Stick-thin arms, hollowed eyes, and a shrunken body withering like a prune… this is the face of child malnutrition. Unfortunately, it is a face that we see everyday and it is inevitable.

With almost 24 million Filipinos living in poverty, many parents cannot afford to provide their kids full meals everyday. Some eat only twice a day while others make do with pancit canton and toyo (soy sauce) for a meal. Even expectant mothers do not get adequate nutrition during pregnancy. This leads to the high rate of infant mortality in the country. And while mothers can still make up for this by giving their babies healthy food and through breastfeeding, many fail to do so, raising kids who are unable to fulfill their full physical and mental potentials.

Hope for the future

This is why community leaders, non-government units, and well-meaning groups join hands in projects that address this growing problem of malnutrition. One such project is Feeding Hope, a program that seeks to address wide-spread malnutrition in impoverished communities throughout the country. But what sets it apart from other feeding programs is its aim to also help teach parents healthy eating habits and financial independence.

Before starting the program, parents –especially mothers– are trained to acquire knowledge and skills that will enable them to provide their kids with healthy food. They are taught basic nutrition, values formation, and health education. They even have sessions on livelihood training and basic financial planning.

“The work component comes from the mothers. The success of the program lies in them. With Feeding Hope, they can learn to manage their own funds, to organize themselves. They are our most important partners in this endeavor. That’s why we conduct community and team building sessions for them,”said Victoria Wieneke, Kabisig ng Kalahi president.

The main core though of Feeding Hope is its supplemental feeding program, where parents take their malnourished children, 3 to 6 years old to feeding centers from Monday to Saturday where hot meals and glasses of milk are served. Since 2002, there are over 16,000 children, in approximately 500 feeding centers in impoverished barangays nationwide, who benefited from the feeding program.

“With every feeding program, at least 600 children are able to have significant weight gain every two months. In 2008, in the 80 programs that we have nationwide, 98 percent of the beneficiaries had substantial weight gain and 83 percent attained their normal weight, ”added Wieneke.

Share the News

To help inspire other beneficiaries of past success as well as recognize the efforts of mother beneficiaries, Feeding Hope organized a year-round monthly writing contest called "Mga Kuwento Mula sa Puso." The contest solicits inspiring stories from past and present participants on how the program has enriched their lives. First placer can win P1,000 while the second placer will receive P800. There will also be five consolation prizes of P500.

“We think "Mga Kuwento Mula sa Puso" is a good outlet for our mother beneficiaries to tell stories about what Feeding Hope has done for their children and how it has enhanced their lives,” said Paul Richards, Mead Johnson Nutritionals president and general manager. 

Feeding Hope is a joint program of Kabisig ng Kalahi, a non-government organization catering to malnourished children, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)