After supertyphoon Haiyan devastated much of the Philippines, many areas were inaccessible to the support which tried to reach them. Trees were down everywhere, blocking the roads which hadn't been completely washed away by the tidal surge. The basic Filippino house was destroyed. Made of wood, bamboo and leaves the traditional design is practical for the everyday wear and tear of sunshine and monsoon rain, but completely unable to deal with winds of nearly 200mph. Aid poured into the country from many different areas to help out the Pinoy people. Relief seems to have focused on the Tacloban area, where thousands of people died. The remainder lost their possessions, homes, and everything they knew and loved in their area.
Other areas were also severely affected, although they haven't received as much international or even national coverage due to a lower mortality rate. We went to an aid distribution centre in Coron town, where the workers explained that they had three days warning and they evacuated the majority of shore settlements to higher ground. This simple fact prevented the death toll from being much higher. One official theorized that they had the same warning in the Tacloban area, but devastatingly, many of the evacuation centers in Tacloban were at or only slightly above sea level themselves. Another fact that helped to save the residents of Coron is the high mountain range which protects the town from the sea - the waves couldn't build up as high as there was only a mile or two of open sea in front of the town. Most of this is shallow reef, so together these facts made a big difference in keeping the destruction to a minimum. Despite these facts, the officials in the distribution center still estimated that 10,000 families on this part of Busuanga Island have been badly affected by Haiyan, or Yolanda, as it's known to the locals. All of these families have suffered either partial or total demolition of their houses.
Heading inland, we visited the Glorio family, who have suffered a horrible loss - the destruction of their home and the loss of all their belongings. The Glorio family has worked hard to survive since the disaster; Tomas works usually six or seven days a week (as a laborer earning 225 pesos/day) so he has little time and even less money to spend on rebuilding. Lucita is a very busy housewife - with 7 children to look after, her days are filled with cooking, cleaning and washing, as well as the care of the youngest three who do not yet attend school. To make her life even busier, she is expecting her 8th child at the end of March.
Finding this family and knowing that we couldn't have found a more destitute, yet deserving family to help out was a stroke of luck. Their house is a ten minute walk from the paved road. The residents of the barangay believe that they haven't received government aid as their houses are not obvious from the road - nobody drives by and sees the destruction. If that's true, it's sad. However the signs of Haiyan devastation are everywhere. Massive trees have been levelled - on the 20 minute ride from Coron to the village there are two bridges we bypass as they were weakened/destroyed in the winds.
Building the house has provided it's own challenges - although 10,000 pesos (approx 227USD) is around the total amount we've spent, the challenge here is working out some way for them to sustain themselves after we've gone. Although we can buy kids clothes, school books and necessary building tools/materials at the moment, how can they afford these items in the future? We wanted them to have some way to make money - 200 pesos bought a lot of seeds which they can plant in their land (luckily they have unlimited water from a spring in the hills above the valley). This will hopefully give them access to cheaper food and a supplementary income.
Over the weeks since Christmas I've visited the project a couple more times, checking up with the family and seeing the improvements they continue to make on their house. Sometimes it can be a frustrating process - we bought them a tap and connector to help reduce the water they get from the spring. Although they don't have to pay for the water, it's important to us that the water isn't being wasted - pouring down the mountainside without being used as it is in most of their neighbors' houses. Unfortunately the next time we visited, the tap was nowhere to be seen. Tita translated Lucita's response on the whereabouts of the tap; she still had it, nice and safe...inside the house. Apparently the kids had taken it off to play with and she'd collected it for safe keeping. I can kind of understand this - to a kid that's never seen a tap before it must be pretty exciting with all its moving parts, plus the fact that they all fit together like Lego pieces.
Other times things have gone exceptionally well - Tomas was very quick to fit the roof on the frame after we sent the aluminum sheets to him. Lucita also demonstrated a certain shrewdness - after realising there was a limited amount we could spend on the project, she requested that we buy her a couple of bags of cement and a toilet instead of the sawali, as she knew her husband could make that when he has free time. In the meantime, they have used old boards and mismatched wood peices plus tarpaulin to make a rudimentary wall around the house. Lucita is now the proud owner of a bathroom (cement costs 280 pesos a bag and the toilet itself was 550 which was completely unaffordable to the family).
How to find a project of your own:
I met the Glorio family through asking a total stranger (Minda) if she knew of any families that might need help repairing their house from Haiyan damage. This was originally intended as a Christmas gift to my boat family - the money to buy each other presents would go towards the family's house and we'd dedicate at least one day (Christmas day!) to hard manual labour in helping the rebuild. Minda told me to meet her the next day, meanwhile she spoke with her sister, Tita, who lives in the same barangay as the Glorio family. They took me to visit four houses whose occupants desperately needed help. Although all 32 families in the area are poor, Lucita and Tomas seemed to be the most hard up - with nearly 8 children to support and little income to do it they had a heartrendingly desperate need for aid.
Of course, this was only successful because Minda and her family are very honest people - they all came together to help us with the project. The three sisters (Minda, Tita and Aida) all spent Christmas day with us helping , as well as several of the other days since. They all work for the local government in some capacity, as health workers, aid distributors and Aida is actually the Coron town court judge!
How you can help:
Find out how PJ is working with locals to help them create a livelihood project for their futures.
Also consider the use of financial support programs, such as Kiva loans, which help manage microcredit to small businesses or individuals in areas where they might have difficulty in getting a traditional loan.
Have a look at this facebook page which is about sustainable tourism in Coron.They have promised us to start a project in Balolo to help the general population of the barangay.
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| Damage and death reduced to post-it notes |
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| The Glorio's house was completely flattened by Haiyan |
Finding this family and knowing that we couldn't have found a more destitute, yet deserving family to help out was a stroke of luck. Their house is a ten minute walk from the paved road. The residents of the barangay believe that they haven't received government aid as their houses are not obvious from the road - nobody drives by and sees the destruction. If that's true, it's sad. However the signs of Haiyan devastation are everywhere. Massive trees have been levelled - on the 20 minute ride from Coron to the village there are two bridges we bypass as they were weakened/destroyed in the winds.
 |
| The frame held together with twine due to lack of nails |
Building the house has provided it's own challenges - although 10,000 pesos (approx 227USD) is around the total amount we've spent, the challenge here is working out some way for them to sustain themselves after we've gone. Although we can buy kids clothes, school books and necessary building tools/materials at the moment, how can they afford these items in the future? We wanted them to have some way to make money - 200 pesos bought a lot of seeds which they can plant in their land (luckily they have unlimited water from a spring in the hills above the valley). This will hopefully give them access to cheaper food and a supplementary income.
Over the weeks since Christmas I've visited the project a couple more times, checking up with the family and seeing the improvements they continue to make on their house. Sometimes it can be a frustrating process - we bought them a tap and connector to help reduce the water they get from the spring. Although they don't have to pay for the water, it's important to us that the water isn't being wasted - pouring down the mountainside without being used as it is in most of their neighbors' houses. Unfortunately the next time we visited, the tap was nowhere to be seen. Tita translated Lucita's response on the whereabouts of the tap; she still had it, nice and safe...inside the house. Apparently the kids had taken it off to play with and she'd collected it for safe keeping. I can kind of understand this - to a kid that's never seen a tap before it must be pretty exciting with all its moving parts, plus the fact that they all fit together like Lego pieces.
 |
| Hard at work in the garden...or not |
How to find a project of your own:
I met the Glorio family through asking a total stranger (Minda) if she knew of any families that might need help repairing their house from Haiyan damage. This was originally intended as a Christmas gift to my boat family - the money to buy each other presents would go towards the family's house and we'd dedicate at least one day (Christmas day!) to hard manual labour in helping the rebuild. Minda told me to meet her the next day, meanwhile she spoke with her sister, Tita, who lives in the same barangay as the Glorio family. They took me to visit four houses whose occupants desperately needed help. Although all 32 families in the area are poor, Lucita and Tomas seemed to be the most hard up - with nearly 8 children to support and little income to do it they had a heartrendingly desperate need for aid.
Of course, this was only successful because Minda and her family are very honest people - they all came together to help us with the project. The three sisters (Minda, Tita and Aida) all spent Christmas day with us helping , as well as several of the other days since. They all work for the local government in some capacity, as health workers, aid distributors and Aida is actually the Coron town court judge!
How you can help:
Find out how PJ is working with locals to help them create a livelihood project for their futures.
Also consider the use of financial support programs, such as Kiva loans, which help manage microcredit to small businesses or individuals in areas where they might have difficulty in getting a traditional loan.
Have a look at this facebook page which is about sustainable tourism in Coron.They have promised us to start a project in Balolo to help the general population of the barangay.
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| Lucita (38) with three of her children (2, 3 and 5 years) plus an older niece visits for the day |
Although the literal cost of this building is minimal, to the family it is priceless. They were so desperate to be living under their own roof again that they moved into the new house on Christmas day (before the roof was up). Although we can't help all the displaced people in the Philippines (or even come close, as it amounts to some 4.4million people) it feels good knowing that at least 10 of them have a home once again, as well as a stronger roof, more likely to withstand the next typhoon.
Many many heartfelt thanks to everyone that has had a helping hand with this project;
the beautiful and genuine sisters Minda,Tita and Aida, for all their time and hard work. We really appreciate your involvement with this project, as it would never have been so successful without good translation. And of course, the fact that you brought us there! Thanks to all the boat family that have helped with different stages of this project: Petrina, Madara, Brian, Harpa and Matilda, especially giving up Christmas gifts in exchange for a day of hard work. Thanks to the unknown generous backpackers who gave us a donation for the project. Also a shout out to the inspirational Filipinos PJ and L. Alinsangan, who have already done so much to help their communities and will probably do much more.
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