Helping children in the most dangerous places
Life can change in an instant for children in dangerous places in the Philippines. The Marawi siege, which happened in May 2017, lasted for five months, forcing 98 percent of the population of the city, as well as nearby towns, to leave their homes.
Global humanitarian organization World Vision has launched its Childhood Rescue campaign in time for its 65th year of bringing hope, joy, and justice to the most vulnerable Filipino children.
Adonis Carsinillo, World Vision project manager, said as the organization’s contribution to Marawi’s rebuilding, the new project will help ensure that children will have a joyful childhood and hope for a peaceful future.
Through the Childhood Rescue, Jun Godornes, World Vision resource development director, said the largest non-profit organization hopes to empower children especially those in the world’s most dangerous places.
“We want them to survive, recover, and build a future,” Godornes also said.
The organization helps a total of 10 barangays with 6,559 direct beneficiaries who are vulnerable due to poor living conditions and safety concerns.
Capacity-building training and interventions are conducted to ensure the children are protected from all forms of violence and harm, including the impacts of natural and man-made disasters.
Through child-led capacity workshops, children are empowered to be agents of transformed relationships in their families and communities despite differences in ethnicity, belief, tradition, culture, faith, and gender.
There are two options to support the new campaign, Godornes said. “Either by monthly giving or one-time giving.” The funds, he stressed, will not go directly to the kids, rather the organization will use it to help the community through programs, especially in recovery efforts in Marawi.
Individuals’ donations can help children break free from fear of living in dangerous places through timely responses such as life-saving interventions, crisis recovery programs, peacebuilding initiatives so they can continue to have access to child protection, health and nutrition, livelihood, and education.
One of the child beneficiaries and Marawi siege survivors, was only four years old when the Marawi Siege happened in May 2017. She can vividly recall the pictures of anguish, fear, and destruction in her hometown. Amid armed conflicts, thousands of Filipino children have lived a childhood full of fears and a future full of doubts.
For her part, Bianca Umali, World Vision celebrity ambassador, said one of the memorable trips she has done with the organization was the time they went to Marawi.
“We put up educational tents in an area and we had children who came over so we could teach them, play with them, and sing with them,” Umali added, so they could have the chance to be exposed to other people without having the fear of going through whatever that has happened there.
They were able to visit the women and witness their livelihoods.
Her favorite part of the trip was the moment she looked at the faces of children and women who still smiled despite the trauma, hurt, and fear they went through. “It only meant one thing: that we have accomplished our mission,” she stressed.
Umali personally loves taking care of children, supporting them, and loving them; and the same goes for women.
The organization gave her an opportunity to become an “ate” not only to the people she loves, to children who are in her family, but also to the whole world, to every child possible.
“A small effort from us goes a long way,” she pointed out. Any form of assistance can give hope to children, who, she said, are the future.
“Every child deserves to live as a child and to be educated as one,” she pointed out. “Let us rescue them and give them what they deserve.”
