Hapag-Asa: Hope is where the heart is

Charity begins at home - and for thousands of malnourished Filipino children, home is where Hapag-Asa is.

Launched in 2005 as part of the Archdiocese of Manila’s Pondo ng Pinoy charity drive, the Hapag-Asa Integrated Nutrition Program, or simply Hapag-Asa, has been in the ministry of serving and feeding thousands of malnourished children throughout the country for four years now.

Hapag-Asa giving hope to young people

According to its program manager Florinda Lacanlalay, the Hapag-Asa feeding project was actually the “brainchild” of former Philippine ambassador to the Holy See Howard Dee, who is also the founder of the Assisi Development Foundation. She stated that the moving spirit behind Hapag-Asa’s conception and implementation was the Church’s selfless desire to help ensure a brighter and healthier future for every single Filipino child in every corner of the country. Lacanlalay added that malnutrition, though common in impoverished areas of the Philippines, should be addressed since it affects the very foundation and hope of the nation – the young people.

Malnutrition, a social problem

On one hand, Juliane Reyes, Hapag-Asa program officer, explained that malnutrition stems not only from inadequate food intake or imbalanced diet but from poverty and lack of food and poor access to health services in the country, as well. That is why, she explained, Hapag-Asa’s approach to the malnutrition problem has been multi-causal and multi-sectoral. It is multi-causal in the sense that it addresses not only malnutrition but its underlying causes be they economic or social. It is also multi-sectoral since Hapag-Asa partners with various non-government organizations, parishes and archdioceses to fund and support its feeding program.

Further, Reyes said the children that Hapag-Asa feeds and nourishes usually range from ages 0 to 12, although she said that their priority age grouping are those aged 0 to 6 because it is in this stage that a child’s mental development actually begins. She added that these children have become malnourished by the shallow reason of poverty.

Accordingly, they are fed one full Vitameal per day, five days a week, for six months. She also added that even if the six-month feeding program has ended, the monitoring of the children’s nutrition condition is continuous. She said such monitoring is done in order to make sure that these children will not be malnourished again.

Aside from the supplemental feeding activity, Reyes also said that Hapag-Asa holds education and livelihood classes for parents who enrolled their children in the said program. In these classes, parents learn many things about responsible parenthood, values formation and health and nutrition; they are also taught to enhance their skills for livelihood purposes. In this way, she said, both children and parents are nourished and enhanced physically, mentally and emotionally.

Pag-asa in the Diocese of Kalookan

One of the priority sites of Hapag-Asa is the Diocese of Kalookan. Although the Diocese has been blessed for having 27 parishes, not all of these can afford to support Hapag-Asa’s nutrition program. Even the weekly parish collections and voluntary donations from parishioners themselves are not enough to sustain the feeding project. This is the reason why Hapag-Asa has aked and sought the generosity of Analog Soul/Yo Ninoy through the iamninoy campaign to help them in their feeding efforts for malnourished children in the Diocese of Kalookan. So far, Analog Soul/Yo Ninoy has donated P28,214.48 for the said program, which only requires P10.00 to feed a single child per day. About P13,000.00 has been spent for the feeding project from March to June 2009.

Hapag-Asa: Catholic and yet ecumenical

Although majority of its activities have been conducted in coordination with Catholic parishes and dioceses, Lacanlalay relayed that Hapag-Asa has also conducted several nutrition programs in various Muslim communities such as those located in Jolo, Digos, Cotabato and the ARMM. She reiterated that though Hapag-Asa is Catholic both in origin and orientation, ittranscends and does not recognize any religious or ethnic difference. This, according to her, is the very core and heart of Hapag-Asa: to serve others selflessly, especially those in need like malnourished children, regardless of their ethnicity, sex, or religion.

‘No one is too poor not to be able to share’

So far, Hapag-Asa has fed an average of 150,000 children per year since its launching in 2005. For this year, both Lacanlalay and Reyes said that they are aiming to feed 165,000 malnourished children throughout the country for this year. They are hoping, as well, that their benefactors and sponsors would continue to support their feeding program and that there would be another groundswell of heroic and selfless volunteers for Hapag-Asa. They believe that every Filipino can contribute to their cause, either in a big or small way.