PHILIPPINES: 60 Day Report

Project Santo Domingo after 60 Days

Buy a Banca, Launch a Banca

HODR Boats

Wow! The idea was simple: Hands On furnishes the materials and expert builder, then the boat owner builds his own boat, his livelihood. The outcome was overwhelming. On a perfectly gorgeous February day our volunteers helped carry the boats, some finished with names chosen by donors, the ¼ mile from the community build area to the beach. The omnipresent children, proud fathers and hardworking mothers of the barangay Salvacion gathered near the sea for the blessing of the fleet carried out by the Catholic priest. The fishermen knelt next to their boats, shielding candles from the wind, as the priest asked for their safety on the seas. The moment was too much for many (some even now …as “they” write this). The boats were launched and the volunteers were given rides, followed by rides for the children and a celebration of food, laughter, and fun. Rachel Kroeker guided this project from day one, persevering with help from other volunteers over language barriers, gender stereotyping, and a general lack of woodworking skills. She shaped a very, very successful and most rewarding project and a BIG thank you to all of you who made donations to this project.

Lahar, can you dig it?

This is hard, dirty, hot work and our volunteers love it. A continuing project for our teams (lead consistently by volunteer Tim, our “digging machine”) is to help dig out, literally, those who had their homes buried by lahar. By expediting the excavation of homes, we are helping to provide closure and a return to normalcy for the families here.

Tarping

We have now provided dry space to over 100 families in our home barangay of San Isidro! This is quite an accomplishment for us (especially if you have looked at the photos) since it continues to rain, and families struggle with difficult living conditions. Great work by everyone who has spent time with volunteers Solo, Alan, David D, Dan, and Suzi on tarp teams.

Alimsog Safari: 30 boats, 6 classrooms, 1 day care

After a scenic 20 minute jeepney ride along the coast and a 10 minute boat ride you reach the isolated fishing barangay of Alimsog. Here you will find two of HODR’s most scaled projects and Jarod, the Peace Corps volunteer, who has become our project leader extraordinaire! By incorporating homestays with 2 of the local families and rotating teams of volunteers in and out every 3 days (unless your name is Suzi and you never leave) we are helping here in a big way!

Following the model of our successful Salvacion banca program, we are helping to rebuild the fishing fleet with 30 boats scheduled for completion. We provided the lion’s share of the materials, the skills of a master boat builder, hand tools, and a community build location for the men to work. It is amazing to see the boats take shape as the craftsman work away.
During Typhoon Reming, the Alimsog Integrated school buildings lost every single piece of roofing they had. Thanks to our volunteers, some help from the community, and the leadership of or favorite contractor Jhun and his brother (Peewee) we have now re-roofed the school. Imagine yourself standing in 85°F heat on a roof as reflective as aluminum foil; no matter how much water you drink, it seems you cannot quench your thirst. Strangely enough, many of the volunteers don’t want to rotate out of Alimsog. Ok, the real reason for the love of this project is the people and children of the community. The adoration of throngs of children and the smiles of the adults will quickly win your heart. If you have ever wanted to live the life of a rock star (granted, with a hammer in hand instead of a guitar), this is the project for you!
This week we start to rebuild the Balete day care center (see early picture in our photo gallery). The citio of Balete is either a 1 hour walk or 15 minute boat ride…..from Alimsog! Considering the isolation of this place, it is little wonder that getting materials in to start rebuilding has been a challenge, and HODR is happy to help!

San Fernando Day Care

What started as a re-roofing project for a building that houses seventy-six 4 and 5 year olds has turned into an ongoing labor of love! Our rapid response amazed the local residents when we replaced the roof and installed bamboo windows in one weekend! Then Dan came up with a beauty of an idea: painting the walls with a mural. One of the most photogenic projects ever took place as 152 small hands put paint on the walls (and nearly everything else) in the shape of a sea and coconut tree strewn shore. Solo spent a week constructing 5 new little student desks that were presented, to the joy of the children. To finish it all off, we went back to paint the desks and even the galvanized iron roof with a protective coating.

Village Photo Project

It has been launched, with an initial run of 366 photos and a second run of 137!! The idea is to photograph as many members of the community as possible, post them for all to see, and then give them away to the subjects. In this community, where few people own a camera and those that did lost their memorabilia in the storm, our photos are a source of joy and appreciation among children and adults alike. Thanks to all the volunteers who have taken the photos and to volunteer Sarah for building the display case.

Tool banking

We have distributed a set of hand tools plus a wheelbarrow to each of the 6 Purok (neighborhood) Presidents that make up our barangay. We found many residents unable to do any work for themselves because they lacked basic hand tools. Solution? We set up a system like a library, where they can sign out tools as they need, then return them for someone else to use. Fun to see our tools being used throughout the community without any of our volunteers in sight!

Donsol Marine Resource Center

Peace Corps volunteer Julia undertook the task of setting up and building the Donsol Marine Resource Center, and HODR volunteers helped with the painting. Led by David D., a team went to Donsol (about 2 hours south of our home) to paint on a Saturday and then found time on Sunday to swim with whale sharks!

I got the Power?

The word is next week. That makes it MARCH. The typhoon was 30 November. We have heard “next week” for weeks! On a positive note, much of Santo Domingo has had their power restored at this point, and our volunteers have become accustomed to life with the generator. Our cold, outdoor showers are even relished by the volunteers as the days become perpetually hotter and hotter!

One up, one down

We now have 4 bunk beds in the house to help accommodate our growing volunteer population. Hand built by a local woodworker (and Sarah), the beds are beautiful and sturdy! You want top or bottom?

Testing, testing

When the electrical power service is restored, our neighborhood school, Sweepstakes Elementary will be ready. Tim took charge of running new wires to the buildings and checking the internal system.

End of Project

We are looking forward to one more busy month of Project Santo Domingo. We will continue to work on our core projects as well as develop new ones, until our project conclusion on 31 March. Hope to see you in the next month!