Philippines Update

Here's a link to the previous article on the Philippines http://linzarcher.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-bizarre-trip-to-philippines.html with a little more info on my Uncle Dennis. He's an amazing man who started the International Deaf Education Association or IDEA.  Our family received an update from Uncle Dennis, and I thought that I would share the letter that he sent. He's made a huge impact on the islands in the past, and he continues to do so.

Island of Bohol in 1996

Update from Dennis:

I'm running on emergency generator so have Internet and running water from my deep well so feel so fortunate.  The island of Bohol is mostly in a black out because the geothermal electrical plant in Leyte got hit so hard by typhoon Yolanda.  The report is that they may be back on-line by January.  

I have seven American volunteers here right now from Faith Chapel in Billings, Montana.  They are all construction types and are helping me in setting up our rapid house construction assembly line in our new shop that Consuelo helped us build.  The shell for this new shop was completed two weeks before the quake and was not damaged a bit.  The timing for the shell's completion could not have been better because within one week after the quake we were already turning out transitional/core shelters for our staff members whose homes collapsed.  I am still trying to get a finished concrete slab in part of the structure and we are building a bunk house for our workers.  

We have now moved to a second generation design of our Emergency House that is 18 square meters but can easily be expanded to 36 square meters by the owner.  It is made of coconut lumber and plywood and we are expecting that when our production line is fully operational, we will be able to put out 10 homes a day at a cost from $400 to $450 each.  We are expecting the cost of materials to rise as demand goes higher so I wouldn't be surprised to see the cost go to $600 per house.  Once on the sight, the homes are ready to occupy in 2 hours.

Three members of the Montana team went with me yesterday to Sagbayan, Bohol to straighten up the walls of our Dormitory.  The very good news is that they declared it safe to occupy so we can call the kids back to school if only we had a generator.  We have a deep well at the dorm but no way to extract it.  This is the same situation in Loon, Bohol and Ormoc, Leyte.

The team yesterday did have some bad news for me though in that our brand new classroom building in Sagbayan that was to be inaugurated on Nov 5 is in worse condition than I originally thought.  Although most walls are still standing, they just pushed on the 18 foot division and end walls of the structure and it was obvious that if they wanted to, the walls could be pushed right over.  The verdict is that 80 % of the building has to be torn down and we have to start over.  Sad.

Today part of the team head up to Loon so we can assess the damage more closely there and get a final recommendation on repairs and or rebuilding there.  We will have to take a boat across the main river because the bridge is down.  Initial reports are that the dorm is usable but the classroom building there may also be beyond repair.  I need a second opinion so my American construction guys will be very helpful.

Ormoc, Letye is very difficult.  We have not been able to make contact with a number of our teachers and dorm parents.  We are unsure of their fate.  Three of the teachers we have contacted had their homes either totally damaged or partially damaged.  Two of the teachers and their families are taking refuge in what is left of our dorm.  We have no way of knowing the fate of our students yet.

I was so fortunate on Monday as I made an emergency trip to Cebu and was able to buy corrugated roofing and C-purlins to repair the Ormoc dorm and classroom buildings.  This was some of the last roofing available in the whole city of Cebu.  As I said, I did not have luck for generators.

This week we are setting up a training for our staff in connection with CFSI for trauma counseling.  Right after that we will send out our sponsorship staff on the backs of motorcycles to the homes of every deaf child to assess their needs and begin making arrangements to bring them back to the dormitories and start classes.  We want to give them a feeling of return to normalcy as soon as possible.  

My strategy in Ormoc, Leyte that got hit by the typhoon so hard is:

1. Make our dorm and classroom building safe to occupy.  They will probably be used as evacuation centers or command centers initially.
2. Stabilize our teachers and staff situation.
3. Locate and assess the needs and conditions of students
4. Restart classes
5. Help families of our staff or students who have lost their homes with transitional / core homes.
6. Reach beyond the IDEA family to help as may others as possible.

One of the very difficult problems we are having with our Employment, Income Generating Projects (EIGPs) is the power outages.  We do have generators at all of these facilities such as Dao Diamond Hotel.  The problem is that it is costing us P18,000 per day to operate the one at the hotel.  Luckily we have been fully occupied since the earthquake but we are operating at a loss.  The same is true for Garden Cafe, IDEA Pension House in Jagan, and our fly tying operation.  It is essential that we keep these businesses going because to do otherwise would simply add to the potential collapse of our small world.  No jobs for our workers would be devastating for them. 

Well I hope that brings you up to speed.

Here are some links to various articles and appeals that have been produced about and for us.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/billings-residents-arrive-in-philippines-to-help-after-typhoon/article_6e6177e1-a9e0-5bfc-896b-04c9168d5e30.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRfkOTX_GNg  

I will also be updating the IDEA website today or tomorrow.  You will be able to follow us there.

Best regards,

Dennis