Jewel is 4 years old, the fifth among the seven children of Melanie Manalili and Ryan Sanggalang of Mabalacat City, Pampanga. She loves to play with her siblings and playmates, but she has a condition known as moderate under nutrition, a case in which the body lacks healthy elements that may affect one’s growth and development.
According to her mother, aside from Jewel’s under nutrition case, their whole family is also experiencing financial constraint, making it hard to meet even the basic of needs. There are times they let the day pass with empty stomachs, inasmuch as they feel so blessed when they could eat twice a day. Their relatives, at times, let them borrow money, just to be able to eat and survive the day.
Their situation severely affects Jewel’s mother, Melanie. Emotionally challenged, she often cries and sometimes would want to do something out of her will just to supply the needs of their family. Yet, these challenges serve as her motivation to grow her faith in God.
Four-year-old Jewel is one of the beneficiaries of Operation Blessing Philippines’s Bless-A-Child (BAC) Program. This program aims to support a child who is facing under nutrition by providing nutritionally balanced meals and monthly health care for the beneficiaries.
Before an Operation Blessing team came to visit this family, Jewel and her siblings used to share one meal. But through the help of the program, the siblings now eat nutritious food. After several months of participating in the BAC feeding program, Jewel added on weight and gained four kilograms from her original 12-kilogram weight, and her height also increased by 101 centimeters.
Since the BAC program also gives monthly medical check-ups for the children, Jewel was treated for bronco pneumonia and free medicines were also given to her. Melanie, her mother, was also instructed on how to take care of Jewel for her to recover well.
Indeed, Jewel’s whole family benefited from Operation Blessing Philippines’ BAC Program. In addition to the physical care they have been receiving, the family is also experiencing spiritual growth through a local church partner of Operation Blessing Philippines, where they were recommended to attend.
Bless a child now and encourage these kinds of people to see blessings available in their own communities.
Partner with Operation Blessing now by calling or texting these numbers: (+632) 477-7806 / 0939-9215543/ 0922-8036922 / 0917-5812603. You can also like and share Operation Blessing’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/obphil, or follow OB on Twitter, @obphil.