We just posted pictures from the February and March meals program feedings on the Activities: 2010 page.  Please check it out to see the kids you’ve helped.

We would like to thank everyone who supported our free meal program this month. Hot meals were delivered to children in Tramo, a village in Bacoor, Cavite. There were approximately 335 children who attended the meal program, some of these kids in this area frequently skip meals or eat too little. A dish called arroz caldo was served. Arroz caldo is a Filipino comfort food – a porridge with rice, vegetables and chicken cooked in chicken broth that is eaten in many Asian countries. Filipinos love arroz caldo and will eat it anytime of day. I am a big fan of this dish. I remember living in the Philippines stopping at roadside food stalls standing in the rain while eating arroz caldo with so many people and jeepneys passing by. It’s quite good.

This activity was conducted by volunteers who unselfishly shared their time and effort in the preparation and distribution of the meals. Thank you to all who made it possible for these kids to enjoy a much needed meal. I would also like to thank the people of Bacoor who volunteered their time to help facilitate everything. Please check out the pictures so you can see the children that you’re helping.

Parents angry that their children were not given enough rice, as authorities promised. (source: Associated Press, via gulfnews.com)

Manila : A group of parents torched a school in the central Philippines after complaining their children weren’t given the food promised by a government program aimed at boosting school attendance, police said on Tuesday.

The gutted walls were all that remained of the one-story Gaib Elementary School in Masbate island province, said provincial police chief Ed Benigay.

No one was hurt because the school was empty when it burned down overnight, he said.

“It was done by some disgruntled parents who reportedly got mad at some teachers over perceived discrimination in the school’s nourishment program,” he said.

He said the parents accused the teachers of not giving their children enough rice.

Under the government’s Food for School program that seeks to encourage school attendance, each student in impoverished areas is supposed to be given a kilo of rice every day.

The arson left nearly 150 students aged 5-10 without a classroom, Benigay said, adding that important records also were lost.

Police said no arrests have been made but they will file charges soon.

Over 400 students were fed a hot meal when we hosted our monthly meals program at Bacoor Elementary School on February 18, 2010.

We’re committed to these kind of school meal programs to help improve children’s health and increase school attendance, retention and improve learning. Limitations on funding limit the feedings to once a month at the present time, but we are hoping to expand this program to conduct school meals more frequently and to serve additional students as additional funds become available.

This activity was conducted by our volunteers, who were joined by a group of 2nd year high school students from St. Michael Institute, a local private school. Thank you to all who made it possible for these kids to enjoy a much needed meal. I would also like to thank the people of Bacoor who volunteered their time to help facilitate everything. Check out the pictures to see the kids we helped.

Just a few days ago, I received a letter from a mother in the Philippines. Her name is Erlana. Her one year old boy, Al, is very sick. He was admitted at the Philippine General Hospital on January 11, 2009. He was diagnosed to be suffering from malnutrition and cardiomyopathy.

Cardiomyopathy is a serious disease in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed and doesn’t work as well as it should. Al needed to undergo continuous medication which his parents could not afford to support, as they are a low income family, a fisherman. Their earnings are barely enough to pay for one meal a day.

Each day, each week, each month, many children die in the Philippines. This is not because the doctors are unskilled or incompetent. These children die because they are poor and their families cannot afford medicine and treatment. It was heartbreaking reading this letter. More often than not the endings of these stories are not so happy. Right now, I don’t have much money to donate however I will try my very best to help.

I do hope I can make people aware of how trying the lives of these children are. There are no words or pictures to describe the depth of poverty these children live with every day. No one has a choice in when and where they are born, they simply must survive as best they can. I am now asking, in fact I am begging and praying for a miracle that somehow, someway, a donor, a gift, a moment, and saving grace comes and saves these children.

Thanks to everyone who has supported this cause, this past Thursday, January 21, 2010 hot meals we’re given to over 500 students at Bacoor Elementary School. The majority of them are children living at or below the poverty line. Lack of food is often one of the challenges that children face at Bacoor as some families do not have the means to purchase it. We’re committed to this kind of school meal programs to help improve children’s health and increase school attendance, retention and improve learning. Limitations on funding limit the feedings to once a month at the present time, but we are planning to expand this program to conduct school meals more frequently and to serve additional students as additional funds become available.

This activity was conducted by volunteers along with the 2nd and 3rd grade teachers who unselfishly shared their time and effort in the preparation and distribution of the meals. Thank you to all who made it possible for these kids to enjoy a much needed meal. I would also like to thank the people of Bacoor who volunteered their time to help facilitate everything. Please check out the pictures so you can see the children that you’re helping.

It is very hard to believe that not only has another year come and gone, but another whole decade has come and gone. At times we do not take action because we think we can only do a little and it won’t make a difference. I’m sharing my journey that proves that even doing just a little can make a difference. This is how the Children’s Hope Fund project got started.

It began in July of 2009. I woke up one morning and realized that I had ignored my heritage. I grew up in Cavite, a Filipino slum. Growing up was very hard. I moved to the United States at a young age and immediately had a hard time fitting in. I was so ashamed of where I came from and how I grew up fearing that people would judge my background and that they would not like me because of it, so I pretended I wasn’t that kid. I was so out of touch and in denial until that day in July. I got online to see how things have changed since I was there and what I found shocked me. I thought I had it bad growing up, but in the time since I have been away the level of poverty in Cavite has increased tenfold. I decided right then to help these kids as best as I could. The next day I booked a ticket to Manila without a plan or extra money to help these kids. I wanted to make a difference even if just on a small scale. So I began developing a plan and started sharing my childhood and my dream to go back to the very slum I was born in and help as many kids as I can with friends, colleagues, and family. I am lucky that many people have stepped up to give their support. The dream became a reality and it was a huge success, hundreds of children were fed, clothed, and given school supplies and medicine. The greatest part is that this is only the beginning.

Our goal for 2010 is to raise enough money to purchase and distribute uniforms and school supplies to 400 students at the start of school year in June. Additionally, we are committed to the School Feeding Program which provides one hot meal per month to impoverished school children living in the Philippines. There are over 1,000 kids at Bacoor Elementary School who need help, but our goal is to help the neediest kids first, those who will have to skip a school year because they could not afford the required uniform and school supplies.

This morning I was thinking of a quote from Edward Everett Hale – “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do.”

Christmas in the Philippines is filled with unique, family oriented traditions. It is the most important holidays in the country even more important than one’s own birthday. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, with estimates 85 percent of the population belonging to this faith in the Philippines. Filipinos truly keep Christ in Christmas. The tradition evolves from an old customs called Simbang Gabi or Night Mass where people wake up as early as 3am to prepare to attend a mass which usually starts at 4am where the story of nativity is read from the bible for nine days until Christmas Eve. After the mass, families love to eat native delicacies such as bibingka (rice flour and egg based cake), salabat (hot ginger tea) and tsokolate (thick native cocoa). Vendors sell these just outside the church.

The parol or star lantern is what symbolizes Christmas in the Philippines. These lanterns display dazzling, colorful lights especially at night. You will find parols hanging on the street lamps, offices, and malls. It represents the guiding light, the star of Bethlehem. It represents hope…. Noche Buena a traditional Christmas Eve feast is a time of thanksgiving and is like an open house in every home. Family, friends and neighbors are welcome to eat and drop by to wish everyone a Maligayang Pasko or a Merry Christmas. Children must take their godparents and elderly relatives hand to their forehead as a sign of respect and ask for blessings it’s called “mano po”. Christmas in the Philippines is a time for families, friends and it’s absolutely unique over there. It’s been a long seventeen years since I have seen Christmas in my hometown of Cavite. Though the poverty is still there I am proud to say that nothing compares to the Christmas celebration in the Philippines. But as the saying goes the most important thing during the holidays is being with your love ones. I am so lucky that I have family and friends here to celebrate Christmas with. I hope you had a meaningful holidays. May you have a great year ahead!

From my family to yours Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon. Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!

This holiday season, as we’re dashing across town buying presents celebrating with friends and family, let’s remember to take some time out of our hectic schedules to make the season a little brighter for those who are in need. Wondering where our next meal is coming from is something most of us never have to worry about. However for many children in the Philippines it a constant concern. Thanks to everyone who has supported this cause, this past Sunday, December 20, 2009 hot meals we’re given to over 250 hungry children at Tabing Dagat, an impoverished area of Cavite. By providing warm meals during this holiday season we are bring hope to those who are struggling to survive. The activity was conducted by the Baranggay Captain Evez Delacruz along with volunteers who unselfishly shared their time and effort in the preparation and distribution of the meals.

Thank you to all who made it possible for these kids to enjoy a much needed meal. I would also like to thank the people of Bacoor who volunteered their time to help facilitate everything. Please check out the pictures so you can see the children that you’re helping.

Having grown up in the Philippines, I have experienced living in poverty, but what I encountered when I went to visit the Tabing Dagat of Bacoor Cavite this past November was truly heartbreaking. The little girl photographed above is covered with open sores and she’s very sick. She lives in a house which has no doors, windows, furniture, plumbing or running water. A makeshift shanty. It serves as their home which they share with multiple other family members. There’s no bathroom, they do their necessities wherever they can. Unfortunately, this house is not the exception there. The reality is many children just like Gemma are sick and dying everyday. Impoverished Filipino families cannot afford healthcare or basic hygiene and sanitation facilities, and according to the barangay Captain (similar to a Mayor), four out of five children get sick without being able to see the doctor at all. The sheer force of of poverty I saw there is overwhelming and it will take me a few months to digest. You see I was lucky. After spending days of ducking in and out of shafts, walking muddy roads, surrounded by the smell of open sewers while visiting the impoverished area, I got to leave. They don’t. Those children will still be there waiting for a ray of hope. Individuals like you can help begin a chain reaction of hope and caring, with more and more people joining in and making a difference. More people need to be compassionate and understanding. It’s a very tough world out there or these children and life is the most precious gift. We need to save and protect these children.