Letter in the The Independent Newspaper - Published 1 June 2010 

In just more than a month, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will end, and attention will turn to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. 

The media have highlighted the considerable social problems South Africa has, in spite of all the investment in new stadiums, facilities and infrastructure, still faces. The strategy seems to have been to plaster over the poverty and misery. This must not be the case in Brazil. 

Today marks International Children’s Day and while children in the UK may be dreaming of playing in the 2014 World Cup, for those in Brazil it could mean their nightmare continuing. 

It was a dark, overcrowded prison cell packed with the sweating, heaving tattooed bodies of the most wicked-looking criminals you could imagine. I could not see Hakim, the young kid I had come to rescue from this harsh place of human misery and degradation if ever there was one. Then in the dark corner near the stinking hole that served as a toilet, I saw the large staring eyes of this shrunken figure. He was terrified. I looked through the bars, the other prisoners stirred and shouted at me for food, cigarettes, money and drinks.

HOUSING PROJECT FOR DISPLACED INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. Last year, the Philippines was battered by strong typhoons that brought big floods in many areas in the country. In Zambales, a town called Botolan, about 200 kms from Preda in Olongapo, thousands of people were displaced and their land destroyed by the floods, whole villages were swept away, destroying lives of people and taking away their livelihood. After the big deluge, thousands of people are homeless living in tents in resettlement areas. Many months have passed and a lot of people are still living in dire conditions. Preda conducted several relief operations there in the past to give aid to indigenous families who are the most affected of all.

Before Sheila left Metro Manila to continue on her travels throughout the Philippines, she crossed the city festooned with election posters, banners and great advertisement boards from which beaming politicians promised justice, equality and prosperity and an end to corruption and many other impossible dreams. She was returning to her friends in the slums, those resilient hardworking women that fed their children and helped their hungry and sick neighbors with the small earnings from the soap and suds of their hand-washed laundry.

RECOVERING VICTIMS HAVE A HAPPY SUMMER. The school is over and the Preda children are enjoying their summer through beach outings, river fun, going for picnic at children’s parks and enjoying sports festivals. Just recently all the Preda  children and youth joined the Regional Sports competition and won medals and trophies, grabbing the second over-all champion award.  At the moment, a total of 112 children, boys and girls are being cared for in the two separate homes for children, one in the countryside at the Preda organic farm and one at Preda  main building overlooking the beautiful Subic Bay.