University is back in session!

We will be partnering with a local university to teach construction skills so that these young people from these communities can begin rebuilding their lives, their communities, their homes, their community buildings.  The university had been destroyed but some structures still stood. In a classroom, we found students who lived through the typhoon, ready to engage their minds. We spoke to them – you would never have known what they had to live through.  Some students were still missing... almost 4 months later.

Faculty offices had been destroyed, so, they simply moved their offices where natural sunlight would shine in – simple enough, that just meant moving their desks a little closer to where a wall once stood.  5 months later... still no electricity.  A generator was being used to supply electricity to their laptops and phones.

Books and papers lay on bushes and trees, still drying them out in hopes they could be used again.

The head of the school, still emotional about all that had happened.  She shared that in her heart she didn’t think they could restart the school. Looking at the destroyed campus, not knowing where all of the students were, it was too difficult... too heart wrenching... but when she saw students start coming back, she knew, if the kids came, then we must rebuild. We must go on. We must.  But you could see the emotion in her eyes just how hard it was... it is... So, classes will official begin in a few short months.

Sacred Ground

The scene of down trees, refugee tents, etc., for miles on end as we drove lulled me to sleep I suppose, although it didn’t take much given that I was already so exhausted from the early morning flight.  I must have been snoozing when the folks in my car shared what this first stop was going to be.  So we arrive at what looks like an open field.  I get out of the car and walk. The soil beneath my feet was sandy, as if they had just planted new grass or just put a new layer of dirt on top of the ground. I assumed they were getting ready to construct something or I don’t know.  To our right was what looked like a basketball court covered with a big white tent labeled UNICEF with lots of people from the community sitting there listening to something. We walk over to what seems like a bandstand/stage of some sort.

We stop there to talk.  The staff tell me that on this plot of land, we are partnering with the local government to build a memorial to people who lost their lives in the typhoon.  Then they tell me, hundreds of people whose bodies were not claimed are buried under this ground.  Unclaimed most likely because entire families were killed.  Children, women, men, all. The typhoon did not discriminate, although more men were killed because many stayed back to guard their homes while moms and kids fled to safety.  That ground I stood on... fresh dirt... because bodies had been buried underneath and dirt thrown overtop.  I felt sick to my stomach. Sad. Broken. God. Why.

Stop the hand-outs and give a hand-up

After landing in Tacloban, we jumped in the vehicle for the long drive – roads mangled, trees down, livelihoods gone, homes destroyed... destruction everywhere... refugee tents lining the road.. for miles and miles. Almost four months have passed and it looks like nothing has happened.  The devastation was that bad, and the response has been too slow.

my little friend, the daughter of
our staff, showed me around
their destroyed home.

tombs uprooted and tossed by the typhoon.

this barge, after 4 months, still flipped
 on its side by the typhoon

As we met with government officials to discuss our partnership to help them re-develop the communities there, he shared that one of the major problems is simply the handouts.  Yes, there was a time when hand outs and relief were necessary... but that time has come and gone.  Foreigners like us want to help out, so we dish money over to NGOs who give, give, give... but the giving has gone on so long that the people have become accustomed to it. The able-bodied people need to get on their feet. They need to use their hands and minds. They are capable, very capable. It’s time to work. These foreign NGOs – they’re already starting to leave the country, so now what?  It’s time to work. It’s time to develop and motivate and equip the local people to work. 

We’ll be meeting with some international NGOs in the next day or two to discuss how we can help the communities they’re working in as they exit out of the country.  We’re going to be partnering with a local university here to start a vocational training program, teaching construction skills so that the people can build their own homes and rebuild the community.

a local church flooded and roof
destroyed but still standing. the
pastor and his family have
temporarily been living
in a tent inside the church as
they help  rebuild their
community

Handouts make donors feel good... but there is a time for it and once you go past that time... it creates a dependency that’s hard to break.

many still living in refugee tents.
despite that, a thankful people.

tents and tarps branded by countries
 and NGO logos lined the roads