“I’m still afraid that there might be another storm. But we are more prepared now,” Mary Jane Suco, one of the beneficiaries of a Shelter Repair Kit from Habitat for Humanity.
Mary Jane’s house was totally wrecked by Yolanda, but Thank God she did not lose a family member. She went from hopeless to just wanting her family to survive so even if releif operation were taking slow to reach them, her husband was able to make them a trmporary shelter beside the rubbles of their destroyed home. They slept in there for months until finally Habitat for Humanity was able to give them a Shelter Repair Kit.
The Shelter Repair kit is composed of construction materials and tools to rebuild homes destroyed by Typhoon Hayan a.k.a. Yolanda. As soon as the deatruction happened Habitat for Humanity was one of the fastest to respond with the relief and rebuild operations a year ago in Philippine history (November 8, 2014).
She explained that, with the Shelter Repair Kit, they were able to build an underground shelter they can escape to, in case “another Yolanda happens.”
Even in the midst of doubt, Mary Jane said that being provided a Shelter Repair Kit means they’ve not only had a new house built, and an escape route in case of another typhoon, but most of all, it helped ease her family’s trauma. “We are so grateful to Habitat for Humanity for giving us the materials we needed… Now we can at least sleep more soundly at night.”
But that isn’t all Mary Jane is doing to help her family cope and move on. “My children used to be really scared. So I went to a nearby protestant church and borrowed some educational flashcards from the pastor… It helps the children get over the trauma.”
Aside from building houses, building classrooms was also part of the Rebuild efforts of Habitat for Humanity
With one year on from the day Yolanda struck the Philippines, it was through this perseverance that allowed Mary Jane to begin again. It was her determination that permitted her to overlook the uncertainty, trauma and fear, and plant seeds in her family’s life for a fresh start; another chance for the seeds of her family’s life to grow and bloom.
Mary Jane was one of the lucky ones. But there are thousands more in poor living condition. Most are still living in the tent cities and are now being asked to leave the area because the land owner want their lot now for use.
Land aquisition is one of the major challenges faced by Habitat for Humanity Philippines especially in Yolanda affected areas. But they are overcoming such with a lot of help from private entities.
Habitat plans to build 33,000 core houses for the next 2 years and they don’t plan to leave Typhoon Haiyan victims alone.
With that said, we need your help. I am appealing on you personally to help us raise more funds.
I have created sponsors/donor packages outlining where the funds will go and your mileage getting the packages ( such as but not limited to: free feature/ blog post for x months, social media promotions, feature on Facebook pages etc.)
If interested please email me at earthlingorgeous@gmail.com
Or if you want to remain anonymous you may send donations at Earthlingorgeous Give to Habitat page. This project is until June 2015. Please click here to donate! Thank you so much!
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1 Comment
Thanks for the update Earth! I’m from Iloilo and personally felt the destruction of Yolanda. Kudos to your efforts on helping the victims.