Bayanihan village is very a special place, it's a place of healing , a place of nurturing and kindness, a sanctuary for those in need, it is built around the simple ethos of compassion, kindness, integrity, honesty and simple decency.

The village is home to some staff and their families as well as some children from our scholarship program who have been there since they were very young.

In 2014 Ashfield girls school in East Belfast raised £10k, which helped us to purchase half a hectare of land near the small town of Balayan on the main island of Luzon in the Philippines.

Since then it has grown along with developing into a thriving livelihood project, which aims to employ and empower women from extreme poverty backgrounds that have no skills, limited education and no hope to break the vicious cycle they are in.

Our tree of hope symbolises "Sustenance from its fruit and shelter from its branches. The two basic human needs." Ian Campbell

The photo above shows us planting the tree many years ago and the photo beside is the tree grown strong.

Daily life begins at 4am for one of the teenage children who prepares breakfast for the live in staff and kids at Bayanihan Village.

At 6am the village starts to awaken as everyone has breakfast before everyone begins their day.

After breakfast the children go to school and the others who live on site begin their roles as Manager, Office Manager, Airbnb Manager, Cook, Driver/Handyman and a Nanny.

Mothers who live in the surrounding area then arrive to begin work on making bags.

The village as mentioned above is a special place. Many children from outside the village will come round to play together with the in house children, with volleyball being a popular choice of many.

There is always an evening time meal where everybody eats together to share a meal along with stories from the day.

On a special occasion you will find us singing Karaoke.