A ‘secret ingredient’ for feeding program

Children in their various moods wait in line for “lugaw” or rice porridge in the weekly feeding program of Rise Above Foundation in barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City. A Norwegian couple manage a community center that offers a library, space to play and lunch once a week. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/FRAULINE SINSON)

by Frauline Maria A. Sinson

For many families, Christmas dinner is a small plate of rice  with drops of lard and soy sauce. Others  just go to bed hungry.

You can change that.

“Giving to people who have no means of doing anything for you in return – that is real giving,” said Elizabeth Hansen, a  Norwegian missionary.

Every December, Rise Above Foundation Cebu Inc. conducts surprise gift-giving missions in Cebu city.

Each poor family they visit receives the equivalent of  $100 – half in the form of groceries and half in cash.

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“We give the money to the mothers,” said Hansen, the project manager with a knowing look.

Mothers are just less likely to spend the money on liquor and gambling, she said, drawing from more than 40 years of missionary work.

The bag of groceries contains rice, canned goods, coffee, sugar, and toiletries.

She’s usually concerned about tooth decay from sweets that children eat  but Hansen makes an exception for Christmas and puts chocolates in the bag.

“To eat a chocolate or some sweets once in a while doesn’t hurt anyone.  It’s the constant intake of sugar that is damaging for your health,” says the 63-year-old mother with eleven kids.

So far, 20 surprise gift packs are ready for  distribution on December 21 to 24.

But more families could still benefit.  “It all depends on how many people want to partner with us in this activity,” she said.

Hansen and her husband Flemming  also dress up in red and white costumes as Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus every Christmas season.  The jolly Scandinavian couple can be seen at malls and hotels that book their performance.

Kids get a chance to meet the couple and pose for photos. Money earned from these bookings goes directly into the Foundation.

WEEKLY FEEDING PROGRAM

Since 2004, the Foundation has also sustained a food program by providing weekly lunches for children in poor schools.

A donation of $150 or P7,000 can feed 500 children.

It started with 800 students in Maghaway Elementary School in Talisay City.

The school had been ranking poorly in academic performance. A friend of the Foundation told Hansen that 40 percent of the children were undernourished and that many of them went to school without breakfast.

That was a light-bulb moment for Hansen.

“Of course! How can the children do well in school if they are hungry?” she said.

They provide “lugaw” (rice porridge) with lots of vegetables and chicken.  Free toothbrushes are handed out to encourage the daily habit of tooth brushing.

Not many are aware that the number one cause of absences of schoolchildren is toothache, from the kids’ exposure to candies and soda, according to Hansen.

In three years, she said they were pleased to see school grades improve remarkably and absenteeism go down.

Sponsors from Denmark, Switzerland and Singapore help keep the programs going.

NEIGHBORING SLUMS

In 2012, the Foundation built a community center in Guadalajara in barangay Guadalupe through local and foreign donations.

The center has a kitchen, dental clinic and bathrooms.  This year, the Foundation completed a children’s library with a computer classroom, giving children from nearby slums the chance to learn, read books and have fun through different activities and play.

The road to the Center was rough and narrow when CDN visited last Dec. 5.   Construction work from rising subdivisions contrasted with the end of the road where a lot of shanties stood.

Dozens of children and adults lined up outside the Center’s gate for feeding day.  The crowd ranged from a 1-year-old toddler to a 67-year-old grandmother. They all held plastic plates and recycled ice cream bowls waiting to enter for their  share of lugaw.

It was a day like this in October when Australian actress Margot Robbie and her friends sponsored a feeding, helping prepare and cook the porridge in a large pot.

Hansen said she didn’t know who Robbie was when they met by chance in Manila. She  advised the stranger to take the bus to the airport instead of agreeing to a taxi driver’s fare demand of P2,000.

On the bus, they continued to talk. Robbie learned about the mission work in Cebu and later came to visit.

Robbie shared her experience on Instagram and urged her 1.4 million followers to donate to Rise Above Foundation.  Hansen said she was so surprised that a simple meeting and conversation could lead to something like that.

SECRET INGREDIENT

Many groups offer to sponsor a feeding.

On December 5, employees of  Shopwise, the day’s sponsor,  showed up early in the morning to help prepare the food.

The lugaw is is made up of rice, carrots, tomatoes, baguio beans, ginger, spring onions, salt, bullion cube, and ground pork or chicken – plus a secret ingredient.

“Lots of love,” said staffer Beth “Marie” Tangalin who oversees the cooking.

Chona Suan, a 23-year-old homemaker, came with her 5-year old daughter Lara Therese.

At  home, meals are limited to food that cost only P5. That’s all she and her husband, a garbage collector, can afford.

Suan said her daughter was fussy with vegetables and would just pick at the carrots on her plate.  But at the center, the little girl polishes off a bowl of lugaw.

The mother said she was grateful the foundation is helping stem malnourishment in their children.

Divina Duran, a 40-year-old mother of five, agreed.

“Lahi ra.  Lami kaayo.  Mahurot gyud sa akong mga bata (It’s different.  It’s very delicious.  My kids finish it.),” Duran said.

Her ten-year old son, Chrisjohn also goes to the center on weekends and during the weekdays whenever he has an assignment that would require the use of a computer.

This way he doesn’t have to go to a “piso-piso” Internet cafe full of noise and online games.

Kyle Erica, 9, said she enjoys reading the English books at the library when she and friends go about 4 p.m. after school.  How often?

“Lunes, Martes, Huwebes, Biyernes (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday),” she replied, after swallowing a big helping of porridge.

Sitting on the ground beside her, 9-year-old Sheena tapped her bowl against Kyle’s.  Heeding the unspoken request, Kyle poured some of her porridge into Sheena’s bowl.

Kyle talked about their neighbor, a boy whose parents died. Now he’s left in the care of an older brother who would often beat him.

Sheena nodded silently affirming the gossip as she shoved one spoonful after another into her mouth, finishing the  porridge in seconds.  “Lami-a uy.  Kulang pa (It’s so delicious!  I want more),” she said grinning.

When they first started the feeding at the Center, Hansen said they were shocked by response. Children and adults shoved and pushed to get inside the center.

“We thought… what did we get ourselves into?” said Hansen, recalling her alarm.

“But now there is no more fighting.  They are more organized.  They know how to line up with their tickets.”

Staff from Rise Above first go to slums near the community center to distribute tickets to target beneficiaries.  Each ticket entitles the holder to a bowl of lugaw.

When food is ready for serving, a batch of 15 kids and adults are allowed inside at a time.  Once they get their food, most adults would go home to their waiting children.  Some kids, eager for the hot food, eat straight away outside the gate, squatting by the road.

Hansen said they have been blessed that many companies and individuals are helping them carry out their mission which has other programs like the Alternative Learning System, a Family Care Center, Livelihood Program and Disaster Relief (they helped rebuild 105 houses in Tabogon and Medellin towns in north Cebu that were destroyed by typhoon Yolanda in 2013).

“Together we can make a difference,” she said.

The contribution doesn’t have to be big.

“People can sign up to come and play with the kids or read for them or help elementary school kids with their homework. If anyone plays a musical instrument, like a guitar, then we would ask them to teach children to play,” she said.

And if there’s an instrument lying idle in the house, “they may want to donate it. That would be awesome.”