Running for Daphne

Hi friends!!

In my last blog I briefly mentioned how I would be running a half marathon with my Dad to raise money for a child in the Philippines. In this blog I hope to provide y’all with a little more information about how I have been training and working towards completing my goals for the half marathon and how I have been trying to raise money for my friend Daphne, through my training! I would also love to share with you why I am so passionate about the Philippines.

As many of you know, last year I spent nine months abroad and three of those months were spent in the Philippines. While living in the Philippines, I completely fell in love with the culture and the people. It is hard for me to describe why I love the Philippines so much; the only explanation I have is that it feels like home. Because of this, I want to do all I can to support my friends in the Philippines, even if I can’t physically be there with them myself.

There is a young girl named Daphne who lives in one of the squatter villages where my team and the ministry we volunteered with, Kids International Ministries, would help with feedings. Feedings are outreach ministries that are done twice a day in the squatter villages that surround Manila. During a feeding, the volunteers provide the children in the community with a meal and vitamins. It was seriously my favorite experience of the whole trip. When you arrive in the village, all of the children come chasing after the car with their cups and mugs so excited for their meal. Then the volunteers line the children up, pray for the meal and serve God’s little children, possibly their only meal for that day. While some volunteers are serving the meal, I would work with the nurses who come to every feeding, and together we would help bandage wounds, administer vitamins to the children and pregnant women, and search around the village for children who needed to be taken to the hospital. Infections become very serious in these villages because the families cannot afford proper necessities for good hygiene, the main necessity being water. Yes, they could not afford clean water. As a result, when the children trip and fall while playing with their friends, their cuts become so infected that they then need extensive medical treatment.

Daphne is one of those children who needs life saving medical attention.  She is six years old and is suffering from congenital heart disease; she was found during one of the daily feedings and was taken to the Philippine General Hospital. This is the country’s most renowned health care facility. Kids International Ministries has worked with this hospital before and they know the doctors very well; they were able to negotiate a low cost for Daphne’s surgery through the hospital’s Charity Services. The surgery is still going to cost $4,000 US dollars or 200,000 Filipino Pesos though. 

My father and I have pledged to raise $1,300.00 of the $4,000 dollars needed for Daphne’s surgery. We are trying to raise the support by running a half marathon on March 16th and would hope, God willing, to have all of the money raised by then. If you feel as though Daphne is someone you would like to support, please donate on the link below. I know, though, that prayer is more powerful than money, so I would ask that you would please pray for Daphne and her family as they undergo the stresses of such an invasive procedure.

“And if you believe you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” Matthew 21:22

Thank you for reading and please keep Daphne and her family in your prayers!! 

http://www.stayclassy.org/fundraise?fcid=301645

God Bless,

Ellen Hudson