How Poverty No More was Founded
It started in the Ginza, Tokyo over a cup of coffee...
In October 2013, I heard this comment from my well travelled Japanese friend, Masato: "there is no greater poverty than the poverty of the scavengers trolling through the trash on the dump mountains outside Manila, Philippines".
On his suggestion, I agreed to investigate.
In January 2014, in Payatas, QC outside Manila, what I saw broke my heart ! It was unthinkable that human beings could live like this !
The one positive 'take away' was that there was a small group of dedicated local workers - most with a university or college education - who voluntarily lived and worked in the dumpsite areas of Payatas and Montalban on a pittance, spending their lives to do whatever they could for the ultra poor.
As I reflected on the wonderful life I'd had, with a multitude of opportunities and benefits and comforts, I had to follow my heart and do anything I could to help these forgotten human beings, many of whom live sub-human lives. It was easy to see the potential and the beauty of these people. They just need a helping hand and half a chance to escape the hopeless cycle of their poverty prison . . .
We are addressing that! This charity determines to see the transformation of poverty bound dump-site scavenger communities - becoming the model for other poverty trapped communities.
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