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UNI Youth mission - The Payatas children's feeding project





UNI Youth mission to the Payata’s in the Philippines



After the recent UNI Youth World Conference in Kuala Lumpur, a small delegation representing UNI Youth went on a mission to the Payatas in the Philippines to witness the community projects that are being assisted by the UNI Philippines Liaison Council (UNI PLC) Youth first hand.



The Payatas region is an area just outside of Manila where the majority of Manila’s waste is dumped. Here children scavenge through the waste looking for food and items that can be salvaged and sold for recycling or scrap.



The project that is supported by UNI PLC Youth aims to give these young children one square meal every day and also provide them with inoculations against diseases which is common on the waste ground. Feeding one child can be achieved on only $0.30 US cents per day.



The small delegation consisted of Colin Medland, Head of UNI Youth & UNI Operations Manager and Keith Pollard, UNI Youth World President who witnessed first hand the abject poverty and deplorable conditions that these children are living in. But they also witnessed the extraordinary work being carried out by the volunteers despite the poor conditions.



It is a credit to the UNI PLC Youth and all the Volunteers who are working on the project to see what they have done up to now.



You see the pictures but these don’t give you the whole story, although these children seem to be happy, they don’t know anything different to what the live in day in day out.



We certainly came away with memories of the Payatas and ideas on how we can help! However, one thing is for sure the children will always be in our minds and we will remember the daily things we always take for granted.



UNI Youth will now try to find ways of increasing the fundraising efforts to improve the conditions for these future workers and trade unionists.