Project PEARLS: Serving the Poor Children in the Philippines for 5 Years

This month marks the anniversary of Project PEARLS, a nonprofit registered in California and the Philippines since 2011, which, for almost five years, has been serving the poorest of the poor in the Philippines.

Project PEARLS started out as a mother-daughter project in 2008 to help their family friend, a slum-dwelling deaf and mute single mom who was trying to raise two daughters. Mother Melissa and daughter Francesca raised funds to send the two daughters to school.

The project

The term pearls is not used because the Philippines is the Pearl of the Orient. PEARLS stands for peace, education, aspiration, respect, love, and smiles and the organization has been active since 2010, when Melissa was introduced by photojournalist Sidney Snoeck to the children of Ulingan, Tondo.

Ulingan rose from the waste and garbage dumpsite in Tondo, Manila. The mountain of garbage became the source of livelihood for the families living around the area. Several improvised charcoal factories were established there, where family members, including small children, scavenge for wood in the dumpsite and burn them for two days until the wood turns to charcoal, which the children will pack into sacks to sell.

These people, especially the children, face numerous health risks. They have not breathed fresh air in years, due to the stench, dust, fumes and heat from the dumpsite. There are also vermin, mosquitoes and flies to contend with. While Ulingan had been closed and the families were relocated to Bulacan, Project PEARLS is still providing outreach programs for the relocated children.

Likewise, the nonprofit runs several other community projects in Tondo, such as Helping Land, which provides shelter to hundreds of families living around the Tondo dumpsite in extreme poverty. When residents cannot find items to sell from the dumpsite, they search for edible trash, which they call pagpag. Pagpag is leftover food they find in the trash. These are processed and cooked and later sold to other poor people around the area.

Feeding programs

Project PEARLS participates in the Escolta Future Market, selling second hand goods donated from abroad, channeling all their profits to feed the children in Helping Land. They are currently feeding close to 600 children in Helping Land. Meanwhile, Project PEARLS has teamed up with Macy’s for a one-day shopping event called Shop for a Cause on August 23, where people can buy shopping passes, each one worth $5. That amount can already feed five children in Helping Land for a day. Shopping pass holders are entitled to a discount of up to 25 percent on almost all items.

Image Copyright: Sidney Snoeck with permission