By Dawn Marie F. Cabigon | Founder and Director of Development
Dear Friends and Partners,
School break is almost over here in the Philippines and the country is now preparing for school year 2017-2018. In time for the opening of the new school year, we are pleased to inform you that Reach Out and Feed Philippines Inc. (ROFP), have officially launched its first Feeding location in Mindanao, at Samal Island Davao City.
Mindanao, is the 2nd largest island in the Philippines with Davao City as its capital. There is a high prevalence of malnutrition in Davao at 31.6%. This is according to a Malnutrition Heat Map that is based on the 2015 Updating Survey of the Food and Nurtrition Research Institute (FNRI) on the "prevalence of stunting from 61-120 months children".
The community we are serving in Samal Island was relocated in this coastal area because their houses in the city were destroyed by fire. Some kids do “lasang” which means gubat or forest. They go to the forest to get fruits or anything that they can eat. Their parents are either fishermen, farmers or scavengers.
Below is a report direct from the field from our Volunteer & Community Engagement staff -Olive Titong.
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ROFP Launching at Samal Island, Davao City.
Last May 2-8,2017 we had the opportunity to officially launch our feeding station at Samal Island Davao. It is a 15-minute boat ride from the mainland.
Thursday May 4
• Courtesy call, orientation and meeting with the staff of #ProjectBaon implementing partner at Samal Island
• Site visit to Bucaran (actual feeding station)
• Courtesy call to Baranggay Chairwoman
Saturday May 6
• Actual Feeding – about 60-70 kids came to learn, play and eat.
• Orientation to parents- Mostly mothers were introduced to ROFP its mission vision and goals.
About the Location
The community of Baranggay Bucaran used to live in the bay area. Their houses were caught in fire so they had to be relocated.
SOURCE OF INCOME : Parents are either farmers, fisherman vendors or scavengers. Daily income ranges from Php 30.00 ($.60)– Php 150.00 ($3). Some kids pull out grasses in the farm or go fishing too to help their families.
ACCESS TO NUTRITION – Since income is very limited, most kids skip meals. To fill in their empty stomach, they go to the forest to look for fruits to eat.
A typical food is boiled rice with ground corn.
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Aside from food ingredients and tools for meals, as you may notice in the photo, we do not have a conducive area yet for feeding. We are also still raising funds to provide proper tables and chairs for the kids.
We hope to reach out to more public school children in this location as beneficiary. We Thank you- our dear friends and partners, for your continuous partnership with us and we hope that you can consider investing in the lives of more children in Samal Island Davao thru the #ProjectBaon program.
May God richly bless you all !
Yours truly,
Dawn + the #ProjectBaon Team
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