Creating opportunities
From rural villagers to academics: The dream of many young Filipinos often fails because of poor starting conditions and inequalities within society – not because of their motivation or skills.
Face sees in young Filipinos the potential to take their future into their own hands and, beyond that, to improve their environment. Above all, the subject of ecological agriculture is of vital importance to many students. By being able to produce food in their own huts, the family is at least assured of self-sufficiency, despite financial restrictions.
Education plays a central role in this, which can break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage.
The Philippines
More than 100 million people live on the 7600 islands of the country (on the same area as Germany), which are divided into many culturally different subgroups. Thus, there are about 170 different languages (for comparison: all of Europe has about 150!), whereby only 80% of the population understands the official language Tagalog. English is the second official language spoken by about 50% of the population.
Can you imagine what it means for a country when there is no common first mother tongue?
Historically, the Philippines were colonized by the Spanish, taken over by the US around 1900, and occupied by Japan for 3 years during WWII. Since 1946 the Philippines are officially independent, but the colonial times have left many traces.
Our project
Since 2015, in the parallel to the long-standing educational project in Malawi, the agricultural project in the Philippines has also been growing. In cooperation with an American aid organization, we have an area on the grounds of a university at our disposition. There we have built up an organic farm over several years, which now represents the foundation of our work in the region. In a strategic position it connects the poor villages via the students with agricultural innovation of the university. In this way we can build many bridges and support the disadvantaged families in the best possible way to help themselves out of poverty.