Poverty- Poverty in the Philippines

Poverty in the Philippines

  

I lived there for 6 1/2 months on two different islands and in two different cities. I traveled to Manila, Cebu and Cagayan De Oro. Everywhere I lived and traveled the poverty was very extreme in the cities, country side and mountains. Yes there are the rich who mostly ignore the poor. Their children are fat, full and dressed nice and they live in big beautiful secure houses.. The poor live in shacks or makeshift homes they can find a place to build. They and and their children wear clothes many years old and some with holes. The children don't get any education since the family can't afford to send them to school. They usually only have enough rice each day so they don't starve. I planted a church in a small impoverished fishing village where I saw this first hand. When they couldn't catch fish they would try to gather coconut shells and fallen tree branches to sell as fire wood to others to have some rice that day. Some of the children had lice and a few ran around with only t-shirts on and nothing covering the lower parts of their bodies. They are wonderful and humble people but have been born into generational poverty in a class system where it's next to impossible to ever come out accept for the grace of God.
I'm willing to sacrifice all again and go and minister to there needs.
Will you send me? Can you help?
See the pictures and the story at www.elijahscry.com
-Pastor Steve-

13M Filipino kids live in poverty, deprived of basic needs -- study 13M Filipino kids live in poverty, deprived of basic needs -- study By Jerry E. Esplanada Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 20:10:00 09/26/2010 Filed Under: Children, Poverty MANILA, Philippines ? Over 44 percent of Filipino children aged 15 and below live in poverty, according to a joint study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the non-government Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). The figure, representing over 13 million kids, showed an increase of about four percent over early 2000 data, according to the same study. It revealed that the children "do not only suffer from income poverty but also from other dimensions of poverty, such as deprivations in terms of food, shelter, health, education, water and sanitation facilities, and information." The study, called "Global study on Child Poverty an Disparities: Philippines," showed "large disparities across regions in the country...The national estimate does not truly reflect what is happening in the regions." The largest number of poor children can be found in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (69.3 percent of more than 820,000 children), CARAGA (67.8 percent of over 516,000 children), MIMAROPA (63.9 percent of more than 673,000 children), Bicol (63 percent of more than 1.32 million children), and Eastern Visayas (62.2 percent of over 963,000 children). "The child poverty rate in the ARMM is four times that of Metro Manila...The rate in CALABARZON is only half that of its neighboring MIMAROPA...The number of poor children in Bicol is about six-folds the number in the Cordillera Administrative Region," the study also said.