Philippines

Around 64% of the entire population is chronically food insecure and doesn’t get enough to eat for several reasons such as crops being destroyed by typhoons and droughts, lack of drivable roads that link farms to retailers, and lack of income due to unemployment.

How Child Champions Are Helping Children in Poverty in the Philippines

Through OneChild’s Children’s Crisis Fund, families in the Philippines receive emergency food relief supplies. Families who are struggling day-to-day receive vitamins, supplies, and food baskets. At their Hope Centers, children regularly receive nutritious meals and snacks, which help them stay healthy and fights child hunger.

Read this inspirational story: Better Nutrition Brings Health and Hope

Filipinos have a high rate of illiteracy. One of every 6 kids will not attend school, and only 7 out of 10 kids will complete elementary school due to many reasons such as the country’s low investment in education over the past decade.

How Child Champions Are Helping Children in Poverty in the Philippines

All enrolled children at Hope Centers receive the education they need to build a better future. Child Champions not only help kids go to school and stay in school but also help them plan for their futures and encourage them to dream about what they want to be when they grow up. They also help kids take practical steps toward realizing their dreams.

Read this inspirational story: Giving Hope by Teaching

Ninety percent of Filipino children can access the internet, and children in poverty are not supervised when they do because their parents work long hours outside the home. Predators message children and promise money or gifts for kids to meet with them and then sexually abuse them. The Philippines also has one of the largest rates of Online Sexual Exploitation in the World. Kids are coerced by family members or neighbors. Mostly men from the United States and Europe subscribe to pornography sites to watch abusers livestream the kids being abused.

How Child Champions Are Helping Children in Poverty in the Philippines

Child Champions teach children about God’s plan for their lives and provide safe activities, so they are not alone during Hope Center time while their parents work long hours. Child development and youth development are crucial for kids at risk and so sponsors’ and donors’ generous donations also equip Child Champions to help growing kids with career guidance, vocational training, even scholarships and beyond.

Kids who are rescued from sexual abuse can be placed in OneChild’s partner Happy Horizons Children’s Ranch they can heal. Children at Happy Horizons have access to counselors, a school, Bible studies, a health center, and spiritual help, including peer mentors. Child Champions also help kids navigate the legal process since they need to testify against their perpetrators.

Read this inspirational story: Rescued and Healing

The Badjao are a marginalized group of people originally called sea gypsies because they lived at sea and made a living by fishing. But overfishing, pollution, and other issues forced them to live on the land where they struggle to integrate into the cultures where they have settled since most do not have birth certificates and they don’t always speak the local language. For these reasons, they usually cannot leave their communities to find work. To earn an income, most dive for freshwater pearls that they make into jewelry, or they sell recycled clothing. They live in shacks on stilts on the coast, which is vulnerable to flooding and typhoons. They don’t have adequate sanitation, the waters are polluted, and kids frequently get sick from life-threatening waterborne illnesses like diarrhea, typhoid, cholera, and giardia. There are also no schools in their neighborhoods, so children don’t attend school and are frequently malnourished.

How Child Champions Are Helping Children in Poverty in the Philippines

At a Hope Center in Davao City where the Badjao live, kids receive health care, nutritious meals, Christian teaching, and help with their education. Child Champions also help children obtain their birth certificates because the Badjao aren’t recognized as Filipino citizens. The Hope Center provides a secure and loving environment with trusted adults who have the children’s best interests at heart.

Read this inspirational story: Finding Hope Through a Camera

The Philippines’ location and proximity to the equator make it prone to earthquakes and typhoons, and it is listed in the top 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change risks.

How Child Champions Are Helping Children in Poverty in the Philippines

The Children’s Crisis Fund helps Child Champions provide kids and families with medical support, disaster relief such as rebuilding, emergency food assistance, and vital care.

Read this inspirational story: From Matchbox Shack to Sturdy New Home