Renewing Lives: A Tale of Compassion, Community, and Hope in Sitio Hemedez

“If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs.” – Deuteronomy 15:7-8

Heeding this command, we are encouraged to live our lives with eyes open to the people around us who need our help – not just in the spirit of charity but in genuine compassion for generous giving to bring light in the darkness, hope in desperate circumstances and joy even in poverty.

A Community Not-Forgotten

Sitio Hemedez is a community in Brgy. Malitlit, Santa Rosa, Laguna of 150 displaced families, originally farmers, who were granted land under agrarian reform in 1999 but until now have not been able to take legal possession of it, leaving them with no water or electricity for more than 20 years. Access to the community is only through dirt roads even while it is surrounded by upper middle class real estate properties.

Human Nature learned about the community upon the hiring of one of its residents, Francis Manahan in 2018. Upon learning of their dire circumstances, Human Nature’s Chairman Dylan Wilk was moved to help and began a commitment in 2019 of daily feeding of the children with nutritious and tasty food like lugaw (rice porridge), pancit (noodles) or sandwiches prepared by the café team of our Carmelray Plant in Canlubang, Laguna for 200 children and 50 seniors. Prior to the pandemic, employees from our manufacturing plant and our Sta. Rosa office would take turns to deliver and distribute to the community every afternoon.

Francis says, “Nakikita ko ang mga bata na gumaganda ang katawan. Everyday may merienda sila paggaling nila ng school.”

Even when the pandemic hit and the company struggled in terms of sales due to the tight lockdowns, the feeding program continued and was even supplemented by distribution of food packs for the families during the strictest times of quarantines when people of the community could not pursue their sources of livelihood.

Partnership of Care

Eventually, through the network of Human Nature, more groups came to know about the community and initiated supplementary programs to bring hope to the community amidst the lack of progress or improvement in their living conditions. Saddleback Church Santa Rosa volunteer groups started to serve the community, initially through Christmas care box drives then later on Saturday community feeding. They likewise donated solar lights and solar energy enough to power simple gadgets.  Another group, Building Bridges Ministry whose calling is to share the gospel at the grassroots level, came into the partnership and started Sunday services and worship in the community.

Staving off a new hunger

Frequent visits of this partnership of volunteers led to the discovery that the community had other underlying concerns – illiteracy being one of them.  Based from observation, there was a gap between children’s age and their reading and comprehension skills. The lack of electricity in the community hampered the necessary home learning to supplement public school education.

With this, Human Nature, in partnership with Saddleback Church, developed the Read with a Purpose program to help children at Sitio Hemedez improve their reading and comprehension skills. Spearheaded by Human Nature’s own employees, volunteers from different Human Nature offices stepped into the community with the heart to help.

The first visit in the community was to evaluate the children’s reading skills and identify the appropriate curriculum fit to their needs.  From there, visits have been about imparting children with knowledge by asking them to read and comprehend texts and phrases, story-telling, and fun-filled games at the start of the program to build rapport. The afternoon would end with a simple snack to fill the tummy after refreshing the mind.

Human Nature volunteer Lisa Venegas relates her experience.

”Initially makikita mo pa lang na cause of insecurity ng kids na di pa sila marunong mag basa. Nahihiya sila during reading assessment na may pinapa-try kami basahin tapos di nila kaya. Nakaka-awa. But sa next visit namin, nung actual reading tutorial na, I was actually surprised to see na very willing to learn yung mga kids. Focused sila sa tinuturo namin, and nagtatanong sila kelan kami babalik. I also felt na kahit hindi ako teacher by profession, na-feel kong naka-ambag ako sa learning nila. So it means, kahit sino talaga can help them, basta willing to teach and guide them.”

Other than teaching children how to read, Human Nature employees also facilitated an educational yet fun hand-washing activity with the community to instill the daily hygiene habit of proper hand-washing to stem the spread of disease-carrying germs.

Hearts Renewed

While their living conditions continue to be unchanged, the lives of families of Sitio Hemedez have been renewed in many different ways with faith and friendships – as attested to by Francis.

“Blessed kami kahit sa ibang paraan. Yung iba po mas napalapit kay God. Although mas marami pa pong di nakakilala – hindi naman sila mapipilit. Ang iba, alam na nila ang tama at mali ngayon.”

In fact a closer knowledge of God paved the way for him and his partner of 5 years to finally decide to get married.

“Dahil mas nakakilala kay God, mas alam na naming na kelangan yun – kahit sa simpleng kasal lang.”

It is the ultimate hope of many who have joined this partnership of caring that Sitio Hemedez families’ land ownership be finally legitimized. But in the waiting, there is still much that can be done in bringing the love, peace and joy of God’s kingdom into their lives. Help us spread the word! Let it be a shining beacon to others to open their hands and hearts to those in need around them.