PHILIPPINES – It was 88°F when I landed at 11:30 at night April 4th. Summer has arrived in the Philippines and classes are finished for 2 months. Graduation was on Monday April 7th for those finishing elementary or highschool. One of our staff in Tacloban was so proud of his two kids graduating, but it was bittersweet for him. He has many friends, other fathers, whose children would have graduated, but were lost in the Yolanda typhoon. Every milestone is going to be a trigger.

With the summer comes the time for annual fiestas. In Barangay (village) Pa-on in Estancia it was so great to see the spirits so high as they held a parade. I have never heard of a parade of “muses”. Young girls and teenage girls dressed up beautifully in decorated cars, trikes or trucks. There were also young boys as escorts. At the end of the parade is the queen, an older girl, preceded by princesses. It was very “Barbie  Dollish” to me, but sure is encouraging to see them resurrect this practice that they had not for 6 years. The community is being transformed. 

I had a happy reunion with the previous staff I already knew, and greeted all the new staff. We have a 31 competent staff now across our three locations, five in Guiuan, 15 in Tacloban and 12 in Roxas. Most of them are local, so a number of them have suffered losses themselves. One of our staff lost eight members in his extended family, so we will be running Psychosocial stress debriefing sessions for them as well as the communities. Our devotions in the morning are already a healing time with the team bonding.

 People are being transformed.   The cash for work is bringing joy and smiles on people’s faces.

In Barangay 89 of Tacloban, one mother said she could now buy milk for her children, and one grandmother similarly said she could now buy milk and fruit for her grandchildren. In Canabajan, one   family bought 25 kgs rice, chicken, and paid some debt. Another grandmother bought medicine for her grandchild to become healthy.

In the Barangay Pa-on, in Estancia, the purok president said that he and his wife did not have jobs. The only thing they had was a sari-sari store and it was destroyed by Haiyan, so they made a tent with a tarp to cover a small area of it. But after the payment from World Renew, they prioritized building up the store, beautifying it, organizing it. CFW was so helpful to them in re-starting their livelihood. Others are using CFW for a down payment for a tricycle which they use as a taxi for livelihood.

Jacinth Mijares is excited. She has been waiting to get some money to take the final exam to become a teacher. She has completed her university education and can finally take the teacher’s exam to become certified and get the job she has been hoping for.

Not only is CFW bringing joy to people’s lives, but it is also restoring and transforming the communities. Infrastructure is being repaired, with the community recommending all of the CFW group projects.  Some of these projects include;

  • The local barangay halls have been repaired to rebuild the capacity of local governance
  • New gutters for drainage were dug to direct water away from houses on the hill
  • New sidewalks were built as elderly people had such a hard time climbing the hills.
  • Land has been cleared of debris and new gardens started.
  • In preparation for the annual celebration, a mural was painted to beautify the village. Our name is on it. One disabled beneficiary was able to participate by holding the solar light to illuminate the painting at night.

All of this has really boosted the morale of the community. Other communities outside of our Pa-on barangay are saying that Pa-on is blessed because World Renew is there.  People in other barangays wonder how they can get World Renew to help them. The emergency employment is bringing hope back to the community. It lifted their spirits so much.

Blessings,

Grace Wiebe

Senior Project Manager
World Renew International Disaster Response