Christine, a three-year-old girl, lives with her parents and three brothers. Her father works as a security guard, and he has difficulty providing for the family. Christine does not eat enough nutritious meals. Christine has been diagnosed with moderately acute malnutrition. She began $184 malnutrition treatment on October 20. She is being treated by International Care Ministries (ICM), a Watsi medical partner. One out of five children under five in ICM communities is either severely or moderately acutely malnourished. Worldwide, poor nutrition is associated with nearly half of all deaths in young children. In remote communities and urban slums of the Philippines, the lack of clean water and unclean environments add risk to potentially fatal childhood diseases. ICM’s Home-Based Feeding program provides nutrient-enriched food packs to ensure malnourished children get additional food to regain normal weight and achieve optimum physical and mental development. After identifying a child as malnourished, staff and community volunteers make weekly visits to monitor this child’s progress. To help sustain the health of the child, ICM's professional staff educate the mother, guardian, or other family members about proper nutrition, sanitation, hygiene, and organic vegetable gardening. "I hope she will become healthy and will be able to finish college someday," says Christine's mother.

Jorie is a 12-year-old student from the Philippines who was been living with an unobstructed inguinal hernia since he was two years old. A hernia refers to an internal organ poking through a weakened portion of the abdomen wall. It causes severe pain, and, if left untreated, it may result in intestinal blockage or prevent blood from reaching vital parts of his intestines. These complications can be fatal. For the past ten years, Jorie has experienced pain while he carries out all his responsibilities: he walks two to three kilometers every day to go to school, works in the sugarcane fields on his family’s farm, and does laundry with his mother. Our medical partner, International Care Ministries (ICM), tells us that he is unable to play very much because he tires easily and his parents worry his hernia may worsen. Jorie needs surgery to reposition his herniated tissue. The hernia repair surgery repairs the abdomen wall with synthetic tissue. However, his parents are unable to afford the surgery he needs. They make their main income farming, but have no extra income to afford healthcare. For $465, Jorie can receive the hernia repair he needs to resolve the pain he has been living with for so long. The surgery would remove the risk of fatal complications and allow him to go about his daily activities more comfortably. After the surgery, Jorie will be able to continue to go to school, help his parents, and enjoy his childhood without pain. “We want to see him free of pain and walk to school without any difficulty,” Jorie’s parents share. “We believe that he could achieve whatever he wants because we can see that he is determined and persistent in life despite the challenges.”