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My first encounter with death by starvation was in Olongapo City many years ago when I was called out to bless a dead child. I was led to the hovel made of cartons and plastic sheet where the three year old was about to be buried. I found a little girl about in a cardboard box covered with dress cut out of paper. It was all the emaciated mother could afford. The family hadn't eaten in days. It led me to ask why and what could I do to prevent it.

Alan Ssembatya is an intelligent 7 year old boy who was kidnapped as he was walking back from school with his friends in October, 2009. His family and friend were alerted and they started a desperate search which continued for several hours. Eventually, someone heard a whimpering from under a bush. They rushed to find Alan, barely alive and laying in a pool of his own blood. His wounds were horrific. His skull had been ripped open by the heavy blow of an axe, and a section of his skull had been removed.  He suffered a deep stab wound to the neck, and was castrated. Yet he was alive. This innocent life had become yet another victim of (attempted) child sacrifice.

Last June, I traveled widely in Mindanao. I traveled first across parts of Northern Mindanao to Gingoog City in a space of three hours and passed about 20 giant trucks stacked high with logs destined to the plywood mills or to the ships for export. It was shocking to see the forests being cut and shipped away. The rivers I passed by were totally dried up. The land was shriveling, without trees there is no water, the sustenance of the land. No wonder there are so many hungry and malnourished women and children and high rates of child deaths. Driving from Cagayan De Oro to Davao City in the south to visit Preda Projects, I was amazed to see the rain forests had almost disappeared, the last remnants clinging to the tops of the mountains. A beautiful country ravaged, exploited and left bare. (photos at www. preda.org)

Child sacrifice in Uganda is on the increase. This intensely disturbing phenomenon is driven by superstition, exploitation, witchcraft, and extreme poverty. Today, children live in fear of being kidnapped and murdered. Jubilee Campaign and Kyampisi Childcare Ministries have launched an international prayer campaign backed by the Archbishop of Uganda and top Gospel star Wilson Bugeme seeking safety for Uganda’s children.

Sign our petition to the President of Uganda now.

Fair-trade has been an important part of my work in life since I first came to the Philippines 40 years ago and today it is more important than ever. It all began when I started a small handicraft basket and rattan chair making project in Olongapo City to help street youth and drug dependents find a self-reliant livelihood and restore their self-esteem. I went to buy raw materials from the indigenous people of Subic and Botolan in the Provence of Zambales. This was the first Fair-trade project of the Preda Foundation.