Food Truck for Street Children

Hi! I am a student from Tacloban City, Philippines. We experienced one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded. International groups assisted us and funded our city with food, clothing, and temporary shelter. In less than a year, I witnessed how Tacloban City stood up from the ground and it has been beautiful than ever before. New businesses were established and the city flourished.

I live with a family and go to a school that takes good care and pampers me and as a result, I forget how other children like me are living and what they eat during breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I realized how other families and the majority of our population here in the Philippines specifically Tacloban City are considered poor. It is evident as we go to the inner Baranggay's of Tacloban and we will see how families are gathering together to eat rice with just salt or soy sauce, nothing else. I am very upset at our government how they allow people to live in this kind of condition. I am also guilty that I am living this kind of life while they are living that kind of life.

I remind myself every day that what if it was me in their situation? I never chose to be in a middle-class family that takes care of me and provides all my needs without giving anything in return for them. As well as those children living in poverty, they never chose to be in that situation.

A few of my classmates started a project called "Project Saya" and you can look it up on Youtube. Saya means happy in our dialect. Although my classmates are now dismantled due to different degrees and courses in college, I am determined to give hope and food for street children and homeless people in our city.

This is only the beginning, I am very determined to uplift the people in the city I grew in. I want to give them a chance to experience what life is and get a job for themselves. I believe that giving them food regularly every day would help them fix their lives and get a job and hopefully help other people in return