Yolanda Survivors Gain Carpentry Skills

The trainees. 

Five months after Yolanda hit the Visayas, several men previously unskilled in carpentry work can start to build their own homes.  Thirty-eight men whose houses in Tanauan, Leyte  were knocked down or swept away by  Super Typhoon Yolanda recently completed a 15-day intensive course on carpentry in a project of the Center for Community Transformation done in partnership with the Tanauan, Leyte municipal government and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The training consisted of lectures and hands-on work.   For their practical work, the trainees repaired the student center, administration room, several classrooms and roofs at the Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU), the training venue. 

Aside from the practical learning, the men also received spiritual training. Each day was begun with group devotions and on Saturdays, community worship was held.  

Tanauan Mayor Pelagio Tecson said the trainees will be hired by the town to work on government buildings.  The town is one of areas hardest-hit by Yolanda. 

Pure joy shows on the faces of
Pelagio Tecson (above) who has
the same name as the Tanauan mayor
and Jovito Pardinas (below). 

Each trainee was given a cross cut saw, plumb bob,
pull push roll, claw hammer,  chisel, L-square,
gloves and hard hat. 

Photos: Michelle Taway

Yolanda Survivor Pays It Forward

Yolanda survivor Merlinda Inocencio shared the following story at the 22nd annual membership meeting of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries in March 2014.  To read this testimony in Filipino, please click HERE. 

Good evening everyone!  I thank the Lord for this chance to speak of His goodness to me and my family.  My name is Merlinda Inocencio.  My husband and I have four children and six grandchildren.  We are fisher folk from Estancia in Iloilo province. Our town is called the ‘Alaska of the Philippines’ because a huge percent of the crabs eaten in Manila are caught in our waters.

I am a CCT community partner. The micro finance loans I have received from the CCT Credit Cooperative for the past eight years allowed me to purchase two fishing pump boats.  Earnings from selling our catch at the Estancia fish port supported the education of my children, all of whom earned college degrees. My eldest child has a degree in commerce, my second child finished nursing, and the two youngest studied IT.

Our boats also provided jobs for ten men – boat pilots, machinists, and boat hands.  These heads of the family supported a total of 25 children. 

Estancia was heavily hit by Supertyphoon Yolanda.  We had eight feet of water in our house and had to jump off our terrace and swim to safety!  Praise the Lord that none of us drowned!

We thank God for those that He used to give us and our neighbors relief items after Yolanda.  We were also visited by doctors and given the medicine we needed.

We lost our pump boats in the storm and one of our crew is still missing. Since fishing is the only way my family knows of earning a living,  another loan from CCT was a big help in re-establishing our business.  I received a P70,000 loan with which I bought a new pump boat, motor, and nets. We have been able to go out to sea again and I have gone back to selling fish at the fish port.  My hopes are high that with God’s blessing we will be able to fully recover.

I have extended this blessing to the children of my missing crew member.  He left behind two daughters – one in seventh grade, and one in fourth grade  -- who now live on Bantayan Island in Cebu.  I regularly send them help to enable them to stay in school. 

Sunday worship services began to be held at the CCT office in Estancia after Yolanda struck.  I attend those services regularly. The Lord used the storm to remind me of the importance of my relationship with Him. The storm showed me that I can do nothing except by Him, that our lives are in His hands, and that all events in this world are under his authority. 

Thank you and God bless us all!

Yolanda Survivor Shares Recovery Story

Yolanda survivor Merlinda Inocencio of Estancia, Iloilo shared the following story of how her family is rebuilding their fishing livelihood, during the 22nd annual membership meeting of the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries in March 2014. To read this story in English, please click HERE. 

Magandang gabi po sa lahat! Nagpapasalamat ako sa Panginoon sa pagkakataon na maipaalam sa marami ang kanyang kabutihan sa akin at sa aking pamilya.  Ako po ay si Merlinda Inocencio ng Estancia, Iloilo. Ako at ang aking asawa ay may apat na anak at anim na apo.  Ang pamilya ko po ay kabilang sa mga sinasabing fisher folk. Ang aming bayan na Estancia ay binansagang ‘Alaska of the Philippines’ dahil sa dagat sa paligid namin nanggagaling ang maraming alimasag na mabibili dito sa Maynila.

Ako po ay isang community partner ng CCT.  Walong taon na po akong nakakatanggap ng mga microfinance loan mula sa CCT Credit Cooperative. Sa tulong po ng mga  loan na ito, ako po ay nakapagpundar ng dalawang pumpboat na ginagamit sa pangingisda; ang nahuhuling isda ay binebenta ko sa fish port ng Estancia. Sa pagpapala ng Panginoon nakapagtapos ng college ang lahat ng anak ko. Ang panganay commerce ang natapos, ang sumunod ay nursing ang natapos, at ang dalawa ay IT. 

Ang mga bangka namin ay nakapagbigay rin ng trabaho sa sampung ulo ng pamilya bilang piloto, makinista, at pahinante. Ang mga tatay na ito ay sumusuporta sa 25 na mga bata.

Ang Estancia ang isa sa mga bayan na malubhang tinamaan ng Yolanda.  Naranasan po namin ang magkaroon ng walong talampakan na tubig sa loob ng bahay. Kinailangang tumalon kami mula sa aming terrace para makaligtas. Salamat sa Panginoon na walang nalunod sa amin, at ang buong pamilya ay buhay.

Maraming salamat sa mga ginamit niya upang mabigyan kami at mga kapitbahay ng relief pagkatapos ng Yolanda.  Napuntahan din kami ng mga doctor at nabigyan ng kailangang mga gamot.    

Ang na-apektohan ng husto ay ang aming kabuhayan at isa sa aming trabahador.  Hindi na namin nakita muli  ang dalawang pump boat namin, at isa rin sa mga nagtatrabaho para sa amin ang hindi pa makita hanggang ngayon.

 Dahil sa wala kaming alam na ibang pagkakakitaan kundi ang pangigisda, malaking bagay ang muli akong napahiram ng CCT para makapagsimula muli sa pagnenegosyo.  Ako ay binigyan ng P70,000 na loan at ito ay ginamit ko na ipambili ng panibagong pump boat, motor, at mga net.  Muli na po kaming nakakapangisda at muli na rin po ako nakakapagtinda sa fish port.  Malakas po ang aking pag-asa na muli pong babangon ang aming kabuhayan sa at pagpapala na rin ng ating Panginoon.

Ang pagpapalang ito ay ipinapaabot ko rin po sa mga anak ng aming trabahador na nawala sa Yolanda. May naiwan po siyang dalawang anak na babae, isang grade 7 at isang grade 4.  Nakatira po sila ngayon sa Bantayan Island sa Cebu.  Pinapadalhan ko po ang mga bata ng tulong para makapagpatuloy sila ng pag-aaral.  

Pagkatapos po ng Yolanda, nagsimula pong magkaroon ng Sunday worship services sa CCT office sa lugar namin.  Ako po ay regular na dumadalo dito.  Ginamit ng Panginoon ang bagyong Yolanda para ako ay mapaalalahanan ng kahalagahan ng ating relasyon sa kanya.  Nakita ko sa bagyong ito na wala tayong magagawa liban sa kanya, na hawak niya ang ating buhay at ang lahat ng pangyayari sa mundo ay na sa kanyang pamamahala. 

Maraming salamat po at pagpalain nawa tayo ng Panginoon!

Naejil's Feet

Naejil's feet before treatment.

When Super Typhoon Yolanda raged over Coron, Palawan in November 2013 it blew away the house that seven-month old Naejil lived in with his young parents, leaving nothing but the posts.  During a medical mission a few weeks later, Dr. John Tabije of CCT treated the baby for upper respiratory problems, then, seeing that Naiejil had clubfeet, recommended that he be brought to an orthopedic surgeon in Puerto Princesa City, the capital of Palawan.

Although he knew clubfeet are best treated within the first week of birth, Dr. John thought Naejil still had a chance of not having to spend the rest of his life painfully walking on the sides of his feet and suffering the emotional and social problems that come with such a deformity.     

Naejil and his mother, Alyssa, arrived in Puerto Princesa the week before Christmas and met up again with Dr. John . Another check-up revealed, however, that Naejil’s cough had developed into pneumonia and he needed hospital care.  He spent two days in a hospital. 

Mommy Alyssa holds Naejil
 tenderly as Dr. Catacutan
removes his casts after the fifth week.

Dr. Gerard Catacutan, the orthopedic surgeon who finally saw Naejil, recommended six weeks of treatment – the feet would be put in casts which would slowly coax the feet into a normal position.  The casts would have to be changed weekly. Mother and child stayed in the home of CCT volunteer worker Elena while Naejil was being treated. 

Elena, who accompanied Alyssa and Naejil during all visits to the doctor, says, “By the end of the third week we could already see that the feet were looking better!” 

For the last week, Doc Gerard said it would not be necessary to put the feet in a cast.  Instead, he fitted the little one with a special pair of shoes that he has to wear at night.

Naejil's feet after 
five weeks in casts.

Today Naejil is back in Coron and is nine months old. His parents are excitedly looking forward to that developmental milestone,  his first steps.  Thankfully, those memorable steps will not be made on misshapen feet.  And Naejil has an excellent chance of walking through life on two well-formed feet – and maybe even running!  

Note:  Naejil Vince Bura-ay’s medical expenses were covered by CCT.  Elena’s hospitality and care were rewarded when her child, who has rheumatic heart disease, also received medical attention from CCT.

Estancia Fisherwoman: Back In Business

Hope shines anew in Margielyn Gallardo's eyes. 

Margielyn with some freshly-steamed crabs

Crabs ready for steaming.

Margielyn's two new boats.

A dream house  damaged by Yolanda.

Seven years ago, Margielyn Gallardo and her husband began building their dream house. It was a concrete one-story building that sat on the western tip of Loguingot Island, right on the shore of this island barangay of Estancia, Iloilo. It had a tiled floor, a small terrace, and two bedrooms -- very different from the houses they had both grown up in.  From here Margielyn could watch the sunset, or look out over the water as her family's fishing boats came in with fresh catches of crab and fish.

Over the past 23 years, as their brood of children grew to seven, the Gallardos also built up their fishing livelihood until they had a fleet of 11 boats, each of which provided jobs for two or three nephews or neighbors. Part of the catch was brought to a  processing company where the crab meat was picked out of the shells, pasteurized, and exported.  

Then on November 8, 2013, Supertyphoon Yolanda slammed into Estancia, causing a storm surge and hurling a huge boat against the house.

The next day Margielyn found that she had no house. No boats.  Not even any fishing equipment. No nets.  No crab cages. "Wala kaming naisalba,' she states simply.

Margielyn is one of 36 members of the CCT Savings and Credit Cooperative who live and work on Loguingot Island.  Most of them are fisher folk. Others earn a living ferrying passengers across the water from the mainland.

 The island is home to about 300 families all of whom suffered  from Yolanda's pummeling.

Today Margielyn and her family have gone back to living in a hut with bamboo walls and a grass roof.  She may not be allowed to rebuild over what's left of her dream house. But still, things are looking good for Margielyn.  She recently received a loan of P70,000 from CCT and from the Bread from Heaven Christian Fellowship in Las Pinas City.  The church has a special interest in helping Estancia and nearby communities  rebuild their homes and livelihoods.

With this loan, Margielyn bought two motorized fishing boats and several dozen new crab cages. She is back in business, catching crabs and steaming them whole. (The crabs are then brought to the mainland and soon appear in restaurants  as crabmeat omelette or  sizzling crabmeat.)

And she can smile with hope again. 

Two months after Yolanda hit Loguingot Island, half of  the hull of a boat hurled by the super typhoon against the Gallardo house still lies on the shore.  Also shown is what's left of  Margielyn's kitchen.

Yolanda Aid Worker Story 3

 God’s Unexpected Provision

By Pastor Steven Dime

Pastor Dime (above, center) and Jay Johnson Go (below
wearing mask) in action in Tacloban. 

The main purpose of my journey to Tacloban City was to remind people that there is still a God who cares and continues to provide in spite of dire circumstances. But before I could remind people of this wonderful lesson, I learned firsthand that God has a funny way of first teaching us the very lesson we want to impart to others.

I grew up in Tacloban City but have since migrated to Manila and am currently pastoring Lighthouse of Faith Tabernacle in Makati City.  I was selected to be the operation manager of CCOWE Care Caravan (A conglomeration of Chinese Churches created for the purpose of extending Christian concern and love especially in calamity-hit areas) for our Tacloban relief distribution. Bro. Jay Johnson Go of UECP volunteered to join me in the operation.

We had two main objectives in Tacloban: distribute relief goods and scout for contacts from surrounding towns for future relief operations.

Knowing full well the dire situation in Tacloban City during those first few days after Yolanda hit, I had to mentally condition Jay Johnson. First, I told him to be prepared to live on a biscuit-and-cupcake diet only. Second, we needed to conserve our drinking water because we wouldn’t be bringing too much of it with us. If people saw that we had supplies we could get robbed on our way downtown. (We were told that there was no transportation available and that we would have to walk all the way from the airport to the downtown area). Third, there were no guaranteed flights back to Manila. We would be taking chances. Hopefully we could get to Tacloban, distribute our goods and be out of the city within a week. Hopefully our food supply would last that long.

We stayed at the Ritz Tower which is owned by a good friend of mine. The CCT team happened to be also staying at the Ritz. Our relief goods would not arrive for a couple more days. They too were waiting for their medical team to arrive and had nothing planned until then. We decided to offer what little help we could to the city vice mayor who put us on a dump truck loaded with relief supplies headed for Brgy. San Jose.   

That one relief distribution activity forged a bond of friendship between our team of two and the CCT team. Little did we know at that time that the CCT team was God’s way of providing not just our needs but a reminder that He still cares and continues to provide.

When Jay Johnson and I arrived in Tacloban, we only had two liters of water each and a plastic bag of store-bought cupcakes and biscuits, which, by the way, was not much. On the first day, we had to take small sips just to make sure our water would last for a week. We didn’t even bother eating the first day in the name of conserving food.

When Pastor Ed Gomez heard of this, he graciously invited us to join them for every meal. In fact, he was very insistent that we join them. Every meal, we got to enjoy freshly cooked food courtesy of the CCT team. We never prayed for it. We never asked for it. We were prepared to eat only biscuits and cupcakes for a whole week. If God could turn water into wine…we found out that He can also turn cupcakes and biscuits into rice and fish and chicken.

When the medical team arrived, I realized that they didn’t have a pharmacist with them. They had doctors, nurses…but no pharmacist. I have been involved with medical/dental missions since I was in college. And I understand the importance of having someone familiar with medicines to do the dispensing of medicines in a medical mission or people could get the wrong medications. Being a licensed pharmacist, I volunteered to man the dispensing of medicines.

It’s amazing how God puts two and two together and everything just falls into its perfect place like a jigsaw puzzle. Doctor Demy came up to me afterward and said that we were a great help. God allowed us to be exactly where we were needed.

After Jay and I distributed the CCOWE relief goods, the only problem left on our end was how to get back to Manila. By the grace of God, the CCT team rented a van and was going back to Manila by land. And again, by the grace of God, there was enough room for Jay and myself to hitch a ride with them all the way to Manila. And again, by the wonderful grace of God, the CCT team offered us a ride without our asking them.

Our God is really a God of wonder and provision. We went to Tacloban hoping to remind them that God cares and still provides. And in turn, we were the ones reminded of that wonderful fact! May all the glory be unto our God…the great Provider.

New Boat, Fresh Hope for Roxas Fisher Folk

Fernando and Isabelita Ibanada in their new boat. The
net is the only piece of fishing gear they were
able to salvage after the storm.

Fernando and Isabelita Ibanada of Barra, Roxas City go out to sea in the small hours of the morning, bring home fresh catches of fish, crabs, and shellfish, and help make Roxas City the seafood capital of the country. But when Yolanda battered their tiny barangay on the northern coast of Capiz, the only boat they owned was shattered, never to be used again. 

Today, a month and a half after Typhoon Yolanda struck, Tatay Fernando has hope as fresh as an early morning catch of fish and he can go out to sea again – in a newly-purchased secondhand boat. The Ibanadas and four other fishermen are the first of 33 boat owners to receive loan assistance for boat purchase or repair from CCT and Bread from Heaven Christian Fellowship (BFHCF), a church in Las Pinas, Metro Manila. 

The couple will also receive P5,000 worth of housing materials free from BFHCF  for their partially-damaged house. The boats and eight houses being rebuilt with assistance from CCT and BHCF were dedicated to the Lord in a simple program attended by families of the recipients and by Pastor Doy of BFHCF. 

Anna Mae Labanero, CCT regional peer servant, said, “By Janaury we will have 20 more houses and about four more new or repaired boats to be dedicated to God.” 

Labanero added that all 2,079 community partners whose houses were totally destroyed will also receive assistance in 2014. Recipients of micro finance loans from the CCT Savings and Credit cooperative are referred to as community partners within CCT circles.

Of the 1,905 CCT community partners in the province of Capiz, about 310 are in the fishing industry as fishers, vendors, or processors.

- with reports from Connie Defensor, Roxas City, Capiz