5 Loaves currently has seven feeding programs in the Philippines. Malnutrition and even starvation have been perennial problems in the Philippines with 20% of the children suffering from second or third degree malnutrition. Filipinos also face the challenges of disease-plagued water, primitive living conditions, and the lack of financial resources has been a tremendous obstacle for these underdeveloped countries.
In the area of Davao 5 Loaves supports the feeding of the Bajao children. The Bajao people, also known as sea gypsies, live in stilted huts which straddle filthy water from the local river and city sewage. The Bajao lived on boats drifting from place to place until commercial fishing operations depleted the fishing grounds after World War II. The Bajao had to move to the cities to sell pearls and beg. They usually eat one meal a day consisting of rice or cassava, a root crop, and some fish. The daily meal is usually midday or in the evening and breakfast is always skipped unless there is a small packet of saltine crackers handy. Families with extra money might eat twice a day. The Bajao men sell pearls, watches, sunglasses or other items on the street while the women sell used clothing on street corners. Some of the younger men go spear fishing with homemade goggles and spear guns. They spear small reef fish to sell in the market in order to buy rice or cassava, a protein source which keeps the stomach filled longer. If they are able to spear a good number of fish they can keep some and sell the rest.
The Bailey family, who partner with 5 Loaves and are directors for Peace Be With You, have been able to enroll Bajao children into the public schools where they are normally not accepted as students. The Baileys are feeding the children nutritious lunches daily Monday through Friday which helps the children stay in school in order to receive the proper education they deserve. There are currently eighty-five children being supported, and the meals they receive consist of rice and chicken supplied by 5 Loaves. Another support partner provides the children with vitamins. Sixteen children in K1 stay at the village and attend the Amazing Grace Learning Center for their education and meals until they graduate to K2. Sixty-nine children K2 through K5 go to public school and receive their meals while attending the school.
In Manila 5 Loaves supports Community Life Ministries who oversees four feeding programs totaling approximately five hundred street children in different areas of Manila. 5 Loaves is very excited about the great vision CLM has, reaching out to a young and lost generation, breaking the repeated mistakes of past generations. It is amazing to see the impact they have already made. They have many young people who attend school, are on staff, or volunteer with CLM’s outreaches. The street children whom CLM serves live in very depressed areas where most parents or relatives caring for children are very undependable and are not working, but by displaying love to their children CLM is beginning to see a change in some of the parents and relatives. CLM feeds the children on the street nutritious meals of rice, noodles, and chicken on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
5 Loaves also supports USCI as it oversees one feeding program at their private school totaling sixty children in Manila. USCI feeds the children two nutritious meals during school Tuesday through Friday. They also hold an outreach in the same village on Saturdays and Sundays which feeds a total of eighty children. These meals consist of rice, fish, and meat. MVP is another feeding outreach which 5 Loaves supports. MVP feeds one chicken and noodle meal every Thursday and Saturday to approximately one hundred to three hundred children in Manila. They also feed eighty children on Saturdays and Sundays.
