Samaritan’s Purse extends aid in city

AIDELY YOURS - City Mayor Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi (3rd from right) with the Samaritan's Purse and City Social Welfare Officer Cheribin Viloria (2nd from left). - CITY GOVERNMENT OF COTABATO

International non-government organization Samaritan's Purse met with Cotabato City Mayor Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi to present to the official its recent accomplishments ever since it started operating in the city this year.

Samaritan's Purse's latest activity was the celebration of the Nutrition Month last September in selected barangays in the city by conducting a cooking festival that featured highly nutritious food, and children's fair. It’s highlight activity, the “Sa Bayang Pagpapasuso,” enjoined more than 700 mothers in Barangay Rosary Heights 8  to breastfeed their babies.

In partnership with the city's Office on Social Welfare and Development Services, the Samaritan's Purse has been implementing projects and activities for the city's Day Care Centers. They have sponsored the construction and/or improvement of group handwashing stations, latrines, and water connections in several of these centers.

Aside from these facilities, this NGO has also been rolling hygiene promotion materials to at least 1,872 day care center pupils.

This month, the Samaritan's Purse will be celebrating the Global Handwashing Day on October 11 at the Note Dame Village gymnasium. A temporary handwashing facility will be constructed at the covered court to highlight the main event of the program for the simultaneous hand washing of about 300 children.

Aside from the Global Handwashing Day, it will hold the World Toilet Day.

Samaritan's Purse Deputy Country Director Selwyn Swamidoss said the organization has been operating in the Philippines since the typhoon Yolanda struck the country. At first, the SP was only concentrating on giving out relief assistance in Tacloban, the city where Yolanda struck the worst.

But this year, the organization has shifted from giving relief to aiding local government units in their quest for development and the improvement of the lives of its citizens, especially the young ones.

Swamidoss said Cotabato City is one of the areas that the Samaritan’s Purse has chosen for the expansion of their services, giving more assistance to the people of this city.

City Mayor Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi expressed her sincere gratitude to the officials and staff of the Samaritan's Purse for all their support and assistance to the city's day care centers.

"Your organization has truly helped us in our quest to becoming the most child-friendly city in the entire country. This year, we have just received recognition from Malacañang for being the 2nd Most Child-friendly City in the independent component city category," the mayor said.

Samaritan's Purse has been operating for over 40 years now and has started in the United States of America. It has only started assisting the city early this year.

Cotabato City has a total of 62 day care centers with 2,528 children enrolled. As of date, only 10 of these day care centers have no hand washing facilities but these will be constructed with the approval of the Bottoms Up Budget projects and with the help of the Samaritan's Purse.  (HALIMA K. SATOL-IBRAHIM – MINDANAO EXPOSE’)