More Than We Gave: A Family’s Journey to Understanding Poverty in the Philippines

Guest post by Carol Yu

Editor’s Note: Carol Yu recently volunteered with her family in Cebu, Philippines through ICM’s volunteer program. Her honest reflection on the experience offers a powerful perspective on poverty, community, and what it means to truly help others.

This Labor Day, our family traveled to Cebu, Philippines, to participate in a volunteering program. Immersed in the local community, we witnessed firsthand the daily struggles of families trapped in poverty—a reality that deeply moved us.

The Reality of Poverty in the Philippines

The Philippines, a nation of 117 million with a young population (30% under 14), has a per capita GDP of just $3,500 USD. Shockingly, 15%—17 million people—live in poverty, including seven million in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1 USD daily. ICM (International Care Ministries) focuses on these most vulnerable individuals, working to transform their lives.

Poverty here is a complex web. Conversations with residents revealed that most lacked clarity about their finances—many did not know how many months a year they had work, let alone had savings. Meager wages forced them to borrow from neighbors at 10% monthly interest, repaying by advancing future earnings. As one person noted, their economic status might have to be judged by whether they had a new roof or access to electricity and water.

Forty Minutes from Downtown

Cebu, the country’s second-largest city and regional economic hub, starkly embodies wealth and deprivation. The community we visited is just 40 minutes by car from downtown—some communities even hide behind the city’s skyscrapers. Bumpy stone roads led us through garbage-strewn paths to the communities, where houses are simply constructed from wood, bamboo, and tin roofs that let in rain. Inside, families of five to nine crowded onto single wooden platforms, many with no beds or furniture. They cooked with firewood, children bathed in basins at water pumps, and adults washed outdoors with clothes on or covered by towels.

We brought our kids to visit Bijie, Guizhou, one of the poorest places in China, a couple of times, but here poverty is much more confronting. In China, decades of government efforts have brought basic infrastructure to these villages, including roads, electricity and clean water. Most families we have visited are living in brick homes with basic amenities. Today in China, less than 1% live on under $1 USD daily.

I remember that when I interviewed Professor Michael Sandel of Harvard University previously, he said, “People’s attitude towards success have changed. Those who eventually achieve success believe that they deserve their success through their own hard work. And this implies that those at the bottom may deserve it too.” Professor Sandel calls this view “elite meritocratic hubris.” Think about the people in the big cities who are only thirty to forty minutes away from these communities, or even closer to the communities in the city center, how much time and resources have these “successful people” actually spent on helping those in need around them?

Building a Toilet, Building Hope

We went to help a family of seven this time. The breadwinner of the family—the father—is a construction worker, earning 2,000–3,500 PHP ($35–$62 USD) a week. But the work is project-based, leaving him unemployed for six to seven months a year. On average, the family lives on $4.50 USD a day, only $0.65 USD per person. They couldn’t afford the 50,000 PHP ($900 USD) to connect to the power grid or the $3-5 USD monthly electricity bill. They installed solar panels on the roof before, but the battery broke. So the five children have to study before dusk. What’s worse, they did not have a toilet and had to borrow from neighbors because they couldn’t afford the 18,000 PHP ($300 USD) for the toilet building materials. The parents sleep on a thin, worn wooden plank, and the children share another with a torn mattress.

The father taught us how to build a toilet, and we did it together. We mixed cement, laid bricks, put up wooden frames, and painted the walls. The family’s hopeful eyes and appreciative smiles made all our hard work worth it.

How ICM’s Transform Program Creates Change

ICM’s “Transform” program gives people hope. They train 30 community members (mostly mothers) every week for four months, and then after the four months, the community leaders continue to receive monthly training. In the past year, it has reached 1,500 communities, with 43,000 people graduating and 200,000 lives improved. The program focuses on livelihoods and savings, education, and health, bringing overall transformation.

In the livelihood program, groups of 30 members each commit to contribute 10 PHP ($0.18 USD) of savings a week. They pool the money for microbusinesses that the community votes on. Ideas like making detergent (cost: 900 PHP, sell: 1,500 PHP) or rice retailing business (5kg profit: 15 PHP) are popular as they meet local needs. There’s also a social fund (2 PHP per person per week) that provides 1,000 PHP per time for group members for emergencies like fires or illness. With 4,500 savings groups (150,000 people, $6 million USD in assets), participants’ income increased by 107% after four months. It shows that “teaching to fish” can bring hope.

Understanding the Psychology of Poverty

At first, I couldn’t understand why these people didn’t save money or make any effort to plan for the future—why, despite having malnourished children, some families would still buy a phone or spend money on cigarettes. But after talking with them, I began to understand: when people live in extreme poverty, their daily reality is about survival, not long-term planning. Small indulgences offer brief moments of relief, and thoughts of the future often feel out of reach. Among those served by ICM, 40% feel hopeless about what lies ahead, and 20% feel worthless. In this state of mind, it’s incredibly hard to find the motivation to change. ICM’s livelihood program offers more than just aid—it empowers. It helps people imagine a different kind of life. After just four months of training, 54% of participants took the first step by starting their own small businesses.

Investing in Early Childhood Education

The education program trains mothers of preschoolers. The education arm has 800 trainers, one trainer takes care of several families, and they conduct one house visit each week, 2-3 hours each time, teaching mothers how to teach and interact with their children. This is important for children’s cognitive development and getting them ready for school. I recall interviewing Nobel laureate James Heckman, who emphasized that investing in early childhood education for disadvantaged groups offers the highest return for society. Such investment can reduce government spending on social welfare, healthcare, and crime, while also narrowing the wealth gap, improving workforce quality, and driving economic growth and job creation.

Community Health Champions

Walking into the communities, you’re immediately struck by the piles of garbage everywhere. Yet residents seem largely unaware of the potential health risks this poses. Some locals say that the average life expectancy in these communities is just 60 years, and health issues are widespread. ICM has trained 1,485 community health champions, equipping them with basic medical knowledge under the guidance of professional healthcare workers. We joined one of these health champions on her weekly rounds. She cares for 19 individuals in her community and receives a weekly stipend of 1,000 pesos from ICM. Each week, she visits the community two to three times, spending around 30 minutes with each household per visit.

Although government health centers are technically free, people living in extreme poverty rarely go. Many lack awareness of the importance of health check-ups, worry about transportation costs, feel unsure about how to communicate with medical staff, and are sometimes not treated well. ICM bridges this gap by providing basic health education, conducting simple check-ups—like height and weight measurements—and offering nutritional supplements to undernourished children and pregnant women. When illnesses arise, they help connect families with local health centers or hospitals.

So far, ICM has helped 14,000 malnourished children recover. Among children suffering from mild to moderate malnutrition, nearly 80% recovered within four months—and in almost all cases, they did not relapse. In addition, more than 22,000 pregnant women have received nutritional support from ICM’s programs.

Simple Solutions, Big Impact

In communities, clean water and handwashing are essential to preventing the spread of bacteria and disease. ICM taught us how to build a simple homemade handwashing station: heat a nail over fire to puncture holes in an empty plastic gallon container, mount it on a wooden frame (or hang it somewhere if materials are limited), then use nylon string and a piece of wood to create a foot-operated mechanism. Soap is placed inside a stocking and hung on the wooden frame for easy access. This DIY water tap is extremely practical for households without running water. By teaching residents how to make and use these devices, ICM encourages regular handwashing—especially among children—which has greatly reduced the spread of illness.

The Joy That Teaches Us

In the community, we spent time with the children, and their warmth and joy deeply moved us. Despite the harsh living conditions, they were full of energy and had even begun speaking a bit of English. Watching them leap through garbage-strewn mud, play hide-and-seek between wooden railings and iron gates, their faces beaming with pure delight, we couldn’t help but marvel at how simple happiness can be. No matter how difficult the environment, joy can still be a choice—one rooted in our own mindset. It reminded us not to get caught up in life’s small annoyances, but instead to appreciate what we have and approach each day with gratitude. These children—and their families—live with resilience and optimism that teach us to respect life more deeply. Though materially poor, their lives are rich in love: families stay close, neighbors help one another, and this warmth and solidarity offer a deep sense of belonging and simple joy.

What We Gained

We came with the intention to “help,” but in the end, we gained far more than we gave. The children didn’t just learn how to build toilets—they also came to understand that many others in the world live in poverty. And as those blessed with opportunity and resources, we carry a responsibility to do more. Our children now hope to have more chances in the future to help improve the lives of families like the ones they met. We returned home deeply moved, with a new understanding of what it means to grow: to see ourselves reflected in the stories of others, and to turn that recognition into a continued effort to bring warmth to the world.