3314 Philippines Typhoon Relief: Hearts, Hands and Heads put to work
austraLasia #3314

 
Philippines Typhoon Relief: Hearts, Hands and Heads put to work

 CEBU:  15 November 2013 --  The death toll may be down, but that does not change the situation for millions of Filipinos struggling to stay alive in the devastated areas in the aftermath of typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan. Salesian Family communities and more importantly, relatives, young people attending schools, oratories, parishes are all affected - and those better off are helping those worse off. Not only in the Philippines. A massive response from DBN (Don Bosco Network) coordinating 8 major NGOs in Europe is underway. Don Bosco Missions in New Rochelle also has a relief appeal in place, and no doubt there are others doing similarly that we do not know about. The relief response requires that hearts be moved, hands be put to the concrete tasks and heads to ensure that every level of this operation is effective and efficient.

FIS
         
The Southern Philippines Province (FIS) is the msot directly affected and are udnerstandably fully engaged in relief work. Fr Randy Figuracion, to mention just one name, comes from the worst affected area himself, and is up there directing relief activity and aid, especially materials coming up from Cebu City  Salesian efforts (e.g. DBTC, Lourdes Parish)

Don Bosco Network partners have shown how a competently coordinated effort can swing into effective action in an energency. Here are some details of the operation as it currently stands:
Don Bosco Mondo (GERMANY)
Don Bosco Mondo (formerly known as Jugend Dritte Welt) has a highly organised response already in place covering four of the worst affected provinces/areas:
Cebu province: Medicines
Aklan: relief packs, medicines, housing
Leyte: relief packs, medicines, housing, temporary shelter (tents)
East Samar: relief packs, medicines.
A typical relief pack would contain a kilo of rice, canned goods, noodles, water (with alterantive packs for situations without cooking facilities)
SPAIN (Jovenes y Desarrollo, Madrid Mission Office, Seville Salesians)
JyD and Madrid Mission Office are two large and well organised NGOs and a glance at their websites will indicate how they are managing this relief effort. The first named group is also able to offer very high level management expertise and are prepared to send someone to Cebu to help at the 'head' as well as the heart and  hands level.
Madrid has focused on an articulared media campaig of press releases, letter to donors, their website, national media outlets, FaceBook and Twitter - and say they are receiving a massive response.
The Salesians in Seville have dedicated their province web page to the disaster, and feature amongst other things, a telephone interview with a young Salesian, Bro. Jerome Quinto, from the Philippines. (Anybody who used the Times of Don Bosco material for the DB Relic visit would indirectly know Jerome - he was the artist behind that).
ELSEWHERE
Via Don Bosco (BELGIUM), Salesian Missions (USA) are running campaigns highlighting the needs. They are both well-placed to plug into wider efforts as well as draw on their usual donors - in Belgium, for example, there are indications that the population at large has been deeply touched by this tragedy, and VIA DB are able to 'piggyback' on NGO efforts generally in that country.

This survey is only partial and certainly does not intend to leave out efforts large and small across the Salesian world.  If you have something you would like to feature in this regard, please let us know.