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!