Living in Manila’s Squatter Communities

With over 12,000 people living in 2,500 square metres, the San Buena Community at Manila’s Cainta Junction is a very noisy and crowded place. It sits on land adjacent to a creek and so is always first to flood when the tropical typhoons come through.  Some floods are higher than the houses.

There are many health risks in squatter communities, including dengue fever, tuberculosis, boils, and tape worms.  Houses are very small, cramped, and hot. Most are struggling to keep enough food on the table each day and live from one day to the next. For most, the dreams of the big city have evaded them.

The costs of school uniforms, transport and school supplies are unaffordable for many families. Many students drop out of school because their families cannot afford to send them.

Bright Lights Learning Centre initially selected students from San Buena Community who had not been able to attend school because of poverty. BLLC now has students from a similar impoverished squatter community near Cainta Junction, Manila, known as Boso Boso. Our hope is that lives in this community will also be transformed, as they have been in San Buena.