See that justice is done. Defend widows and orphans and help those in need.  Isaiah 1:17

What is Be A HERO?
Be A HERO is an international charity working to raise up an Army of Heroes for an urgent global crisis – endangered children. We believe that everyone has a dream of doing something significant with his or her life. We connect everyday, ordinary people with opportunities to change the world, in small ways, and in large ways - one child at a time.

Be A HERO is a not-for-profit organisation with a mandate to educate, inspire, equip and facilitate people of all ages to “Be A HERO” to the 1.2 billion children at risk due to poverty, homelessness, child labour, slavery, sexual exploitation, aids and plagues, war and religious persecution.

Who Can Be A HERO?
We want to enlist everyone to the mission of mercy and social justice – caring for children suffering as a result of poverty, child labour, slavery, homelessness, sexual exploitation, aids and plagues, and war.

As Mother Theresa said, "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

Be A HERO representatives worldwide present the plight of children at risk to hundreds of audiences, large and small, every year, supported by our offices in Canada, USA, Australia, and the Philippines.

Be A HERO provides compassionate people with step-by-step directions on

• how to gather those in their sphere of influence and, together,
• do something life-saving and life-transforming! Today, many ‘heroes’ all around the world are making a significant difference in the lives of those in crisis by a myriad of positive contributions.  Be A Hero will re-ignite the latent desire within every human being to "Be a Hero" in the lives of those who are less fortunate, and create a continuing movement of volunteerism on behalf of those who are dear to the heart of God - the poorest of the poor

City: Davao, The Philippines
Project:  Orphanage
Partner:  Jesus Loves the Little Children
Number of Children: 68

Jesus Loves the Little Children was established out of a deep conviction to meet the needs of the orphaned, neglected, abandoned, and/or abused street children in metro Manila. The vision is to rescue hundreds from the streets to be cared for and loved as one's own. JLLC's goal is to establish a children's home that will become self-sustaining through networking, resource mobilization, and micro-enterprise projects.

City: Manila, The Philippines
Project:  Computer Installation & Community Centre
Partner:  Salvation Army

Be A HERO supplied and installed eight computers at the Tondo Salvation Army to enable people in the Tondo community to receive free vocational training in computer skills.

City: Manila, The Philippines
Project:  IT Program - Orphanage
Partner:  Salvation Army

Be A HERO supplied and installed computers for the children to learn computer skills.  The 38 children who currently live at Joyville now have an opportunity to learn skills that will take them into a future with HOPE and EQUALITY.

Joyville are also planning to run a vocational training program for the surrounding community.

With the growing number of street children and children at risk in the Philippines, there is a need for the provision of alternative safe accommodation.

City:  Quezon City, The Philippines
Project:  Computer Installation
Partner:  Salvation Army

Be A HERO supplied and installed computers for the children to learn computer skills.  The 29 girls who currently live at Bethany now have an opportunity to learn skills that will take them into a future with HOPE and EQUALITY.

Poverty leads to orphans and homelessness.

• 150 million children live on the street.
• Action International says that by 2020 there will be 800 million homeless children.
• The UN says that the street children situation is one of the worst crises facing the nations of the world.
• This is a disaster

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” – Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 25, par. 1

Average Gross National Income for every man, women, and child in America is $35,060. World Development Bank, 2003.

• Of the 24 mostly Western Developed Nations (including NA, Western Europe, Australia & New Zealand etc.)  Population of 900 million, the GNI is $27,000 USD
• Compare this to the fact that 1.2 billion people live on under $1.00 a day and 2.7 billion people live on under $2.00 USD a day.
• 500 million people are hungry and another 500 million are so poor that they don’t consume enough food to render them productive.
• Because of poverty 33,000 children (mostly under-five-year-olds) die every day due to preventable diseases – diarrhea, measles, malaria, and malnutrition – that is more than one child dying every 3 seconds.
• 55% of all child deaths (17 million deaths a year) are just because the children are hungry.
• Poverty is at the root of most of that which contributes to 'children becoming at risk'.

City: Manila
Project:  Orphanage
Partner:  Salvation Army

Joyville Home was set up in 1992 for street children gathered from the streets or markets. The children run away from their families for various reasons, a common factor being abuse – physical, mental and sexual. Be A HERO's partner, The Salvation Army has taken the responsibility to 'joyfully' help these children with an holistic program that focuses on each child so their innate potential and personal skills can be developed. The children ranging from young children to teenagers. It is a residential home in a rural area so the children can learn agricultural skills such as raising pigs, tending rice crops, fish ponds, etc. to give them some chance of making a living in the future.

You can sponsor these children

City:  Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City, Manila
Project:  Education Program
Partner:  Jesus Loves the Little Children

Pinagbuhatan hosts the biggest depressed area in Pasig City and, based on the 2007 population census of the National Statistics Office, is home to around 105,435 residents. Being also a low-lying area, it is prone to frequent flooding which exacerbates the already strained circumstances of its disadvantaged communities.

The main objectives of this project are to to provide access to quality education to disadvantaged children in Pasig City and to help increase the number of children who have completed pre-school and elementary education.

You can sponsor these children

City: Castillejos, The Philippines
Project: Children's Home - Orphanage
Partner:  Jireh
Number of Children: 30

Jireh Children's Home is a Christian home for children who have no home of their own: orphans; runaways; street children; victims of neglect, poverty, and exploitation - children who have nowhere else to go and no hope for a better life. Half the property comprises cottages and facilities for modern living. The other half is open land, set aside for agriculture and livestock. Jireh Children's Home grows much of its own food. It is a place where children grow up in a Christian atmosphere wherein personal and group devotions as well as ongoing Bible Studies are an integral part of the daily routine.

City: Tondo, Manila
Project:  I.T. Program & Internet Café
Partner: Salvation Army

Be A HERO Australia has supplied and installed eight computers at the Tondo Salvation Army to enable people in the Tondo community to receive free vocational training in computer skills.

Be A HERO Australia is now looking to partner with Tondo Salvation Army to supply and install computers into an internet café so that the vocational training program for the community can be expanded while at the same time bring self-sufficiency to this project.

Every day 5,760 more children become orphans

UNICEF and global partners define an orphan as a child who has lost one or both parents.

By this definition there were over 132 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean in 2005.

This large figure represents not only children who have lost both parents, but also those who have lost a father but have a surviving mother or have lost their mother but have a surviving father.

Of the more than 132 million children classified as orphans, only 13 million have lost both parents. Evidence clearly shows that the vast majority of orphans are living with a surviving parent grandparent, or other family member. 95 per cent of all orphans are over the age of five.

Be A HERO is an international team of people working together to be a voice for children who don't have one and to gather an Army of HEROES to transform those children's lives.

Be A HERO North America
Wesley & Stacey Campbell - Founders - 2003
Joanne Swim - Book keeper

Be A HERO Australia
David Crawford - Founder and Director - 2006
Fiona Crawford - Founder and Administrator - 2006
Noush - Book keeper/administrator

The Philippines Be A HERO Office
Rachel and Chito Sanchez

In the cities, neglected and abandoned children find themselves in the streets fending for themselves and vulnerable to the various evils of the urban jungle such as drug addiction, crimes and commercial sexual exploitation. Children who are neglected or abandoned are easy prey not only to accidents but to commercial sexual exploitation, drugs, crime and unwanted pregnancies.   Incidents of child abuse is still on the rise especially child sexual abuse. Also on the rise are reports of physical abuse and maltreatment of children. According to the statistics, there are approximately 40,000 to 50,000 street children of all categories in Metro Manila.  Studies conducted reveal that the number of street children range from 2 to 3% of the child and adult population.  The national project on street children estimated the number of street children at over 220,000 in 65 major cities as of 1993.   There are now about 350 government and non government agencies that are responding to street children and their families.  The government has given special focus on helping street children with programs focused on health and nutrition, educational assistance, parenting sessions, livelihood and skills training, residential care, foster care and adoption. However for as long as there would be squatter colonies sprouting in urban areas and for as long as there are not enough jobs, street children will continue to dominate in the streets.   In a 1993 survey of households, some 16% of households surveyed have children below 12 years old who are left unattended with no supervising adult in the house. This translates to one in six households where children are without adult supervision.  

Current efforts to fight child abuse are focused on tri-media campaign, information dissemination, raising awareness in the family, school and community of the evils of child abuse.  There is also a need for a more systematic effort at helping victims deal with the psychological trauma and scars of child abuse through proper psychological counseling programs that target not only the abused child but the family as well.

Background

The growing number of street children found in urban areas has long been a concern of the government.  Continuing efforts by the government and non-government agencies to provide services for both the street children and their families never seem to be enough. Street children are the largest number of vulnerable and exploited children in many countries with ages ranging from 5-18 years old. These children ply the sidewalks in a desperate attempt to eke out a living.   The Salvation Army Joyville Children’s Home is a rehabilitation center located in Pantay Road, Barangay Bukal, Tanay, Rizal, South of Manila. It is an ideal place for rehabilitation program because it is far from the city and the facilities offer better opportunities for wholesome development.     The major issues facing the children of this region are:-      Hunger & Poverty
    Diseases
    Natural Disasters
    Exploitation & Discrimination.

Hunger & Poverty   

In Metro Manila, where population growth, urbanization and migration continuously increase, children are often forced by circumstances to help their families earn a living. Most street children are of poor parents who have migrated from rural areas to find better job opportunities in the city, but lack of education renders them ill-equipped to earn or survive in the city.  Current population projections for July 2007 are 91 077 287 people, of this 31 458 591 or 34.5 % are children.    Statistics from the World Fact book, note that the percentage of the population of the Philippines who are living below the poverty line is 40%. The unemployment rate from the same source states that as at 2006 the rate is 7.9% of the population or approximately 7 200 000 persons. For comparison that is 1/3 of the Australian Population. The Philippines public debt is estimated to be 61.6% of their GDP. (1)   (1) Ref: (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/)  

Diseases

“Every minute of every day, a child under the age of 15 becomes infected with HIV”.  (1) Many diseases affect the children of the Philippines the most prevalent are HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Dengue Fever, Malaria and Bacterial Diarrhoea.   Of the 15 years to 49 years age group there are believed to be 7 195 105 people affected with the HIV/Aids virus. (2)  

(1) Ref:  http://www.unaids.org/en/HIV_data (2) Ref:  http://www.unaids.org/en/HIV_data  

Natural Disasters

The Philippines lie within the typhoon belt for this region. There is an average of 15 typhoons per year and 5-6 cyclonic storms affect this area as well. Mudslides caused by the uncontrolled deforestation of the area also contribute to the natural disasters of the area along with landslides, active volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. (1)  

(1) Ref:  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Exploitation & Discrimination  

    Child sexual abuse remains controversial, the most concealed and under reported form of sexual abuse. To date, reported cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of children are increasing. In 1997, the reported cases of child abuse received by the Department of Social Welfare and Development were 4,394 - 53% of which were sexually abused.  The real extent of this problem is greater than what statistics show because of a number of unreported cases.
      Accurate figures for trafficking are difficult to obtain due to the illicit & illegal nature of the practice.
    It was estimated by the UN in 2003, that over 1 million children are being illegally involved around the world in Child Sex Trafficking.  It is more than likely this figure has increased according to past data information.  Of this number one third are believed to come from the Asia region and a significant majority of these are young girls between the ages of 12 – 18 years old.”
    Prostitution exists in nearly all the Countries of the World… “It is exacerbated by economic & social upheaval, extreme poverty, deprivation and excessive consumerism”… (2)
    You can, for $ 1.00 (AUS) buy a 12 year old girl off the street and own her for the night; she will be yours to do whatever you want.
    The demand for domestic servants, cheap labour, adoption, prostitution, and pornography are what drives the illegal practices of human trafficking. (1)
    The street child works under the heat of the sun or in the dark of the night from 6 to 16 hours, seven days a week, often in a combination of “occupations” each considered their only means to survive. Street children have a bleak present and an uncertain future.  Life in the street is a constant struggle to overcome the various negative elements that threaten to overtake and destroy the hope for survival.  In the cities, neglected and abandoned children find themselves in the streets fending for themselves and vulnerable to the various evils of the urban jungle such as drug addiction, crimes and commercial sexual exploitation. Children who are neglected or abandoned are easy prey not only to accidents but to commercial sexual exploitation, drugs, crime and unwanted pregnancies.

  (1) Ref:  http://www.childwise.net. (2) Ref:  http://www.crin.org/themes/ViewTheme.