Make The World A Better Place

As the world is in the midst of the worse financial crisis ever since The Great Depression, lifestyle of the people around the world has been affected (except for the few super rich), as they tried to cope with the impeding low demand and retrenchment. But what if, there are a small group of people where, they have been living in poverty all their life?

There is this landfill in Payatas, The Philippines, which is notoriously known over the world as Smokey Mountain. For over 35 years, the smoking dump site has grown to become a stark and heart-tugging reminder of the desperate conditions of humanity.

Everyday, children, as young as four years old, are forced to pick through newly arrived garbage to collect material to sell. Can you imagine? Childrens, living in a landfill and collecting garbage for a living?!..

Worse still, these earnings are not enough to even buy food for the day. So, in order to earn enough to feed everyone, the entire families are forced to climb the mountain each day, hoping to earn enough to feed everyone. On 10 July 2000, after a period of heavy rain, a trash slide occurred in the Payatas dump, claiming over 200 lives, including many children. There are over 20,000 children living on Smokey Mountain.

In response to the plight of these children, The Lighthouse Center For Children Foundation currently provides food to these underprivileged children, now numbering over 500 children daily. This figure used to be 2000 children per day, but support and donations have been getting harder and harder to obtain.

The foundation hopes to be able to feed 5000-10,000 children every day if it can raise additional funds. Besides, the foundation also embarked on a Literacy Program for the Payatas children.

Most of the children are not attending school, but helping, at their tender age, to support families. Nevertheless, these children have dreams, and surely their dreams will be anything other than keep on staying in the landfill. Sadly, their dreams are hindered by the reality of poverty and its vicious cycles.



Totedaddy has kicked off with a cash sponsorship of USD 10,000 to enable the children to celebrate Christmas. FusionExcel International has also pitched in a USD 5,000 in cash sponsorship. The money raised will help fund the projects already in place, and help fund additional projects aimed at providing better housing, and a means of livelihood for the Payatas community. Besides, footballers such as former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour and former Manchester United winger Lee Sharpe also play a role in this good cause, entertaining and inspiring these kids with their footballing techniques.

It is hoped that by creating better awareness to the plight of these children, more support can be garnered towards their betterment. Do you want to play a role in making the world a better place? Visit Christmas For Payatas. Together we can bury poverty!