Local Focus: The Kiwi charity helping thousands of children in the Philippines

Sixteen-year-old Mae Cunningham grew up in a children’s home in the Philippines and never thought that one day she would start a new life in New Zealand.

That is, until she met her new parents, Terry and Debbie Cunningham from Tauranga.

“The day we were able to catch the ferry, arrived at Ruel [the orphanage], and we just walked into the dining room,” said Debbie, who remembers recognising Mae straight away.

“Mae happened to be walking in the other door. And it was incredible. And she was like, ‘Oh, Mummy, Daddy’ and just ran to us, big hugs all around. It was surreal.”

Mae moved to her new home in Tauranga in November last year after the couple completed all the adoption processes.

“Mae has been here about 10 months and it has been a slow adjustment, but a steady adjustment for her. And we’ve just started to see her feel more relaxed around us, relaxed around home,” Terry said.

Mae is also adjusting to life with a brother, Ryan, and two sisters, Anna and Shari. As the youngest in the house, Mae is well looked after, filling the family home with laughter.

“When I look at Mae, I see a girl who is incredibly brave. She is fearful to try things, but she will give it a go anyway,” said Debbie proudly.

“She has a hilarious sense of humour. She fits in so well with our family. She pranks, she tells jokes. She makes us all laugh.”

While Mae is embracing her new home and future, she misses her childhood friends.

The children’s home where Mae grew up was created by the Ruel Foundation, a charity organisation based in Tauranga.

The Ruel Foundation was officially formed in 2000, and has a big impact on Filipinos, also Kiwis.

It came about because Tauranga local, David Cowie went to the Philippines in 1999 and discovered a little boy named Ruel.

“Ruel was in a terrible state. He was actually very, very malnourished and was on the brink of death,” said Eunice Reid, who is the child sponsorship and event coordinator at Ruel Foundation.

“David made sure that he supplied a safe place for Ruel and gave him enough medication and vitamins to keep him alive until he could come back and raise the necessary funds for his surgery because he had a cleft lip and palate.”

That was the first cleft lip and palate surgery and also the beginning of the Ruel Foundation, which was officially formed in 2000.

Today, the Ruel Foundation has three children’s homes in Calapan City, Sorsogon and Romblon.

“We now have a total of 90 children. We are currently working with architects to expand in Sorsogon and Romblon which will give us the capacity to help another 60 children.”

Many of the children they have helped have come from incredibly traumatic situations.

“We literally rescue these children from crisis situations … But we’re bringing them hope and a brighter future.”

Mount Maunganui resident Sue Hadfield has volunteered for years in the Ruel Foundation’s homes for children.

A trained pharmacist, she is also involved in the malnutrition programme to save vulnerable infants.

“When you’re training for malnutrition, the formula is a big part of it, but there are certain essential minerals and vitamins that children need to be able to start to thrive again. And they are fed specifically for this state of malnutrition to get them back to health.

“They have people to hold the babies, cuddle them, feed them, and care for them all the time. Because I love kids, it really breaks your heart to see a little baby that is so struggling,” Sue said.

From the first cleft lip and palate surgery for Ruel in 1999, the foundation has sponsored thousands of life-changing surgeries for Philippines children.

The Ruel Foundation also sponsors cleft lip or palate surgeries for Filipino children whose families can’t afford it.

“It’s particularly pleasing to see that in Calapan, the ages of the children are coming down drastically because we’ve been doing them for a number of years now,” she said. “We’ve done thousands of surgeries.”

It’s taken two decades of hard work but the foundation has a big impact not only on Filipinos but also on the Kiwis who are involved.

As for Mae, she is now a Year 10 student at Ōtūmoetai College and is slowly making friends.

“She’s the one who’s had to do the big adjustments of starting a new school, new family, new everything,” Terry said.

“And it hasn’t been easy for her, but she’s embraced them all. She’s a tough girl and she’s growing well and starting to enjoy our culture here in New Zealand.”

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air