HELP THE CHILDREN OF ROXAS, EASTERN SAMAR

Jipapad is a fifth class municipality in the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 7,885 people. One of its barangays is Brgy. Roxas which has around 60 families (approx. 300 adults and 80 kids).

Most of the families don’t have jobs or business that can give them income. They just live one day at a time, eating vegetables and crops once or just twice in a day farmed from borrowed lands. Children are malnourished and are not educated with proper hygiene that’s why they get sick easily. One of its main problems is also potable water. They have stream (non-potable) which they use for bathing and washing clothes, as well as two water pumps for drinking. The water from pumps has foul odor and has sediments that are unhealthy for the members of the community, but since they do not have a choice, they have become used to drinking from it.

In terms of education, they only have three small classrooms with three teachers shared by six elementary grade levels. High School students usually walk for 3 hours just to get to their school at the nearby barangay. Students are excited to go to school, but they are limited in resources. They don’t have books to read, notebooks to write on, chairs, tables, bags, shoes/slippers and the like. The community is far from the developed city proper, and needs are not addressed properly by the local government.

We already asked different organizations to help us with the water filters, and medicine, but we created this fund-raising campaign to provide for the children’s educational needs. We want to buy books, notebooks, and other necessary supplies like pencils.

This coming November 27, 2017, we will visit the community again and we are hoping we’ll be able to raise adequate funds to provide for their needs.