Rubinalyn's Story

Sarah Jones
Mar 13
2 min read

Mayumi Abarquez March 26, 2023

We used to rent a small house in Hulong Duhat, Malabon. When it came time to pay rent, our youngest daughter, Mayumi, became sick with amoeba, an aggressive parasite. We couldn’t afford both the rent and her medication, so we chose to buy the medicine. As a result, we were evicted and ended up living on the streets near Malabon City Square, the local mall. We slept on cardboard and cooked over a fire on the sidewalk. Many times, we didn’t have enough food for our whole family. At that time, we had five children, ranging in age from 7 to 1 year old. My husband, Ronald, worked as a scavenger—walking around collecting scraps to sell to junk shops.

During this difficult time, I met Sarah from the Portion team. She asked, “How old is your baby? Is she breastfeeding or formula-fed? What happened to her head? How long has she been injured?” Sarah invited us to the baby house to get help. The Portion program took Mayumi to the doctor and provided the necessary care and medication for her illness and head injury until she recovered. After that, we received weekly supplies of formula until Mayumi was able to eat solid food, and then we began receiving food buckets for our family once a week.

The program has been a tremendous help to us. For seven years, Portion has supported our family’s everyday needs—providing food and school supplies. Being part of this program introduced me to Jesus. I now attend church every Sunday, and Ate Anna gave us Bibles. My husband has started reading the Bible daily. During the last Portion mission trip, Kuya Michael baptized both me and my husband, Ronald.

We are so grateful to Portion and Mayumi’s sponsor for the support they have given our family.