Children and Poverty in the Philippines

I would like to share a true story with you about children and poverty in the Philippines.  It is about a little Philippine girl named Levi.

Levi (center) in white dress

Her name is Airish, but everyone calls her by her nickname, Levi. Her father, Tolino, was a very poor man, barely raising enough money to feed and care for her.

Since Philippine school is not free like it is here in the U.S., Levi could not afford to get an education and therefore had no hope to escape the poverty cycle once she grew up.

One day, her father was out working for a road construction company in the mountains.  As the company was blasting out a section of the mountain in order to lay the road, the charge detonated early, and Tolino lost his arms and his eyes in the explosion.

Unable to see his child or earn any income, Tolino could only sit in despair as his precious daughter’s poverty sank even deeper.  Because he could not support her, a ministry stepped in and offered to care for Levi in the Philippines.

You Too Can Save a Child from
a Life of Poverty in the Philippines

Today, Tolino is still alive, and Levi is now able to grow up in a loving, family environment at the Workers for the Harvest Children’s Home. She is able to eat three nutritious meals each day and go to school to get an education. More importantly, she is exposed to the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But a very troubling question keeps going through my mind: Why is it so difficult to persuade people to sponsor precious children like Levi, to commit to supporting them in order to meet their most basic survival needs? I just don't understand.

Why do we who call upon the Lord continue to prioritize our insatiable desire for HD programming and the latest Wal-Mart gadget above our dedication to the proclamation of the gospel – in word and deed? Have we forgotten our calling?

And Levi is not the only one. There are many other Philippine girls just like Levi at the children’s home who all need support, or they will return to a life of poverty in the Philippines.

Levi and Precy at the children's home

There is also Michelle, who cared for her dying parents and siblings until she was left practically all alone.


And there is little six-year-old Villa, who until June, spent her entire life living in a garbage dump, scrounging for food and clothing with her parents. These children and poverty should be something we all stand together to separate. Or how about her cousin, Precy, who also grew up in the dump, but thankfully has been living at the children’s home for three years?

Jesus told us in Matthew 25:31-46 that we were to care for others as if we were caring for him. And James spoke clearly that we cannot tell others about Jesus, but then leave them in their suffering.

Would you be willing to help Levi out of a life of poverty in the Philippines? If so, just click the banner below.

Because the words - children and poverty - should never be used in the same sentence.

Return to Poverty in the Philippines Homepage from Children and Poverty