On Monday Ian and myself accompanied Joey and a small team of men (Vincente and Andrew) as we set out to work on one of the shelters that had been flooded in the typhoon and was in urgent need of improvement.
Parts of the communities that Hands of Mercy serve are next to creeks and running water. They were very badly flooded and the residents had to flee for their lives in the dark, sheltering with friends whose shelters were higher, or being evacuated. Many lost most of their possessions.
The shelter that we fixed is occupied by Michael and his three young children. Michael lost is wife recently and it must be a massive struggle to cope in these circumstances.
The team needed to replace some parts of the roof and taking out and replacing a small extension of the side used for washing.
The picture above is of the stream that flows under Michael's house. I am sure you can imagine what it must have been like during the flood.
Here is the house before work started:
When Filipino's work on their houses they tend to take parts off and add new parts and then re-use the old materials in other parts of their home, so the collapsed structure in the front was to be removed, two panels of corrugated iron replaced on the roof, then one of those used to make another part of the shelter on the right in this picture. The other part of the roof would probably end up as part of the walls. The shelter as you can see is about 2m square and is actually on two floors!
Here are Michael and Vincente working on the roof (we went into another home next door to take this picture). The British contingent weren't allowed on the roof as the Filipinos thought the structure wouldn't hold our weight.
We were allowed to help with the construction on the side under the watchful eye of our Filipino friends
Here are the improvements, they may not seem like much to Western eyes, but Michael was very grateful to have a new non-leaking roof and a place to wash his dishes in the side compartment:
The team needed to replace some parts of the roof and taking out and replacing a small extension of the side used for washing.
The picture above is of the stream that flows under Michael's house. I am sure you can imagine what it must have been like during the flood.
Here is the house before work started:
When Filipino's work on their houses they tend to take parts off and add new parts and then re-use the old materials in other parts of their home, so the collapsed structure in the front was to be removed, two panels of corrugated iron replaced on the roof, then one of those used to make another part of the shelter on the right in this picture. The other part of the roof would probably end up as part of the walls. The shelter as you can see is about 2m square and is actually on two floors!
Here are Michael and Vincente working on the roof (we went into another home next door to take this picture). The British contingent weren't allowed on the roof as the Filipinos thought the structure wouldn't hold our weight.
We were allowed to help with the construction on the side under the watchful eye of our Filipino friends
Here are the improvements, they may not seem like much to Western eyes, but Michael was very grateful to have a new non-leaking roof and a place to wash his dishes in the side compartment:
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