It is hard to place a value on the difference Viva’s phone mentoring programme has made so far. It has not only been life-changing for families, but life-saving too – as this short testimony from the Philippines clearly illustrates. Lockdown has created a lot of space for introspection: for looking back at our lives and […]
Tag: Philippines
Supporting families through the Covid crisis
Lucy Cox reports on how the first phase of Viva’s family phone mentoring programme reached thousands of families during 2020. Viva’s family phone mentoring programme was designed about a year ago as a response to the growing and alarming Covid-19 crisis – specifically to reduce violence and abuse of children and to provide psychosocial support, […]
Freed: Hope and Mary’s Story
Filipino sisters, Hope and Mary, were trapped in one of the growing number of cases of online sexual exploitation which occur each year across the world. Thanks, however, to the work of Viva’s partner network, PCMN, they were rescued and freed from their exploitation, as Emma Stonehouse writes. PCMN, our partner network in the Philippines, […]
Creative blessings
A simple gesture can make the world of difference! Children at a school in Marawi City in the Philippines who were displaced by conflict hold beautifully decorated notebooks produced by children in Hong Kong. The Filipino children have received the notebooks as gifts from Fe Foronda, National Director of PCMN – Viva’s partner network in […]
World champion fights to protect children in the Philippines
BY ANDREW DUBOCK Newly-crowned Ju-Jitsu world champion Meggie Ochoa is lending her support to the programme run by Viva’s partner network PCMN to eliminate online sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines. Meggie is the first-ever Filipino – and Asian – to win a gold medal at the Ju-Jitsu International Federation World Championships. She also […]
Light and life for Filipino children
Thousands of children in the Philippines are affected by the murky world of online sexual exploitation. Andrew Dubock travels to the country to find the light and hope that our partner network is offering. A teddy bear. A symbol of childhood, of innocence, of security. However, for Angela, a 12-year-old from the Philippines, her favourite […]
A simple blessing by children for children
BY RACHAEL MA “When we’re in trouble… Jesus saves!” the excited kids resounded. The Vine Church in Hong Kong hosted its half-day Vacation Bible School (VBS) programme made possible by the many volunteers who take care of the 50 children. It was so exciting watching the kids dance and knew all the action to the […]
Challenging a Culture of Online Abuse
The scourge of online sexual exploitation continues to attack children in nefarious ways. Philippine Children’s Ministries Network (PCMN), Viva’s partner network in the Philippines, is about to embark on a programme to combat digital abuse in Dasmariñas City, near Manila – focusing on the potential of youth advocates. Dasmariñas City has the highest number of […]
Philippines’ volunteer training in response to conflict
Starting today, PCMN, our partner network in the Philippines, is holding three days of training for 60 volunteers to respond to the psycho-social and emotional needs of displaced children affected by the Marawi conflict. Around 360,000 people are displaced by fighting, which broke out in May between government forces and the ISIS-inspired Maute rebel group. […]
After Haiyan
When Super Typhoon Haiyan swept across the Philippines on 7 November 2013, destroying more than a million homes and tragically killing 6,000 people, our partner network PCMN already had people on-the-ground in Eastern Samar. As a result, PCMN was ready to respond immediately by co-ordinating emergency supplies and, with Viva’s support, put together a comprehensive […]