Receiving the pictures and information back from our representative on the ground in the Philippines, we really got a sense of the difference our work makes for people in need. One family who was a recipient of Peace Quest donations was a grandmother with her two grandchildren . The two children (pictured below) had been abandoned by their own parents at a very young age. Their grandmother, has been taking care of them and raising them on her own ever since. Inside of their wood and bamboo home was little more than a single bamboo table that doubled both as a kitchen table to eat on and a bed to sleep on. To see these people smiling, laughing, and holding Peace Quest donations in their hands really brings home the vital importance of our work and the difference made by our donors’ simple acts of generosity.
Another family (pictured below) told our Philippines Director that they “isang kahib isang tuka” – a term that means when there is food to eat, they eat like chickens. There is a major food crisis in the Philippines. In this village, food is very scarce, meals consists mostly of rice, and needs to be eaten in small quantities to survive. It is truly gratifying to know that our donors’ contributions alleviate a small part of the strain that these people have from living under constant poverty.
The first distribution of donations in the Philippines marks a milestone for Peace Quest. In addition to the material difference made by the donated goods in the lives of the recipients, these pictures demonstrate the beginning of one of the broader goals of Peace Quest: uniting people on opposite sides of the world in the formation of a global community. Through our contributions to people we don’t know, we are stating a claim to responsibility for their lives and their welfare: your problems are our problems, your struggle is our struggle – we are here to help in any way we can. Peace Quest’s Global Donation Recycling (GDR) is the first of many initiatives we are taking to transform the lives of people in hostile environments around the globe.
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