Leo loves his mum and she loves him. “She is kind to me,” Leo says. “She tries to buy me medicine when I am sick.” Sadly, love alone cannot feed or provide medicine to Leo, 11, and his brothers and sisters. If it did, none of them would ever be hungry or without medical treatment again.

Leo is in Grade 3 at school. He lives in a suburb of Manila in the Philippines. His home is in a slum. But amidst the abject poverty, Leo finds small pleasures. “I like to write,” he says. “I like to play marbles and with rubber bands… What really makes me happy is when my neighbour lets me ride his bicycle.” Leo would dearly love to have a bike, but it’s a dream well out of his reach. In fact he doesn’t have any toys of his own. “It makes me sad,” he says.

Alfrea, Leo’s mum – an orphan who never knew her parents – can’t even always afford food, let alone bikes or other toys for her young children. Every day is a struggle for Alfrea – and it shows. She’s a slight woman – the result of constant hard work. But she’s not defeated; she’s determined.

She works as a garbage picker in the slums where they live, collecting bags of garbage from the streets and carrying them to the local collection centre. Sometimes she is paid for her work, but sometimes she isn’t. When she doesn’t get paid, Leo and his brothers and sisters may not eat that night. Since they can normally only afford one meal a day, missing a meal can mean a whole day without food.

Alfrea doesn’t want her children to grow up collecting garbage like she does. Would you, if you were Alfrea?

It is painful for me because I can’t give Leo and my other children food and toys and I can’t move them anywhere else that would be better... I hope my children finish their education, because my husband and I were not able to finish.

Right now, Alfrea has a dream – a dream of starting her own business. But she’s waiting on a loan. This is where you come in.

Through a small loan made possible by donations from people like you, Leo will no longer have to face the life of poverty his mother has. He can grow up with regular meals, medicine and education. In that way, your gift today can set in motion a ripple effect that will benefit generation after generation. And as 98% of loans are repaid in full, your gift can be re-lent as other loans when it is paid back, going on to help other families leave poverty behind.

With Mother’s Day almost upon us, a gift from you before Sunday will help give a mum like Leo’s the loan she is desperately waiting for to start her own business so she can give her children brighter futures.

Because Leo shouldn’t have to know what life without a loan – without opportunity – is like.