“Finish your milk, Rachel.”

Growing up I heard this refrain thousands of times from my mother. Her urgings usually came at the end of my meal after I had cleaned my plate and was trying my best to ignore the glass of untouched milk before me.

But my mother was persistent: “Milk is good for you, Rachel. It will help you grow up big and strong.”

I, however, could not be persuaded by the science behind milk. Vitamins and nutrients meant nothing to me. Only the threat of being a prisoner at the dinner table convinced me to down a glass.

So when Ami informed me that I would be manning the milk station when we visited the community of Pulang Lupa I couldn’t help but think that she had relegated me to the role of the dreaded cafeteria lunch-lady. Sure the homemade beef and noodle dish looked tasty but what kid in their right mind was going to want a glass of milk in the oppressive Filipino heat?

But the executive director had spoken. I dutifully took up my post and began trying to evenly divide our store of milk, glass by glass.
I had only just finished round one of milk pouring, when empty glasses began appearing all around me. Kids with their arms outstretched before me asked, “Pahingi pa po?” May I have some more please?

There wasn’t a drop left by the time I was done.

For most children in Pulang Lupa, milk is a rarity—something that comes at most once a week. Growing up big and strong is not a given. A fact that became all too apparent once Ami started telling me the ages of some of the children. In Pulang Lupa it seemed that four-year-olds were posing as two-year-olds, and two-year-olds were masquerading as infants.

The mothers here know all about the health benefits of milk and they breast feed their children as long as possible. But without access to family planning, spacing pregnancies is difficult, if not impossible. And there is only so much milk to go around when a new child joins the family; especially when the mothers themselves do not receive all the vitamins and minerals they need.

This is where Roots of Health comes in. By providing much-needed nutrition to the children of Pulang Lupa and information on family planning and healthy pregnancies to the women and girls in the community, Roots of Health is helping to improve the lives of people in this community.

Pulang Lupa still has a long way to go. There is no source of running water, only some of the families can afford to send their children to school, and the community sits on an abandoned mercury mine that surely raises a host of health concerns. But Roots of Health is able to offer a healthy start for many in the community. And as is often the case, new problems lead to new solutions. Roots of Health has plans to introduce a community water system and vertical farming in the near future.

For 4,164 pesos (the equivalent of roughly $90) we fed almost 100 children and even had enough leftover to feed some of Pulang Lupa’s pregnant women and mothers. All in all, it only took less than a dollar to feed each child of Pulang Lupa.

Visiting Pulang Lupa and helping out with the nutritional support program showed me just how Roots of Health can make a difference in this community with $50, $20, even $10.

The children of Pulang Lupa don’t need to be reminded to drink their milk. Instead, it was I who needed to be reminded that with so very little Roots of Health can make such a tremendous difference in the lives of so many.