Hope For The Island

Category: Malnourished Children

  • Continuing To Minister

    Continuing To Minister

    It is becoming increasingly difficult for the vulnerable who already struggle to endure with covid restrictions. Lockdowns keep the elderly isolated at home with no way to get out to gather their daily needs from the mountain or ocean. Vegetation from the mountainside and small ocean life are their sustenance.


    Thankfully our team is still allowed to visit the most vulnerable. Last week Nanay Tansya was trying to get up the mountain and lost her footing.  She slipped and slid down a rocky portion hurting her back and getting cuts. She struggled to make it back to town. Often the elderly never recovery from such falls, deteriorate further and die.  She was eager for our visit and prayer.  God touched and restored her over the week we spent cooking for her and sharing God’s Word. Nanay has good grandkids who have recently housed her to support her.  Please pray for the widows and elderly as monsoon season approaches.  With this season usually comes hunger and many sicknesses.


    Kids in our Discipleship Programs are always excited to learn and be challenged in Gods Word. Apple, Glaiza and Charis in the picture with teacher Leah worship, study the Bible and memorize scripture together.  Even the brother Gian, who regularly listens in has memorized 2 verses.  These kids live in Brgy. Tambacan San Isidro. We travel to minister to kids in that area each Friday. As these kids are renewing their minds in truth God is changing their hearts and using them to minister to their families. From the mouths of children and infants you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries, to silence the enemy and avenger (Ps 8:2)


    During our home visitation with one of the mothers in our Health Restoration Program, Hope for the Island continued to encourage and support her. Sadly, Almira lost her youngest son recently.  Diarrhea and vomiting could not be controlled in time. She is currently having a hard time taking care of her other 3 children. Little Lawrence is one of the kids in our Health Restoration Program. He was 17 lbs and is  now 25 lbs 🙂 Please keep them in prayer as this family trusts God and endures suffering. They have come to faith in Christ as their Lord and Saviour and are plugged into a Christian church!

  • Health Restoration Program

    From Derek:

    Let me introduce to you some special people who are a big part of our lives at Hope for the Island!!

    These precious children are at differing stages in our Health Restoration Program for severely malnourished kids.

    Whenever we encounter hungry children in dire need, we start the process of working with the families to save their children.

    In some cases, families sadly don’t want to do their part and we refer these cases to social welfare. Most often these kids suffer because parents are simply uneducated and have never known anything different. They love their kids and need the tools to become responsible parents. Helping retrain parents on holistic solutions is a journey that takes a lot of grace and patience. It was shocking to find most parents have never prepared vegetables. We start at the most basic steps and work with the parents to overcome old patterns.

    Thankfully through a lot of experience, this program is finding greater success and seeing some long-term fruit as destructive cycles are replaced with sustainable life giving applications. Sadly many kids die each year from hunger and other poverty related concerns in the Philippines, but that is changing in Siargao Island!

    Thank you to all who support this ministry! It’s incredible what one healthy meal a day, some love, patience and perseverance can accomplish!

     

    Leam Kent and Ritchel have also graduated from the health restoration program. Pray that their immune systems will continue to develop and build resistance to bacteria. During rainy season they have struggled many days with sickness.

    They were both sick and are now pulling through.  One of the mothers responded in faith to Jesus during that visit! Hope team prayed for the kids and celebrated the mother’s decision to walk with the Lord.

     

     

     

  • Malnourished

    Please meet some of the little ones in our Malnourished Program. First a little history…

    Hope for the Island started feeding severely malnourished children one healthy meal per day in 2013.  We anticipated success and the results have been incredible.  We have always fed children healthy meals on our weekly outreaches because many kids are under nourished.  However, for the severely malnourished, we needed to step it up and fast.

    Sadly, with no intervention many children will continue to suffer.  Deprived of nutrition, these kids are susceptible to other health complications that can be life threatening.

     

     

    The need for this program became clear during follow up visits we had with the pregnant women who were part of our Prenatal Care program. When visiting these villages, we started hearing stories of kids whose basic needs were neglected.  As we sought out more information, we were led to some homes where we encountered precious children in such horrific conditions.

    There was no time to be frustrated, angry or cast blame, rather pray how the Lord would have us help these children recover and be healthy.  Rural health Units (RHU) submit to us a list of kids in their vicinity that are in the greatest need. We go out each week to bring supplies of food and take time to care for and counsel these families. We currently receive a soup mix supply donated from Canada that has 16 varieties of nutritious veggies. Along with the soup mix we provide seasonal produce from our organic farm, rice and a milk supplement for each severely malnourished child.

     

    Before a child is taken off this program, we make sure they are healthy and the parents are more equipped to care for and feed their children.  Their recovery can take from 4-8 months depending on the circumstances surrounding the child’s condition. With the help of dedicated Barangay health Workers (BHW), the children’s weight and home environment is monitored regularly. For some of these kids it is their first time eating veggies, so it takes time and persistence to help their bodies adjust to a proper balanced diet.

    The cost per child is $30 CAD per month. If you would like to help feed a child for one year or one month  DONATE HERE

  • Two Sweet Little Girls

    From Jenn:

    For previous reports on this ministry click on this link: 

    I had the pleasure of driving Let to Del Carmen to follow up with two of the kids in our Hope for the Island Malnourished Program. We were so pleased to see them clean and happy.

    ELIZA

    Let had so much fun playing the peek a boo game with Eliza. She is 4 years old now and hasn’t progressed much in weight or height. You can definitely see that she interacts well with people and is quite a cheerful little girl. Her mom mentioned that she easily gets sick. Currently her asthma is acting up and she has a bad cough. I was so impressed by this mother. She has another daughter who is 2 years old and is quite healthy. This dear lady found Eliza on the side of the road! Her health has been a challenge from day one. She was very malnourished and her body was covered in skin diseases.  I thanked the mom for her constant love and care and encouraged her that many are praying that Eliza’s lung will become strong and she will gain weight.  (more…)

  • Malnourished Children

    Love requires action.

    Early in 2013 Hope for the Island started feeding severely malnourished children a healthy meal per day.  We anticipated success and the results have been incredible.  We have always fed children healthy meals on our weekly outreaches because many kids are under nourished.  However, for the severely malnourished we needed to step it up and fast.

    With no intervention, many of these children die each year.  The need for this outreach became clear during the follow up visits with the pregnant women who are part of our Prenatal Care program.  When visiting these villages, we started hearing stories of kids who are neglected and eventually die.  As we sought out more information, we were led to homes where we encountered these precious children in such horrific conditions.

    (more…)