HUNGER RELIEF CHILDREN

When Operation Blessing opened the Community of Hope for Typhoon Yolanda survivors, the beneficiaries had no idea that it would become more than just a place to live. It would become a community of hope that would change lives forever.

Marilyn Desabille had always dreamed of having a home she could call her own. She and her family had lived in her in-laws’ house for years, struggling to make ends meet. But that all changed in 2016, when Operation Blessing opened an opportunity to welcome new families to its resettlement project in Tacloban, the Community of Hope. It was a dream come true for Marilyn, who had always wanted to provide a better life for her children.

But OB didn’t stop in giving them a house to live in. Knowing many of the survivors were struggling to make a living, they provided each family with livelihood assistance.

Marilyn, who had always wanted to open a small enterprise, requested a rice retail business. She was delighted at the opportunity, and she worked tirelessly to see it succeed.

Growing up in a small village in the mountains of Sitio Sinariri in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, Marlou Layhot, 25, never imagined he would be able to continue his studies, let alone be accepted as Operation Blessing’s Back-To-School (BTS) scholar.

Marlou belonged to the indigenous Mangyan group and had grown up with his parents and siblings. Life in the mountains was tough, and Marlou’s family survived by planting crops and trimming coconuts.

Despite the challenges, Marlou had always dreamed of something more. “I wanted to be a cop,” he admitted, but his dream had always seemed far-fetched as he had started school at the age of 14 and stopped going for two years due to the bad influence of his peers.

But everything changed when Marlou was given the opportunity to go back to school, thanks to a scholarship from Operation Blessing.

“As a BTS scholar, I receive financial assistance, which is a great help to me and my family,” Marlou explained. Aside from constructing a school for their community, Operation Blessing assisted the students of Sitio Sinariri with their needs by supplying them with armchairs and distributing school supplies in collaboration with the AY Foundation.