Improving the health of the Children of Manamoc

Hi, my name is Alexandra and I am rasing money for this important project to improve the health of all the Children of Manamoc Island in the Philippines.

Since I have been very young, I have been travelling to the Philippines. It is my favourite place. Amanpulo is a small hotel and is located on Pamalican island in the Cuyo Islands. Most of the staff who work at the hotel come from the neighbouring island, Manamoc, which is very remote, underdeveloped and poor with a population of around 5000. Most of the people’s livelihoods on Manamoc comes from rice and seaweed farming or fishing.

A lack of basic healthcare and hygiene is a big issue for many people there and the children on the island are most affected as they are more vulnerable to the effects of the diseases that often result from this.

Illnesses often seen in the islands among the children include:

a. Skin infections caused by a lack of personal cleanliness.

b. Infections from viruses, bacteria and parasites when not practicing regular handwashing that can lead to severe dehydration, malnutrition and other serious medical conditions.

c. Poor dental health leading to tooth decay, gum disease, and tooth loss. Many children on Manamoc have lost their teeth as a result of not brushing them.

All of the above cause pain and lead to other problems with eating, nutrition, speaking, playing, and performance/learning in school.

I want to fix this. Good hygiene prevents illness and whilst Manamoc does get some aid for its basic health and education infrastructure much more can be done to prevent disease in its children. As a way of saying thank you to everyone on the island, I am going to be providing basic medical and hygiene kits at the start of the school year for all of the 575 children of Manamoc, aged 4-10. The kit will be distributed through the school and will include a kitbag, a toothbrush, toothpaste, 2 sets of face and hand towels, soap and other items. The funds raised will also fund replenishments for one school year and will also fund a healthcare worker and materials to teach the children in the school how to properly wash their hands, brush their teeth and the importance of having proper basic hygiene.

The kit cost per child including replenishments will be approximately PHP 775 (GBP10.68). Please support me in raising £6500 to send hygiene packs to all the 575 children (100% of school children aged 4-10) who live on Manamoc Island in the Philippines. The money raised will cover all the costs of the kits, their shipment by sea from Manila to Manamoc, the cost of basic materials needed for their education by a healthcare worker and a small contingency for any cost overruns. There will be no overhead charge for any of this. I will be working to raise this through donations on GoFundMe and charity events over the summer to have everything ready for the children when they start school in the autumn.

I believe that this small investment will make a massive difference to the lives of the children of Manamoc. Please support this by donating what you can.

Thank you!