PHILIPPINES – I am in the Philippines on the island of Panay this week (Sept 9th to 13th) visiting and encouraging our staff of 25 in the two offices located in Roxas city and Concepcion.

I was blessed to be able to participate in the ceremonies to handover new, typhoon-and-earthquake-resistant houses to 38 families who had been living in makeshift shelters since Haiyan. What a blessing. Children stayed out of school for this special occasion, and it was a joy to see the shy smile on their faces. Older women were more expressive, with tears of big gratitude. World Renew is building 340 of these in the island of Panay and each is resistant to 200 km an hour winds.

Since we build the houses in batches of 10 or 20 at a time, someone needs to make a decision about who will receive the first homes and who might have to wait for 6 or 7 months. Involving the community members in this decision-making process has been a great solution. The beauty of community participation is that they so often pick the most vulnerable.

This photo was taken in Barangay Plandico, Concepcion, at the ribbon cutting of a house for a couple with 8 children. World Renew’s homes are 20 feet square based on the size needed for an average family. We give the same homes to everyone, which will mean that this house will be a tight fit for this family of 10, but they are so grateful to get a start.

In Barangay Palaguian, Maayon, I met Wilson Descalsota, a 68 year-old man who has been suffering from pneumonia living in his makeshift shelter that leaks when it rains. He hopes that he will get better now in his comfortable new home.

An 83 year-old woman told me: “I can’t express my thanks because without you, we couldn’t do anything. I am thankful that Yolanda broke our house, because now I have a nicer house. So I say thank you Yolanda. Indeed, all things work together for good”. 

The story of one of the recipients, Rosaline, hit particularly close to home for me. Rosaline is the same age as me. She is married with 3 children, 35, 15 and 13. Her story could so easily have been mine save but for the grace of God.

Some of the house recipients are carpenters. They have been  hired to do some of the skilled labour needed to implement this project. As a result, they are learning new typhoon-resistant construction techniques in addition to receiving a new home.

Andy Ginco, one of the carpenters, told me: “I am thankful our barangay was chosen, and thankful that we were able to help build our own houses though we could not have built a house of such strong design and so costly. Thank you”.

Some of the houses in the rural settings of Barangay Palaguiuan are far apart, so I had the fun of walking through the rice paddy fields to get from one to the other. Here I am teetering along the raised path between the paddies in new camouflage rubber boots they bought for me that were 3 sizes too big, but with the rain of the whole last week, I needed them. 

There are more permanent houses we are building in two other islands in the Philippines and I will be off next week to see them also. Besides rebuilding houses for those completely destroyed by typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, we are also wresting with the retrofitting of the partially-destroyed houses. It is complicated and a lot of work, but it seems that we are one of the first to build such a strong typhoon-resistant house and the people are so grateful.

“Salamat very much. It is a big help to have built such a good home for us. Thank you to all those who donated for a house. I hope much grace will flow to you. To God we say thank you.”

Blessings,

Grace Wiebe

Senior Project Manager
World Renew International Disaster Response