Christmas in Cebu City's Slum

Christmas is drawing near, and as a result the streets in Cebu are filled with christmas lights and christmas songs can be heard all over town. The christmas spirit is here to brighten up the days for the people of Cebu too.
But unfortunately the difference between people is very big, and a lot of the citizens here do not have the chance to enjoy a nice christmas dinner or give and receive presents because of their lack of income.

Visiting the poorer areas of Cebu

A typical home where the whole family share one room and one bed.

Entrance gate to one of the homes

The NGO that I work for here in Cebu (the Rise Above Foundation) has with the help from sponsors from all over the world gathed christmas gifts for families from the poorest areas of Cebu. I had the chance to come along on a trip around the city on Sunday to deliver christmas gifts to some of the many poor families that live here. We talked with many of the local people here, and they told us their stories. One lady was the mother of ten kids, and she told us that last year there had been a fire burning down her house. She had managed to save nine of the kids, but forgot about one of her daughters as she was trying to bring the others to safety..
One thing that seems to be the standard among the poor families we visited, is that they all have large families with many kids but with only one (or none) working parents. One of the girls we met was only nineteen, but she already had a two-year old daughter.

There are many poor children living in the slum areas of Cebu.

A girl with a Rise Above christmas hat 



Marie has just given out gifts to one of the families.

A lady with her large family getting christmas gift from Rise Above

We saw a lot of poverty during our trip around Cebu's slum areas. The families living close to the river were especially unfortunate, because everytime the river overflows the water would flood their houses.

Instagram picture showing some of the poor houses by the river



The river is filled with garbadge



A local guy walking by the dirty river

Another family who received support from us.

There are so many cute kids living in the slums of Cebu.. I believe that helping them all to a better life will be hard, and it will definately be impossile without the help of people from outside. Rise Above does a really valueable work in the community here, because they give children the chance to get an education and improve their health through the NGO's many programs in the community. The Family Care Center where I'm working as a volunteer give the children the opportunity to get out of poverty through their educational programs, at the same time as it gives their parents the chance to work. All this is possible because of all the hard-working people within the Rise Above Foundation, and because of sponsors contributing from all over the world. By supporting this organization you can be a part of empowering local women, and you can ensure that the kids in the slums of Cebu gets an education.

About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.