Request for Medical Supplies for the PEARLS Hea...

    In the summer of 2015, two young brothers, Mario and Marco, got food poisoned from “pagpag”. Tragically, Marco didn’t make it. His parents didn’t have the money to buy first-aid medicines; they didn’t even have money for fare to bring the two kids to the hospital. They begged neighbors to loan them money but those neighbors are just as poor as they are. Mario, up to this day, is still suffering from hunger and poverty. The tragic death of Marco compelled us to step up our efforts even further, and to go from a weekly feeding program to a daily soup kitchen. Currently, we serve breakfast for around 300 kids in Helping Land. This means the children get at least one healthy and safe meal per day, which in turn will hopefully prevent another deadly incident because of food poisoning.

    Since Marco’s death, there are several other young children who died from complications of malnutrition, and mainly from extreme poverty. Project PEARLS' effort in providing one healthy meal is not enough to keep these children healthy and alive. Immediate access to free medicines and healthcare is very urgent.    These devastating events inspired Project PEARLS to implement one of its biggest projects this year – the construction of a Health Care Center in Helping Land, Tondo, Manila.     Helping Land is home to hundreds of families whose main source of livelihood is scavenging from garbage. Due to extreme poverty, a common practice among the residents is to fill their hunger by relying on “pagpag” - leftover food from restaurants that is scavenged from trash. Pagpag literally means “to shake off”, and this refers to shaking the dirt off the food. Without proper nutrition and easy access to medical services, children become victims of malnutrition, dehydration, diarrhea, colds, cough, pneumonia, and other illnesses. Project PEARLS wants to address this problem by providing free and quality health care services in the community. By giving them accessible medical services, we may be able to prevent serious diseases, and even child's death.     The Health Care Center is now almost done, and will be formally opened on July 17, 2016. To provide the needed medical services, we are in need of nonprescription medicines such as paracetamol, decongestants, ibuprofen, multivitamins, and the like. 

    Any kind of support – cash or in-kind donations – will certainly go a long way in caring for the health and welfare of a child.     Our wish list can be found here.