2/26/2014

One of the brightest stars

 
Capoeira ! Hold my hands my friend !

 
Our listening and helping work to these children continues and the deployed energy intensity from the volunteers and partners does not seem to fade out, quite the contrary.
Daily work is not easy but hope and passion are still here. Even though resources are sometimes limited, motivation and imagination sometimes can do real miracles. We must show them a way and never falter, these children do trust us and we cannot let them down. There is always a solution and most important is to believe.
They are being continuously given attention and consideration from members of the civil society organizations involved in that process of giving them hope and a future. Recently, we were able to provide new sports trainings such as Basketball and Capoeira, coached by appointed and motivated teachers.They love it! A chest activity is being put in place at the center. May the best win!
We are striving to trigger any interest from them for particular sport or activity and we are pleasantly surprised to discover real talent among these children. It is very encouraging to see the results achieved in a few sessions! Why nobody did offer them this opportunity before? Of course, playing sports andhaving fun is not enough, although we have improved and intensified School (ALS). Now are 3 half-days a week regardless of their level or age and compulsory for all of them. Don’t make them spoiled!
Our team begins work to renovate the main dormitory that will accommodate thirty children now in decent conditions and build an outdoor kitchen made in bamboo and raw material.
The next step would be to complete the sports room and have the last dorm renovated so that all children can sleep peacefully in a cozy and clean bed. Aside, we pursue other previous activities like hygiene and medical check-up, waste management, organic garden, sanitation awareness, fellowship, values lecture … and so on. We are also working on a dance, music and cooking training school ... One of them may become the new tomorrow starand nobody will remember where she/he came from ... except him/herself.
“And they'll say told you so. We were the ones who saw you first of all. We always knew that you were one of the brightest stars”
 
Monsanto are you here? Of course not it's organic
Teacher leaves the kids alone ! :)

There is joy and no snow for Christmas !

Last night a deejay saved my life
 

2/24/2014

A house is the only thing I need now !

KUBO concept is ready to be launched
4 months after the hit of Yolanda typhoon, our team which helps in Bantayan Island, has to sadly acknowledge the evidence of insufficient government’s support which is coming drop by drop to the victims. Right now, the survivors don’t have their house repaired or rebuild yet.
The area where we decided to rebuild the houses is inhabited by people surviving in a donated tent for the luckiest ones and the rest is protecting under a stretched tarpaulin roof…
We have conducted several community meetings with affected inhabitants and obviously the major problem remains the same. How to finance the construction of their home, while the economy is recovering very slowly and who will support the work and overseeing the development there?
Fortunately after some weeks of conceptualization our team responsible for the design of a typhoon resilient and affordable native house and has finally come up with a model that can meet the constraints and requirements of the project’s challenges. We call this concept KUBO whose particularity iscombining a house made of local and raw materials (bamboo, limestone, coconut lumbers, pandan, coconut rope … and an “Agri-tecture” garden to provide a source of incomes with vegetables for sale and for personal food at a hand distance.
A KUBO house unit might cost around PHP 50, 000 (USD1200) materials and handy labor works, given it would be cheaper if the purchaser aids to construct.
We do not encourage donation but micro -finance in order to reinvest the repayments to finance another KUBO house development and also to actively maintain the sense of ownership of the beneficiaries and have limitation of dependency.
Financial assistance to purchasers would be around PHP 20,000 (USD 460). The PHP 30,000 remaining will be collected within a biweekly repayments worth of PHP400 ... borrowing rate will be reduced to a minimum to cover essentially the costs of supervision, tools purchase and training.
Therefore the house will be fully paid in more or less 5 years.
As of now, we have also received donations to cover the exceptional recovery assistance of income-generating activities (pandan leaves weaving, gardening, breeding, canteens foods). Without the revival of economic activity among its families, return to "normal" life of the entire community is not possible. Today,emergency NGOs are no longer there so that is the real survival time which really begins now.
A group of 10 chosen women will now benefit from the pandan weaving re-launching program activities which are including financial assistance, training and marketing support from ANP organization. That would surely help them to become autonomous within a working year.
As a preliminary bill of materials details, our current donations received through the generous donors of Global Giving should enable it to finance as a beginning8 houses to be built in the affected areas... And a prototype house in order to validate the concept and overall costs estimation of the KUBO under construction process.
He have 3 identified areas as targeted areas, Purok Okoy and Pooc in Santa Fe municipality and one really remote in Mambacayao Diot Island from Bantayan municipality.
A big thank you to all the volunteers who has tirelessly been working to find a solution of innovative home and tailored to local and post- disaster contexts typhoon and for their commitment to help the victims to overcome the typhoon damages and economic poverty.

People still don't have a place to stay



Community meeting, feedbacks are welcome


Pandan weaving activity is back and will be nicer

Limestone bamboo coconut lumber... raw materials



 
 

Support program for vulnerable children and families in Bacolod City

The objective is to design and implement a development program supporting the disadvantaged members of the community of Bacolod City, Philippines. This approach is based on the observation of best practices identified in various projects implemented in Southeast Asia and in the rest of the world. The program aims at providing rehabilitation opportunities to isolated children and families in order to facilitate their successful integration into the local community. This includes dealing with social inclusion, socioeconomic development, public health, sustainable production and consumption, as well as green technologies.