For Cyd Suralbo, one of our Ligtas Lahat nurses, being a vaccinator is physically and mentally demanding, but Cyd's passion to help pushes him to work hard no matter what challenges come his way. “Seeing the relief on a person’s face after being vaccinated and receiving a sincere thank you is one of the most rewarding feelings. It’s enough to keep me going everyday,” he says.
We marked San Miguel Corporation's 131st anniversary serving others.
With our San Miguel family now protected, we turn our efforts to protecting our host communities. With our Ligtas Lahat team, we vaccinated persons deprived of liberty (PDL) at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City.
Our green-thumbed support staff have been able to grow and sell various vegetables, among them eggplant, okra, romaine lettuce, and camote tops.
Teamwork is very important in making this project successful and Andy Detorres explains this by saying, “Lahat po tulong tulong sa proyekto para mas mapalaki o mapalawak pa. Dahil ang bawat isa rin naman po sa amin ang makikinabang pagdating ng panahon.”
POPCOM and Manila Health Department visited Better World Tondo to conduct a family planning workshop and distribute free contraceptives!
Family planning empowers women to freely and responsibly decide how many children they want and how to best space out their pregnancies. In the long run, this enables women to live out better and healthier lives, which in turn leads to better and healthier lives for their children too.
A big part of making Better World Cubao a safe space for women is ensuring that their concerns are heard— which includes having access to essential health services!
Our nanays from Cubao will have the opportunity to avail of free general consultations, reproductive health services, and laboratory tests!
Abante Babae is a series of face to face workshops that will cover topics on Violence Against Women and Children, Gender Equality, and Sexual Reproductive Health. At Better World Cubao, we are committed to learning about the silent struggles that women experience, as well as the support they need and their aspirations in life!
Rural Rising has been our partner in rescuing surplus vegetables and crops from different farming communities in Luzon, ensuring that no food goes to waste and that farmers receive fair income. They’ve rescued produce like bintong from Aglipay, Quirino, as well as some pineapple and pili nuts from San Lorenzo Ruiz, Camarines Norte.
We were able to provide 117 free health consultations, and meals for 180 families in Better World Tondo! Sharing her experience with us, Nanay Marla Napoles says, “Kahit pagod ang mga doctor at staff, nagawa pa din nilang ngumiti sa mga pasyente at nagawa nila ang kanilang tungkulin. At ang mas nagustuhan ko sa kanila, may heart to heart talk ang doctor at patient!”
For Dr. Jolet, creating the #WorldWeWant starts within ourselves. “If we have the initiative and the passion to help, it will open a lot of opportunities for us to meet other people and experience things that we may not have been exposed to otherwise,” he says, “We have to work together to attain a just and fair world for all.”
UP jeepney drivers were invited to take home free vegetables from Better World Diliman! These drivers are some of the most hardworking people in our Diliman community, and this is our small way of saying thank you.
Every Monday since the lockdown, member families of Better World Tondo congregate at the community center for a week's rations of essential foodstuff. Food banking is a support mechanism that might help as public schools and community centers remain closed. With the help of a few volunteers and donations from a handful of big corporates and SMEs, Better World Tondo is serving the food needs of over 900 indigent families.
The poorest barangay in Antipolo, Barangay Cawalis, located at the foothills of Mount Porro is also the most inaccessible. The Luzon quarantine made acess to and from Cawalis even more difficult. Through the amazing PusoKitchen, At least 300 people (among them the Dumagat, senior citizens, and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, get a good meal.
Over 110 children from ages 5-11 were vaccinated at Better World Tondo!
Asked how she felt about her kids getting vaccinated, Christina Carillo Zapata said, “Masaya kasi may proteksyon laban sa Covid at hindi na ako magaalala.” Seven of her brood (Nanay Christina has eight kids) were vaccinated yesterday. As our learning center begins in-person classes, we’re hugely relieved that our kids can now return safely to BWT.
Every day can be stressful for those who live in Tondo, many of whom (even in the best of times), are struggling to eat three square meals a day. We are so thankful to our partners and donors who are still managing to send us food despite the lockdown and despite the fear of COVID-19. Thank you to Nissin Monde for donating hundreds of eggs to Better World Tondo. Every Monday, we give what we can.
"No child should at no time go hungry." This belief propels Project Pearls in its life-giving work of providing for the poorest of the poor. During the lockdown, they brought much needed food to Helping Land and Happy Land. We're proud to belong to the same One Tondo coalition of like-minded NGOs and foundations working to bring an end to poverty.
Following the lockdown, food distribution has been scaled back to once a week. Yet BWT members are comforted knowing that they will not go hungry, despite the growing health crisis that may force many more families to skip meals and scramble for scarce, subsidized food.
