Crushed in spirit, struggling to survive, a mother battles on for her children.

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Note from Dan: This is an all-too common example of what "every day living" is for many people around the world and could be for us with easy access to the internet. Read on and take some action.

By Gary Martyn, with Edwin Estioko in the Philippines


Marnie Calibujo pretends not to notice, but it always hurts — the passing whispers, the muffled laughs, the stares. She knows she can't help her slow speech, the way her mouth hangs partly open, or the way her eyes are drooped and unfocused. As a baby, when she desperately needed a mother and father to wrap their loving arms around her, Marnie's parents abandoned her, leaving her grandparents to raise her.

As a young girl, words like "stupid" and "retarded" defined Marnie's self-image and destroyed her sense of self-worth. Marnie never went to a doctor to find out why she had special needs, much less to get help. Instead she dropped out of school after the fourth grade and started washing clothes to earn a fewpennies. In the poor Philippine town of Cabacungan, Marnie worked hard year after year, scrubbing and struggling, barely making enough to scrape by.Amid her loneliness, Marnie thought she found caring neighbors when a man and his son started paying special attention to her as she washed clothes outside her home. In her childlike innocence she misunderstood their intentions and a relationship developed that quickly went wrong. Her new "friends" began paying her a dollar for sex.

Before long — when caring for another person was the last thing she was prepared to do — Marnie had her first baby. She did not have help or support to know how to make her life better, so she gave up the girl for adoption.But Marnie's neighbors didn't stay away for long, and Marnie now has two small boys, 3-year-old Jonnifer and 10-month-old Japhet, children for whom these men take no responsibility. Marnie depends on friends for help and still makes a little moneywashing clothes, but it's never enough."I gave birth to Japhet on a Saturday," Marnie explains. "On Monday I started washing clothes. I need to wash clothes to earn money. I don't really ask for pay. It depends on how much they want to give me. I'm ashamed to ask. I just get what they give me.

"For Marnie, "what they give me" could never begin to provide what Jonnifer and Japhet need as a toddler and infant. But Compassion's Child Survival Program filled a crucial gap for her — physically and emotionally."I wasn't expecting to be accepted," Marnie says with excitement. "I am very happy. It is for my baby. I am ready to be a good mother."

Marnie, Japhet and Jonnifer now benefit from a different kind of home visit than she was used to receiving. Child Survival Program Coordinator Rosemarie Demafelis and other project workers visit regularly to teach Marnie how to care for her children, monitor their health and provide them with nutritional supplements. They also encourage Marnie to attend church. Rosemarie explains, "We can give what the government cannot give — like immunizations. We give vitamins to mothers andchildren and partner with doctors from the municipal health center an hour away. We provide medicines for cough, fever, diarrhea, gastritis and sinusitis. We also overcome nutritional deficiency by scheduling feeding for children and teaching mothers food planning."

Many children who receive critically needed assistance through the Child Survival Program transition into Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program. Marnie is hopeful that Japhet will follow that path. "The CSP will help me take care of my child," Marnie says. "I want to see him go to school and have a better future."

Visit http://www.compassion.com/ to find out how you can help make these types of programs possible and for them to continue.