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!

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.

By Candlelight

Young people help repack relief items in Calbayog City,
 five hours away from heavily-damaged Tacloban. 

Days before aid began to come from Manila,
 CCT staff in Leyte were bringing in supplies from Calbayog 

which suffered almost no damage.   

Candlelight is often associated with images of romantic dinners.  But for residents of Region 8 --- those who live on the islands of Leyte and Samar --- candlelight now lights everything done after sunset. 

Power lines were toppled in the region, which was the hardest hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda, as well as in Regions 5, 6, 7, crippling businesses and the return to normal life.  According to authorities it will be months before electricity is fully restored in the regions, but the energy department has vowed to restore power in major cities by Christmas eve.   

In response to the need for light,  the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) Group of Ministries brings solar lamps to Yolanda-affected communities as part of its relief efforts  and long-term rehabilitation work. 

CCT has operations on the islands of Palawan, Panay, and Mindoro.  It was beginning to introduce its savings mobilization program in Tacloban, Leyte when the storm struck.

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Should you want to donate to Yolanda survivors, the following are CCT’s bank details:

               Bank :  Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company – Kamagong-Sampaloc, Makati Branch
               Bank Account Name :  Center for Community Transformation
               Peso Account Number :  501-3-501-90126-2
               US Dollar Account Number :  501-2-501-20008-0
               Swift Code :  MBTCPHMM

In the Philippines, please get in touch with Ms. Penny Lim at 0933-2618809 for queries or more information. 

If you are US-based, please visit philippines.causevox.com to make a donation. 

Counseling Needed By Yolanda Survivors, Doctor Says

School desks serve as makeshift clinic for Dr.  John Tabije (standing)
 and Jacob Macarilay,  nurse, at a Tacloban City evacuation site. 

Dr. Demy Reyes  and  Dr. Pan Callanta (below)  treat 
 Yolanda survivors  amid the rubble left by the super storm.

“Yolanda survivors need counselling the most at this point,” said Dr. John Tabije after completing a medical mission trip to Tacloban.  “Several groups are already attending to basic medical needs.  What’s needed  now is people who will help them deal with the trauma.”

Dr. John was part of a team of three doctors and two nurses sent by the Center for Community Transformation Group of Ministries (CCT) to Tacloban two weeks after the city was devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda.  “We treated people with open wounds, mostly from stepping on nails or broken glass, or after being hit by flying roofing sheets. We brought a child with asthma to the hospital. We put a broken limb in a cast and gave anti-tetanus shots. But a lot of medical teams were also in the area. What survivors need at the moment is someone who can help deal with their losses, help them face the future,” he said. 

The CCT team partnered with the office of Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin in bringing medical treatment to survivors in evacuation centers in the city proper, to students of the World Evangelical Bible College in the neighboring town of Dulag, and to residents of Brgy. Talolora, Tanauan. 

“Another major need is transportation,” Doc John pointed out. “Relief supplies are piling up.  Volunteer drivers and trucks are needed to transport these to villages that have yet to receive any form of help. Sick survivors have to be brought to the hospital." Most vehicles in the city were rendered useless by the storm surge brought about by the Signal # 4 typhoon. "Even the vice mayor has to walk 45 minutes from his home to the city hall.”   

Doc John said that temporary shelter such as tents was also in short supply. 

CCT was just beginning to introduce its savings mobilization program in Tacloban when the storm struck. It also has operations in Palawan, Iloilo, Capiz, and Mindoro, provinces that were also hit by Yolanda.

Ruth Callanta, CCT president and founder, said, "We enjoin friends and ministry partners to join us in the long-term work of helping our community partners rebuild their homes and lives."

Should you want to donate, the following are CCT’s bank details:

               

Bank :  Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company – Kamagong-Sampaloc, Makati Branch

Bank Account Name :  Center for Community Transformation 

Peso Account Number :  501-3-501-90126-2

US Dollar Account Number :  501-2-501-20008-0

Swift Code :  MBTCPHMM

In the Philippines, please get in touch with Ms. Penny Lim at 0933-2618809 for queries or more information. 

If you are US-based, please visit philippines.causevox.com to make a donation. 

Photos: Pastor Ed Gomez

CCT Staff Give Up Christmas Baskets for Yolanda Survivors

More than P270,000 has been pledged by staff of the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) Group of Ministries toward survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

As of November 18, some 317 staff had pledged P129,100 from their capital build up (CBU), six staff had donated P11,500 from their savings build up (SBU), and 261 had offered to give up the food hampers given by the organization every Christmas in favor of sending the cash equivalent to the survivors in the Visayas.This was learned from Cris Manabat of CCT's Jehovah Jireh Credit Cooperative. CBUs and SBUs are amounts regularly deducted from the salaries of CCT staff.

The CCT Savings and Credit Cooperative has micro finance operations in the Yolanda hard-hit provinces of Iloilo and Capiz on Panay Island. It began savings mobilization work  in Tacloban, Leyte earlier this year .

Among CCT Community Partners: Zero Lives Lost

Although more than 6,500 CCT-assisted families were affected by Typhoon Yolanda, zero deaths were reported by staff in the provinces of Capiz, Iloilo, Leyte, Palawan and Mindoro. 

Some 6,585 families in the path of the storm suffered total or partial damage to their homes while among the 65 staff working in the affected towns and cities, 14 suffered totally damaged homes. 

Two pastors arrived in Samar on November 15 where they were to meet up with Leyte-based Pastor Ed Gomez and would then proceed to Tacloban  to locate community partners about whom CCT still has no news.  

A team of three doctors and a nurse is scheduled to leave on Wednesday, November 21, for Tacloban.  

CCT is accepting donations for the survivors. Most-needed supplies are food, water, and medicine.  Ruth Callanta, CCT president, also noted the practicality of providing solar-powered lamps which can also be used as cell phone chargers.   

For inquiries in the Philippines, please get in touch with Ms. Penny Lim at 0933-2618809. 

Should you want to make a cash donation, the following are CCT’s bank details:

               

Bank :  Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company – Kamagong-Sampaloc, Makati Branch

Bank Account Name :  Center for Community Transformation 

Peso Account Number :  501-3-501-90126-2

US Dollar Account Number :  501-2-501-20008-0

Swift Code :  MBTCPHMM

To make tax-deductible donations from the US, please visit philippines.causevox.com