NICA ROMPS AND RACES AGAIN

“From a sleepy community, the parents who used to peel garlic for livelihood are now engaged in endeavors like the nutrition program, the community garden...and some income generating projects.”

Eunice beams with excitement as she writes about the Baseco community, which the Tondo site ‘adopted’ during the pandemic. As the Tondo site director based in the capital of the Philippines, she knew that the families in this under served neighborhood of Manila were acutely food insecure. The problem of food insecurity existed for these families before COVID, and the pandemic has increased the risk substantially by causing widespread job losses and commodity price inflation. The Tondo site expanded their nutrition program to serve Baseco’s children. That’s when they met Nica.

Nica showed up to the site's meal program but was too fatigued to play with the other children. The site staff chalked it up to undernourishment, and happily fed her a meal every day. Nica received a daily, hot, balanced meal alongside 634 other children in Tondo this year.

"98.5% of the children have shown quite an improvement in their health,” writes Eunice. But Nica was still struggling to restore her energy. The site staff had another hunch: respiratory illness. Lung ailments are very common in Tondo, especially in children whose immune systems are weakened by hunger. That’s why the site staff screen all participating children for common diseases such as tuberculosis.

And for Nica, a little extra to eat was all she needed! 

“After weeks of constant free medications, receiving meals, and drinking [vitamin-enhanced] milk, she can now play with other children in the feeding program,” the site staff write.

“Nica’s mother, who lost hope before and always crying due to Nica’s condition,” they add, “is now very thankful to the Lord and this program because of the positive change for her daughter.”