Foundation sends instant porridge to Zamboanga evacuation centers

CHILDREN enjoy eating Mingo at an evacuation center in Zamboanga City. Contributed photo

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL—An instant yet nutritious porridge produced by Negrense volunteers has reached children displaced by fighting between government troops and Moro rebels in Zamboanga City.

Sachets of Mingo (derived from its key ingredients—moringa, rice and monggo or mung beans)—have been sent to the evacuation centers in Zamboanga, courtesy of donors in Negros Occidental.

Millie Kilayko, president of the nonprofit Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation that produced the food, said more than 33,000 Mingo sachets had been sent in three deliveries on Sept. 12, 18 and 19.

Each sachet costs P4.

Most of the donations came through social media, as people monitored their Facebook posts and reports, Kilayko said.

“That computer seemed to burst with the love, generosity and beauty of the human spirit,” she added.

Donations have come even from preschool children in Sydney, Australia.

During the recent floods in Luzon, NVC shipped 130,310 Mingo meals for children in evacuation centers there.

Mingo was formulated by the NVC social enterprise unit with the help of the Food and   Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology and other donors.

It is the main component of the foundation’s “Start Right, Live Bright Nutrition,” a feeding program for infants and toddlers.

A total of 1,386,333 Mingo meals have reached more than 5,000 children in the poorest-of-the-poor communities on Negros Island, aside from those in evacuation centers in Luzon and Mindanao, Kilayko said.

Moreover, the NVC has identified partners in Metro Manila and Bicol who embark on the same feeding protocol using Mingo.

The foundation raises funds to produce Mingo and to support other programs through volunteers called “merchants of hope.” They are called as such because each piece sold represents the hope that NVC projects bring to the poor, Kilayko said.

The NVC is also involved in the construction of classrooms for preschoolers, training homemakers, and providing livelihood for breadwinners.

Women are taught how to crochet doilies, coasters, table place mats and other home accessories, and mosaic making. Their products are sold in trade shows, the latest of which was held on Sept. 25-29 during the 28th Negros Trade Fair at Glorietta in Makati City.

The three-year-old foundation has built 168 kindergarten classrooms for 8,400 children in Negros, augmented 56 public school libraries with books from donors and volunteers, provided seven science laboratories with new equipment to public schools, and purchased seven boats to ferry 300 island pupils to schools.