Fight against hunger
The Poor Children Nutritional Center on Samar Island, was born to give a group of around 60 children the chance to receive a proper nutrition and follow pre-school literacy courses.Children are divided into 3 classes where they are taught basic education through hygiene lessons, the alphabet and 50 words in Tagalog and English.
In order to improve their physical health and lower malnutrition cases, the centre’s canteen cooks lunch for the children every day, which is the only daily meal for many of them.
The project was developed after the numerous reports of school drop-outs during the first years of primary school. Students of local schools come from very poor families, they spend the day on the street and need to be motivated to follow the lessons. Furthermore, some children have learning disability because of their malnutrition conditions and cannot always attend school. More than 30% of children up to 5 years old suffers from stunted growth.
The fight against hunger is aimed first and foremost at guaranteeing children food and micronutrient supplies with balanced meals.
A child who is malnourished has not been provided with the fair amount of micronutrients during the 1.000 day period between conception and their second year of life and they are therefore likely to develop motor and intellectual disability. This could be a serious damage for them and the community where they live.
In spite of the literacy rate being 93.4% in the Philippines, school dropout is a scourge on society. One child out of 4 school-aged children does not go to school because of their family’s economic conditions, the distance from home and the use of a different language from their own.
