Armed conflict and natural disasters throughout 2017-18 have caused many children and their families to become refugees in the Philippines. Daily nutrition is often lacking in one of the poorest areas in the world. Lack of access to clean water for drinking and hand-washing is a major cause of illness. The UN rates Sulu Province, Philippines near the bottom of the global Human Development Index. Our community-based programs provide emergency relief to Muslim and Christian families.
Due to armed conflict and natural disasters in Sulu Province, refugee children and families have had to leave their home villages in many isolated rural areas and travel the larger urban areas seeking food, water, and shelter. These larger communities are already overburdened and underserved by local governments. We will provide additional food, hygiene facilities, clean water and medical supplies to our Asia America Initiative sponsored schools to assist refugee families and orphaned children.
Water tanks, soap and washing facilities provide children and their families fresh potable water for hygiene and drinking. Daily lunches, made of fresh vegetable soup and rice, provided by AAI and our Global Giving donors are cooked by volunteer mothers in AAI sponsored schools. Educational resources, such as school supplies, textbooks and extra chairs in classrooms will accommodate hundreds of needy young students. Stuffed animals provide comfort to heal the trauma of random violence and war.
The long-term positive impact of this microproject is to assist overwhelmed communities and schools communities to provide for surges of new refugees. AAI inspires those who feel alone and abandoned. Tensions and burdens can put pressure on already scarce resources of water and food creating physical and emotional illness and more violence. In AAI sponsored schools, positive interaction and equal treatment of various cultural groups fosters mutual respect, trust and peaceful cooperation.
