Food for the Hungry Int'l/ Philippines

BIG BANANA CENTER, Metro Mla.

Big Banana is one of the depressed community of Metro Manila. We are in partnership with Razon United Methodist Church in the implementation of Child Development Program (CDP). We serve a total of 104 children in this community. Many children were noted to have delayed education because of poverty now able to attend school through CDP.

The partner church has been active not only meeting the spiritual needs of the family but also other expressed needs and concern of the community. There are on going Bible study in the area and we hope to disciple leaders on Biblical worldview.

LOCATION

Our center in Sta. Quiteria is called Big Banana. It is located north of Manila, approximately 5 kms away from the capital city.

Big Banana is a bit swampy in sewer water with combination of earth and adobe stone. The long and narrow path leading to it is already cemented but it is only half finished because of their budget given by the local government was short. It consists of 550-600 people living in this area. Some of the families in the said area have been living there for almost 20 years and the rest are from different regions of the country that sought for greener pastures here in Manila. Tagalog is their common language.

It is just one of the economically depressed areas in Caloocan City. Almost all the people who lives there are squatters. It is near a creek making it susceptible to floods every time rainy season comes. Houses are made of makeshift and light materials. Most of the houses are rented at P500 to P2,000 although it is only a room size so the ventilation is very poor.

Big Banana is a microcosm of the entire Philippine realities. Problems of unemployment are prevalent. Most young people are out of school because of poverty making them unproductive, thus resorting to different kind of vices or some into early marriage. There is a high incidence of malnutrition among the children, from ages 2-6. [Top]

SITUATION OF THE CHILDREN

Spiritual Situation of the Children

When Jesus told His disciples in Mat. 19:14, "Let the children come to me and do not hinder them; for they belong to the kingdom of heaven." We can really feel how God loves the children. It is very important that they know this. That there is a God who truly loves them. We are delighted to see them enjoy the activities such as reciting their favorite memory verses in the bible, portray the characters in the bible, and know how to read it. And through the CDP, they were able experience all of these things. [Top]

Intellectual and Vocational Situation of the Children

One of the basic right of every Filipino children is the right for proper education. But what if the parents can not afford to send them to school. I can't imagine what future lies ahead of them. Maybe some of them would become law offenders when they grow old. Some may just resort to early marriage or worse is they may turn to vices.

The sponsored children in Big Banana felt very fortunate to be included in the CDP. Parental support is really needed for them to achieve good grades. For it is in them, that these children get their inspiration and motivation to do well in school. Almost all of them are performing impressively. Not only do they excel in their grades, some of them also participate in some extra curricular activities such as singing contest in their school. Their involvement in the church's children choir must have helped them gain self-confidence. The church also helps the children dicover their talents such as singing, acting and interpretative dancing. [Top]

Social/Moral Situation of the Children

Sad to say but children are the most vulnerable victim of media exploitation. Their eyes are always glued on television that no longer cares whether children are watching their programs or not. They also have easy access to tabloids that shows indiscreet pictures and violence. What they see and hear could easily mold them into something we all fear. Especially if they see it within their parents so they easily believe its okay for them to imitate it since it is their parents who are doing it. So it is very important for the church and the FHI worker to see to it that these things doesn't happen to the children in the community by instilling them good values. We will also conduct activities such as Good Parenting Lectures, Bible Study for the parents. So after a while, we would all work together in protecting these children to ensure them a safe and sound environment. [Top]

Physical and Health Situation of the Children

The basic needs of a child is food, shelter and clothing. One must need money to acquire these needs. But what if the parents of these children are unemployed. Most of the head of the family of the sponsored children are factory workers which only hires them occasionally and their mothers usually washes clothes. The average income of each family ranges from P2,000- P4,000. With all the things to pay such as house rental, electric, water, and the rest is for food. And to the fact that the average number of children in every family is 4-6 children. Then the needs of these children are obviously unmet, especially their nutritional needs. And because of these, malnutrition is prevalent.

There is a Health Center in Sta Quiteria that gives medical and dental service to these families. They offer free vaccinations for the infants and free consultations. But still, the local government can't cope up with all the medical needs. They still have to buy their own medicines. The most common cases of illnesses in the community is cough & colds, fever and some skin diseases.

With the CDP, the children receives free medical, dental services. And CDP also see to it that the children are insured. The FHI worker, being a registered nurse, also gives free basic medical services such as Blood Pressure Monitoring, Wound Care and sharing of some health teachings to the families in the community. [Top]

Emotional Situation of the Children

Communication in the family is very much needed for the child to achieve emotional stability. There have been some cases of neglect in their children which really troubles the child. Children undergoes lots of pressures usually without the knowledge of their own parents. They feel pressured in school, sometimes w/ their friends, even in their own family. In school, they are pressured to do well- in their project, tests and assignments. They also feel pressure w/ their friends because of wanting to be accepted . And in their families, they try to understand the everyday problems that the family encounters. Now, who can these children turn to if there is no communication within the family.

Early detection of stressed children plays a very vital role in easing his tension. In our extension class, we see to it that there are activities which helps ease of their pressure. For example, we have art time wherein they draw different scenarios in their home. Then one by one they get the chance to talk about his drawing. We also have time for our "Kamustahan" in our Sunday School wherein I ask the children one by one how they were in school and in their home. We also do home visitations to all the families, talk with them, ask if they have any prayer request and end our talk with a prayer. [Top]

OUR VISION

Vision of Community

Our partner church, Razon United Methodist Church and its members together with the FHI staff still works hand in hand into reaching out to the community through various activities planned to cater the physical, mental, social, moral, emotional and most specially their spiritual needs of the families living there. The activities are Bible Studies, Prayer Meetings, Family Devotions, Fellowships, Sunday Schools, Home Visitations, Health Teachings, Feeding Programs, Family Enrichment Programs, Extension Classes, Livelihood Projects, Skills Development Trainings and Medical/ Dental Services.

The community elected their area leaders whom they think would be of big help with the church and FHI. And by the things that are going on, indeed they are of great assistance in carrying out the activities. Although from time to time we encounter minor problems such as lack of interest of other parents in the activities, petty quarrels, gambling and gossiping, that doesn't discourage us from moving on to our goal and that is to transform the community into a community that utilizes God given potentials to overcome physical and spiritual hunger. [Top]

Vision of Child

It has been almost four months since we started our Child Development Program, and so far, with God's help and guidance we have been getting good feedbacks and results. The children regularly attends the Extension Class, Feeding Program and the Sunday Schools. Slowly we can see the changes in the children. It gives us great joy to see them smile because they were able to feed a nutritious feed even just once a week. They listen to bible stories, sing children songs from the bible and learn about Jesus Christ.

These activities are very much important in the children's lives especially if they are still in the formative years. It is very vital to inculcate in their minds and hearts what is right so they would have a bright future. Especially now that there are very high incidence of child abuse in the country, we are all wary with all the things that are going on with their lives in school, environment and even at their homes. So we make it a point to give them assurance that God's hands protect them. [Top]
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Food for the Hungry Philippines Inc.
P.O Box 3022, Manila 2800 Philippines