JOANNA PAULA S. QUEDDENG
Like breathing, it is with food that we have one of our most intimate relationships. Like breathing, food goes in and gets processed out. Because we take it in regularly, it becomes routine to us, we never really notice, until we run out of it.
The Covid – 19 pandemic has brought so much uncertainty and loss …. of jobs… security…. and most hurting of all, of loved ones! Bereft of certitude, more and more fear if there will be food the next day.
Some of us are blessed to have the skills and resources to engage a new path to provide for our needs and that of our loved ones…. because we have a choice. I am blessed to now be counted among this group. But, it wasn’t always like this; I’ve experienced long days of empty!
Now part of Gawad Kalinga‘s anti-hunger program, KUSINA NG KALINGA (KnK), we are able to humbly respond, doing our bit to alleviate the massive national hunger and food insecurity that stalk close to 12 million or 64% of Filipino families during this crisis (SWS, Nov. 2020).
This realization has made me look back at my own journey. Back in 2000, I was 10, and in and out of school because it was financially difficult for the family. My shoes needed repair; very often, I would make-do putting on a hairclip to the velcro, just so the shoe will hold. I ate instant noodles or the peso cornick snack dipped in vinegar. Once while in school, I remember throwing away my lunch pack of rice, fried egg, and catsup because it was humiliating. And then, with bowed head, I’d line up the registrar’s office with a promissory note explaining why my parents needed more time to pay the tuition and seek permission to take the periodical exam. Because I was poor, I was other than physically hungry, also deeply hungry for caring and loving.
I was a child with needs and unable to satisfy these, but left with no choice! By God’s grace and the persistent strivings of my parents, I was able to finish school and embark on a career.
The United Nations International
Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) reports that 95 children in the Philippines die of malnutrition every day.
Further, one in 3 children under 5, suffer from stunting, an irreversible effect of hunger and malnutrition. A wide coverage of national territory report that more than 40 percent of their population show a prevalence of stunting. This, even as millions of kids under 12 years, experience hunger on a daily basis.
As of publication, Gawad Kalinga has established 464 kitchens and food hubs, serving 6 million meals to 148,681 hungry kids since the pandemic started.
KnK’s Program Head, Mark Lawrence Cruz says ‘We have been winning the battles against hunger and malnutrition, but we must win the war! The pandemic of hunger is far from over!’
Fr. Jet Villarin, SJ captures the moment perfectly saying, ‘Its grip will become bigger and tighter if we do not strategically address its consistent thrusts to the beast’s many hearts!’
A community has blessed me with their caring and sharing.
SVD’s Fr. Jerry Orbos‘ homily came to mind. Using the example of a glass of water, he says, ‘An optimist will describe it as half-filled, while a pessimist will insist, it is is half-empty!’
What we aim for in KnK is to bring hope to the Filipino people. And so, we will say, ‘The glass can be filled, and we can fill it ourselves, as we bring fulfillment in the lives of others.’
KnK is an invitation to look into our own glasses. The glass represents the space in our lives which we can fill up with our strivings to be better or to share our lives in love. We can fill others’ glasses with hope, by acts of goodness and caring bring compassion to an overflow.
GK Board member, Gerardo Ablaza underscores the need to come together. ‘The problem of hunger and malnutrition is one so large and daunting, it needs a movement where all of us can share and participate.’
As a child then, I never understood why my parents would invite poor children to our home for ‘sopas’ (soup) tsamporado (porridge), or pandesal (bread) after mass on Sundays. ‘We were not rich ourselves, hardly having enough money and being able to cope. Why invite more mouths to feed then? These thoughts lingered, and are now being answered. As light clears my memory, I see some kind mother of a classmate give my mom money to buy my school needs. Someone would buy me banana-q or gulaman (jello) to tide my hunger. Too shy to make friends, neighbors would go out, approaching me, inviting me to play. There was a world out there,that cared!
I serve alongside thousands of faceless volunteers nationwide, who know hunger intimately from its ‘pang’-beat!
ADRIANNA is a 10 year old who fund-raised to feed kids her age, because she wants them to feel good, in the same way she does, eating good food!
JENNELYN is a parent-volunteer from Matnog, Sorsogon, who has extended her motherly care to children, far beyond home, to include the many others in the communities she serves.
VINCE is a kitchen manager in Dinagan, Calbayog who wakes up in the dark of dawn to ensure that the breakfast meals get to the children-beneficiaries on time. He feels rewarded by the children’s smiles and simple expressions of thankfulness.
MARILYN is KnK coordinator, who goes out bravely amidst the scare of covid to establish kitchens and train volunteers in different places.
The list of Hunger Warriors continue… people who feel for the hungry and continue to serve quietly; intimately extending more than the meal, the warmth of a caring heart!
This article is an invitation for you to join the cadre of Hunger Warriors. The generation of tomorrow knocks on your hearts today!
Interested volunteers may contact:
Our Website: www. gk1world.com/kusina ng kalinga
Facebook: /kusinangkalinga
Instagram: @kusinangkalinga
Welcome to Gawad Kalinga: https://www.gk1world.com/home
Joanna, thank you for sharing this. I am miles away from the Philippines but every sentence took me to where you were when you were a child. I am grateful that I have never experienced involuntary hunger during my childhood (or even adulthood) If ever I felt deprived in grade school, it was for something shamefully shallow. I envied the prettier lunch boxes of my classmates. But, I had enough food – more than enough, in fact. I promise to bring to light the plight of children who experience hunger. Take care, Deng.
Truly inspiring are the countless volunteers who rise up at early dawn, daily to make sure our poor children do not leave for school with stomachs, empty. Their heart’s deep fears – the kids, walking miles and even crossing rivers to attend school atop a hill or across vast fields fainting or falling along the way – prompt them up from sweet slumber. The compassion of quiet heroism nudges the sunrise!
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