Fundlife is an NGO that supports vulnerable Fillipino children through education and football. When schools were suspended and Cebu entered Enhanced Community Quarantine, you would have been forgiven for thinking Fundlife would grind to a halt. Indeed, four foreign volunteers in the Philippines were forced home when their governments called them back.Â
But the lockdown is putting those already at risk in much more danger. Large numbers of marginalised and poor communities, which make up 21% of the population of Cebu, now have no income, no savings and, therefore, no food. So instead of shutting down, Fundlife has adapted.
Moving quickly, Fundlife set up a globalgiving page to raise funds for relief packages. They have also partnered with a newly formed group of local volunteers called the Bayanihan Mission. Using the donations from the globalgiving fund, they have provided food packs to 250 vulnerable families and personal protective equipment to frontline health workers, and as soon as more funds are available they will be getting supplies to many more.
Fundlife wants people to know that wherever you are in the world we all can play a part in helping people. It doesn’t matter how you do it, whether by donating to organisations that are working in the field, volunteering yourself to help your community or even spreading kindness right from your home. In times like these we look out for one another.
With an increase of positive COVID-19 cases, the province of Cebu announced an extension of the ECQ until at least till May 15th, putting even more strain on families who have not been able to earn income since March 28th.Â
To find out more about the work FundLife is doing and to support it, you may visit https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/covid-19-relief-response/. If you would like to volunteer for ‘One Bayanihan project’ in Cebu, please send us a message through Fundlife’s Facebook page.
