A short school report....

Now all the Caredrops children are in school.

Here are a few pictures of some of the children.

Micel and Mary Mel on their way to school.
A picture of Mirasol´s class.
Esoy is ready to go to school.
Jay R in deep consentration in class.

It is truly a great pleasure to see these children getting their education.....We thank our sponsors for their support!!

The work now enters another phase. We need to followup on the children, their families and schools.
Dyna is also training local voluntary workers to help us with this.

We also have to make arrangements to increase our capasity to help more children. Poor children in the provinces as well as children in the city slums....one step at a time...there are great needs for our help!!

Summer holidays are over.

The Caredrops children have now started a new school year, and for Esoy,who had his first schoolday, it was a very special day. We all remember the excitement we had on our first day of school, don`t we??....
Dyna had a followup at the new meetingplace with the children, their parents/guardians and the voluntary Caredrops crew. School supplies were also handed out as well as snacks for everybody.

Thankfully the childrens school does not have a uniform requirement, this lessens the burden on the poor families.

Now we just have a few more things to do before our two "high school dropouts" are back in school. We are confident that this will be in order soon.

We would like to thank all our faithful supporters for their help.

Welcome to the childrens new place to meet.

Dyna saw a great need for a place to gather the children for followup. And her family graciously let us use a part of their land to build a native style gathering place.
This will give the children shelter from the sun as well as the rain....and there has been a lot of rain lately....

Most of the construction is made of bamboo from the forest belonging to Dyna`s family. Only some materials to the roofing is bought from local shops.
Local carpenters have been used in the construction, and now the place has been put to good use.

And the best of all is that the construction has been fully financed by Dyna, her family and Mr. Lai, (picture) a partner in Singapore with a warm heart for the Caredrops children.

We are truly thankful and blessed by this fantastic support.

Frode Sandtorv

Going back to high school again...

Kevin (wearing yellow shirt) and Ryan, both come from broken homes and have dropped out of school.

Their fathers are in prison and their mothers have found new husbands and have left them behind with their poor grand parents.

These young boys have already in their young age experienced to be victims of circumstances beyond their control. Leaving them traumatized and also lacking funds to go to school.

We know that the only way that these two fine boys will be independent and break the circle of poverty, is if they get an education.
We have to make sure that they don`t end up like their fathers...

As we speak to them and encourage them, we have seen a renewed enthusiasm in their eyes.
They now are looking forward to going back to school. After all....that is where they belong.

Caredrops make it possible.

Help us support them, and others like them...

A little help, goes a long way...

Frode Sandtorv

Learning how to use a computer...

The Caredrops children come from poor families that don`t have a computer. In fact, buying a computer is no option for them.

Dyna knows that all of these children will need computerskills later in life.

That is why saturdays are used to learn basic computer skills, as well as other extra corricular activities.
Music, social awareness and language variation....and just hang out for fun and games.


As the picture shows....the kids are really enjoying themselves.

Report from Dyna...

Dyna Dela Torre, (on the right) gathered some of the children and their parents for an information meeting.
The children do what children do, play and have fun, while the grownups get information and followup.

Dyna is our voluntary coordinator in the philippines. She reports of a great number of parents and teachers who have heard about our program, and seek our help.
We would like to help as many children as possible, but at this time we cannot support more children without more financial backing.

We desperately need your help to increase our education program so that more children will get their education and support.

Frode Sandtorv

The little nail collector girl.......

This little girl, is walking barefoot around a charcoal factory in Ulingan, Manila. She is searching for old nails to sell for a few pesos, so she could get some food.

She should have been in school, playing and learning together with other children. Instead she is forced to work, due to extreme poverty.

Together with PHOTO KALYE we will now try to track down this little girl, and see what we can do to make her life better. We don`t know her name or where she lives.
We will keep you updated here about how our search for this little girl goes...

Here you can see a video of this area where the picture of the girl was taken.
This video was made by Akira Liwanag, with music by DJ VINROC.

Frode Sandtorv

Photo/Copyright: Arnold S Melorin.

WOW...Look, an elephant!!!

Manila, January 31, 2009.
The children from Ulingan Day Care Center are happy and amazed as they see an elephant for the first time.
The Ulingan Day Care Center is a day care center for poor children, fully based on voluntary work.
PHOTO KALYE decided to give these children a day away from the slum, and at the same time give them some educational value.

"It was a heartwarming experience to see the joy in the eyes of these children as we visited Museo Pambata (museum for kids) and also their joy of seeing all the different animals in the Manila Zoo.
We hope the children and their voluntary teachers got some inspiration in midst of their hard reality. And that they would see the importance of a good education" Says Arnold S Melorin

After visiting the museum, everybody got a good hot meal with soft drinks.

Help us and PHOTO KALYE give more children days like this, and to support them in getting an education.

Frode Sandtorv


(Photo/Copyright Arnold S Melorin.)

PHOTO KALYE, a new partner in the Philippines.

We are proud and honored to introduce a new partner in the Philippines, PHOTO KALYE.

Here is what they say about themselves:

We are a select group of young and aspiring photographers who share the same passion... to document street life as we daily experience it. We all share the same compassion to our beloved country's oppressed, especially our children.

We had a humbling and life-altering experience from our first photo walk, October 2008.

We documented hundreds of images, more than enough to change our lives forever... we cannot accept the reality that these are the children who are supposed to be the future of our country.

A few select members of our PHOTO KALYE Group are dedicated and committed to somehow change the lives of some these kids. We are just a handful individuals trying to shake a mountainous and seemingly impossible task.

We are going to start and reach out to these kids through projects wherein we would hand out gift packages such as food, medicines, clothes and whatever we can get our hands on for them.

Our dream is to make better lives for these kids. Saving at least one, if not all, will be a dream come true.

For PHOTO KALYE,

Arnold S. Melorin
Photographer and producer.

Help us support these wonderful people, and follow their work and amazing pictures.

Frode Sandtorv

Photo/Copyright: Photo Kalye

Now, we can continue our education..

Mary Mel and Micel are two smart sisters who, because of lack of funding, is in danger of loosing their school rights.
This because their hardworking, poor parents, can`t earn enough money to pay all school-fees.
Papas job as a driver simply does not pay that much.

Mary Mel and Micel say that they dream of getting good jobs when they grow up, so that they can help their parents and siblings.
The key to a good job and the way out of poverty, is a good education.

Mary Mel and Micel are now "Caredrops children" and can continue their schooling.

Help us support them and others like them.

Frode Sandtorv

Jay-Ar dreams of becoming å sailor.

Jay-Ar is 12 years old and is 5th grade. But now he desperately needs help to pay the school fees.

His dream is to become a sailor and to travel the world, like so many other men and women from the Philippines.
His mother left him many years ago, and has not been in touch since. Jay-Ar is growing up living with his grandparents who are poor farmers in the philippines. He is a good boy and helps his grandparents any way he can. He carries water and does other chores. Anything to lighten the burden for the old ones.
When he wants to relax, he goes over to their neighbour to watch tv, or watch the neighbours children play videogames.

That sort of luxury is not in his house.

Join us in giving his dream a chance.

Frode Sandtorv

Esoy is looking forward to his first day in school.

Esoy is 5 years old. The youngest among his 5 siblings. His parents are poor farmers in a province in the Philippines. Everyday they work hard to put food on the table for their children and to give them a good future.
Unfortunately they don`t have enough money to pay for the school fees. His older brother only got a few years in school before he moved to relatives in the city to find a job.

We don`t want Esoy to end up in that situation. That is why Caredrops will support him so he can start school like all children should.

Help us support Esoy and others like him.


Frode Sandtorv

A smart little girl named Jannell

Little, 6 year old Jannell is the pride and joy of her family. She is a smart little girl and is ahead of her agegroup in intellectual development. In fact, she is so smart that she was moved from pre-school to second grade. Unfortinulately she is from a poor family that cannot pay the fees to her school.

Thanks to Caredrops, this little bundle of joy can now continue her education.

Jannell is a good example to the fact that small drops can make a big difference.

Frode Sandtorv

Taking a stand for the children

I work as a sound engineer for TV2, norway. I witness that day after day, pictures of conflict, famine and poverty roll across the tv screen, and as the media move from one conflict to another, the problem stays behind. I cannot change the nature of the media. None of us can.

But we can get involved and try to make a difference for the victims of powerty and conflict.
If you have looked into the eyes of a desperate hungry child, you will never forget it.

The only solution to this problem is if enough people get involved and take a stand for these children.

I challenge you, GET INVOLVED TODAY.

Frode Sandtorv