Goducate Laguna has been providing aid to several typhoon-affected places in the Philippines. One of the places visited was the Rizal Provincial Sanitary Landfill area, about 2 hours’ drive from Goducate Laguna. The heavy rain and fierce winds brought by Typhoon Ulysses caused massive flooding, submerged houses and cars, knocked down power lines, displaced garbage and mud in Rizal. The state-of-the-art sanitary landfill site is one of the three that previously catered for solid waste from several cities of Metro Manila and Rizal. Most of the adults in the area work as garbage collectors.
Goducate distributed a gallon of water and six boiled eggs to each of 204 families living near the landfill site. The people were very desperate for clean water. They normally get well water but the wells had become contaminated with garbage. They also buy drinking water, but the loss of jobs during the typhoon period meant that they could not afford it.
Seeing how bad the situation was in the Rizal landfill area, Goducate Laguna returned to the area to hold a Children’s Big Day. The children were very excited and turned up without breakfast or lunch because they expected to be fed. They were given a meal of spaghetti with fried chicken. It was touching to see how the children dealt with their food, sniffing their apple to enjoy its fragrance before eating it, sharing lollipops with their parents, and saving a portion of their food to take home for their siblings.
The 330 children who attended the Big Day also joined in the singing of carols, enjoyed a musical, took part in games and went home with gift packs consisting of a hygiene kit, biscuits, candies, an apple and some c2 green tea. For some of the children it was the first time they had received a gift.
*Our guest writer is Gemma Abrenilla, staff member of Goducate Laguna.
