Children of Siargao on the Road to Better Health after Typhoon Odette

In December 2019, we shipped Mingo Meals the Espoir School of Life situated in a Gawad Kalinga resettlement area of Siargao island. The families in this community were identified as people little or no means to sustain themselves. To assist them, the school enrolled undernourished children in the Mingo Meals Feeding Program.

Our ground partner Teacher Jerlyn Rabaca took charge of feeding the children their daily Mingo Meals. She found creative ways of using Mingo and used it as an ingredient in pan de sal and champorado. Unfortunately, the school had to close three months later because of Covid. However, Jerlyn made sure to supply the children with their remaining Mingo Meals to finish the program at home.

Siargao Island was one of the worst hit places when Typhoon Odette struck.  We tried to get in touch with Jerlyn immediately after the storm but only got to connect with her on New Year’s Day. Sadly, we learned that much of the school, like the rest of Siargao was in ruins.

And young Mary Rose, like many of the locals, had suffered injuries.

We immediately prepared boxes of Mingo Meals for the Espoir students. Along with the Mingo Meals, we sent water filters that we had purchased from AIDFI. This is because clean drinking water continues to be scarce on the island so the water filters will provide the community with a sustainable supply of potable water. It is fitting that we teamed up with the Espoir School for this endeavor as espoir means hope.

Because vegetables have become scarce, our ground partners at Espoir are now helping children outside their own community. They hope to distribute nutritious Mingo Meals to the children in other barangays. It is fitting that they are helping us with this as espoir means hope and this program will give the residents of Siargao some much needed hope.

Initially, we managed to raise enough to sponsor 170 children from ages 1 to 10 in for two months. Then we received provision to send a big batch of Mingo to the island. This was made possible thanks to many kind-hearted individuals who literally took steps to help children in need. The students, families & staff of Canadian American School raised enough to feed 500 children daily for 2 months through their #CASWalkForHope2022. And the participants of the #MikelLovinaJamborun2022 raced to raise a total of 85,439 Mingo Meals.

 

Celebrating Good Nutrition

In addition to the daily Mingo Meals, our ground partners made special Mingo treats for the kids. These were served during program kick-offs to celebrate the importance of good nutrition. They took our humble Mingo squash and ube and turned them into Mingo squash cupcakes and Mingo ube ice cream!