We have a new project in the Sitio Sais slum at Catmon that we are very determined about. One of our employees, Ate Tina, discovered the place a few months ago and the huge poverty the families live in. It reminds us a lot of one of our old places, ‘Smokey Mountain’, as the families survive on charcoal too (the ‘smokey mountain’: a huge slum located in a landfill in the port area where we had a Day Center, the families survived by sorting waste and making charcoal. The government closed the place down in 2014). The challenge in Sitio Sais is huge as it is a very large area, and we are one of the only NGOs who go there. Since the beginning of the year, and des­pite Covid, we have been living in the slum in order to define the real needs of the families there. Our volunteer mothers, who come from slums themselves, went from one family to the next with a specific questionnaire on resources and the health and educational conditions of the children. This study, carried out for 500 families, re­veals a terrible situation inciting us to open a Day Center there. There is a demand for a center from families and more than 150 beneficiaries have already registered. Most of the children do not attend school, even less so online schooling, in these times of pandemic…

Gloria Recio – deputy director of the foundation in Manila