Filipino Families Throw Poverty Out
 Four
of every ten Filipino’s live below the poverty level. Parents like
Rolando and Eliza are unable to buy their children nutritious food, school
clothes or medical care. It is not because they aren’t trying. Rolando
works hard in the Payatas area as a construction worker while Eliza cares
for their three children. To add to the family’s impoverished situation,
their two girls suffer from brittle bone disorder. They and thousands of
other families living in the economically depressed areas of the Philippines
need help getting on their feet so they can make it.
In response to this overwhelming need, Operation Blessing Philippines
oversees successful micro-enterprise programs in the Payatas and Montalban
areas. We provide technical assistance to families, give small business
loans to those qualified, follow-up with the current loan borrowers and
assist with their basic needs until they are able to support themselves.
Right now 64 families are participating in the Payatas area and 26 families
have graduated. In Montalban, 63 families are currently participating
and 28 have graduated.
Rose Barrientos of Operation Blessing Philippines explained, “It
is our desire to be able to provide small-scale business for all of the
recipients of Payatas and Montalban, and to see those families who are
able to sustain their own business and improve their socioeconomic conditions.”
A Family Turns Around
Rolando and Eliza are excited to be a part of the micro-enterprise program!
Not only did Eliza use the small loan to open a small general store, but
her youngest daughter Rhea is participating in the year long feeding program.
The fragile and malnourished four-year-old gets to eat a healthy lunch
every day. In addition, Rhea and Ronalyn were each given a stroller, enabling
them to sit comfortably at school!
Right now there isn’t a cure for brittle bone disorder, causing
the sisters’ legs and arms to be crooked. However, free monthly
checkups are attempting to control the disease’s degenerative symptoms.
Thanks to partners like you, this micro-enterprise program is already
empowering this family. Soon they will be able to afford to pay for the
daily expenses you and I take for granted. They are taking an active role
in throwing poverty out of their lives forever.
Make a Big Difference
As you have seen, giving hope to the poor works! So many parents like
Rolando and Eliza desire to make a living, but need help taking that first
step into the workplace – especially when jobs are all but non-existent.
Your gift $50 can give a South American family enough livestock to begin
a profitable farm; $100 can train and equip a woman in Africa or Asia
to be seamstress; and just $150 can help an unemployed father or mother
in the USA begin the move from welfare to the workforce through our 16-week
Life Skills Empowerment program.
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