On September 24th, our Director Elsa Thomasma, visited the Volunteer for the Visayans Community Center in Cangumbang to check on the center, as new updates of the center are currently in progress, she came face to face with Hunger in its most honest form.
Please read the excerpt from Elsa’s personal blog about her experience:
“As we descended the stairs, I was stopped by Nanay Elay (the elderly woman who lives in front of the center). She started explaining that the mother of six of the kids had left on Monday and the kids hadn’t had much food or gone to school since then. I asked the eldest sibling if their mother left any money or food, and the answer was no.
At first these situations would infuriate me, but I’ve come to realize that a great deal of people do not purposefully leave their children to fend for themselves. But instead they are forced to do it out of necessity.
I have to believe that even the slightest feeling to mother these kids that I have, is only a minuscule amount compared to the love of their own mother. I have to believe that she is doing everything she can to provide for them, and sometimes it just simply isn’t enough.
Though my little family of six is unique in that they are often left without a parent to care for them since their father is no longer around, they are not alone in lacking rice to satisfy their hunger or transportation to pursue a much desired education. There are thousands, millions of kids just like them all over the world, and even more so their are kids in their very village that struggle with the same poverty daily.
The rice harvest is on the horizon, but each passing day makes it appear to be that much further for the parents in Cangumbang, who are often faced with hard choices. They do their best to provide for their children every single day, with love, protection, shelter, and food, but some days there income just simply is not enough to cover all their needs. On top of this, as the region awaits the harvest of the rice and the supply begins to ween, the price of rice increases. Not to mention rice in general is still inflated since Typhoon Haiyan.
These challenges not only affect the families in Cangumbang, but also VFV’s Sponsorship Program, which is faced with the decision of paying for the children’s school fees, daily feedings, or monthly rice subsidy. Of the three, the rice subsidy is the only choice they have.”
The GoAbroad Foundation has decided to Launch support for the Child Sponsorship Program by raising funds for Monthly Rice Subsidies for the Children of Cangumbang.
Please check out our Rice Subsidy Program page to learn more about the program and to get involved.