philippines, so there was much reason to celebrate a guest. The Philippines had some of the stricter regulations on travel and tourism during the pandemic, but now the country had opened up, and Filipinos were excited to see visitors again. Genesis introduced the groups of performers one by one, and as they took the stage, I could tell they were all very proud to be able to show their talents to not only me, but to their parents as well.

After the performances, Genesis introduced a few of the mothers, who were given a chance to read thank you letters to their children’s sponsors, expressing their gratitude for the support they receive. Through their letters, I learned that in this area of Marikina, like in other low or middle-income neighborhoods in Manila, families lived very modestly, surviving on low-wages working in construction jobs, service jobs, or factory jobs, often finding making ends meet difficult. The mothers were so appreciative of the opportunity to send their children to the Fortune Center to receive meals before and after school, and to get tutoring support — all in addition to the monthly subsidies of school supplies, clothes and hygiene items our sponsors provide.

Having a chance to travel so far from home to hear Genesis’s story, as well as those of the mothers of children in our program, really was a reason to celebrate.

Next, Genesis, who had been a sponsorship recipient himself since 4th grade, talked about his experience growing up with a sponsor. As a young man, his father was incarcerated, and his mother struggled to raise him and his siblings as a single parent. Thanks to his sponsor, he was able to stay in school and get an education, and the Fortune Center offered him a place to concentrate on his studies. Once he graduated from high school, Genesis pursued a degree in education at a local university and wanted to give back to his community by helping other young children realize their potential.

As he spoke passionately about the importance of educating youth, he made sure to emphasize that he attributed his success in life to having a sponsor who made him believe in himself and provide him the help he desperately needed. Now, Genesis not only works as a teacher, but tutors other students at the Fortune Center, as well as his nieces and nephews — all of which keeps him very busy!

I was so touched by Genesis’s speech. He is a truly inspirational person, and a wonderful representation of the power of sponsorship and what one individual can do to help another to drastically change the course of their lives. Having the chance to travel so far from home to hear Genesis’s story, as well as those of the mothers of children in our program, really felt like a reason to celebrate.

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How do I sponsor a child in the Philippines?

You can sponsor a child in the Philippines in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in the Philippines that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | En Español

The Philippines comprise a vast island nation in Southeast Asia. This archipelago of more than 7,000 islands boasts sandy beaches, towering mountains and volcanoes, tropical rainforests, and an incredible wealth of natural resources and biodiversity. Humans have called these islands home for thousands of years, predating historic records.

Today, the Philippines incorporate a staggering number of languages, ethnic groups, religions, and cultures. Despite its status as an emerging market, however, nearly half of all Filipinos still earn less than $2 a day. Adequate sanitation and access to healthcare and potable water are still daily challenges in this widely underdeveloped country, which is also prone to typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic activity. The large port city of Tacloban, where the Visayans Community Center at Bliss is located, is no exception to these maladies.

One of the worst storms in a hundred years

We are grateful that we were able to help Filipino families after the typhoon, thanks to our amazing donors, and we continue to be proud of what the Visayans Community Center at Bliss offers to children beyond sponsorship today.

At the Bliss housing project – a community established by the Filipino government for Tacloban’s poor – only fifteen percent of residents actually own the land on which they live. Most inhabit concrete dwellings, but many others live in shacks fashioned from nipa palm shingles, bamboo, and boards. Amid this devastating poverty and its socioeconomic effects, the Visayans Community Center at Bliss supports children and their families.

Founded by the local group Volunteer for the Visayans, the center is dedicated to facilitating community development, providing healthcare, and promoting education. The center was especially important to children and their families in the wake of the devastation inflicted by Typhoon Haiyan – one of the worst storms to hit the area in 100 years – which struck the Philippines in November of 2013. In the aftermath, Children Incorporated was able to support families in their efforts to rebuild their homes, thanks to donations to our Hope in Action Fund, while still providing basic needs to children through our sponsorship program.

The letter below from one of our sponsored children whose family received help after the typhoon depicts just how important it was for that community to receive help during its recovery:

“Dear Children Incorporated,

I am writing to say thank you for all the things that we received from you. We encountered a big tragedy, a super typhoon named Haiyan. After the typhoon, we couldn’t do anything, we were just doing our best to get by and to help ourselves so that we could stay healthy and be strong. We are thankful for you – because Children Incorporated helped us through the Hope in Action Fund. It helped a lot for all my personal needs, like shoes, pants, and other clothes. After my personal needs were met, we bought some other things, like materials for our house – plywood, nails, and other materials that were used to fix our house. Thank you for caring enough to help us!

Sincerely yours,
Imee*”

Helping families beyond sponsorship

At the center, children receive support after school and on the weekends.

We are grateful that we were able to help Filipino families after the typhoon, thanks to our amazing donors, and we continue to be proud of what the Visayans Community Center at Bliss offers to children beyond sponsorship today. Not only do children there receive basic needs, thanks to their sponsors, but the center also provides medical check-ups and medicine through volunteer doctors, as well as local medical volunteers. Additionally, the center offers tutoring for children every Saturday — particularly for students who are identified as having difficulty with school lessons, and who therefore need extra attention. These one-on-one tutoring sessions are conducted by older sponsored and formerly-sponsored children who are in high school and college.

The center also provides swimming and guitar lessons for children, and its staff conduct school and home visits to track students’ progress, as well as to ensure that children and families have good relationships with teachers. Children participate in various craft-making activities and games, as well as in neighborhood clean-ups. Administrators offer special seminars and workshops, which help to equip children for day-to-day challenges, and teach them to prepare for disasters. Parents are also encouraged to attend monthly meetings at the center to discuss the children in the program, and to receive updates and learn about concerns school staff may have.

*Name changed for child’s protection.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN THE PHILIPPINES?

You can sponsor a child in the Philippines in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in the Philippines that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD