by Jennifer Devany | Co-Director of Community Outreach |After searching long and hard, the wait is finally over. On Sunday, July 15, ATG’s Philippines Aid Advisor Stephen Tan, ATG’s Vice President Renea Virata, and Co-Director of Community Outreach Jennifer Devany met and discussed making the very first disbursement to an orphanage in the Philippines. With the assistance of Jennifer’s family in the Philippines, ATG will be providing assistance to Lady Fatima Orphanage located in Iriga City in Buhi Camarines Sur, approximately 20 kilometers away, where Jennifer was raised.
There are approximately 129 kids in the orphanage, 72 girls and 57 boys. At the moment they are not receiving any kind of assistance or aid. To raise money, the nuns make necklaces, and the boys make cinder blocks. They do have a farm at the orphanage; however, due to the dry season, they were not able to harvest anything this year. Their living conditions and their means of making meals each day is inadequate by American standards and is disheartening. Some of their bunk beds do not have mattresses. The back wall to the girls’ living quarters is falling apart. For food, they make broken rice and beans, and sometimes vegetables, depending on what they have harvested for the year.
During the second visit to the orphanage, Jennifer’s cousin, Cherry Rose, took partial to three kids that the nun at the orphanage was caring for. They were very malnourished. The 8-year-old weighed 30 pounds, and the two 12-year-olds were just shy of being 44 pounds each. They were totally abandoned. The orphanage does not know who the parents are as they do not have any birth records or any form or identity for them. Cherry Rose stated, “The very sad thing is no one is helping the orphanage though the municipality already knows about the situation of the orphanage. The children and the nuns are the ones helping themselves to survive.”
As ATG’s Philipppines Orphanage Aid Team learns more and more about Lady Fatima Orpahange, we have found out that a majority of the children there are from Buhi, the village where Jennifer was raised. So we are utterly pleased and thrilled that ATG has allocated to this orphanage! A bank account for ATG has been created in the Philippines, and aid disbursement is in the process to this much needed orphanage.
Many, many thanks to those who donate to ATG in order to impact the world, one orphanage at a time.
