| Villages were virtually wiped out, thousands died and tens of thousands were left homeless in the wreckage. The first relief efforts spearheaded by international humanitarian organizations to aid the national government have been working tirelessly to bring relief to the communities. However, the magnitude of the destruction hampered relief operations. Evacuation areas and temporary relocation centers were set up swiftly and more often than not, with the worst sanitary conditions. There were few toilets being shared by thousands of people, no access to water, and no safe water to drink. Schools that would normally have a couple of hundred children attending, were turned into evacuation centers, and in most cases, still are. In some schools converted into evacuation centers, there are over 250 families living in classrooms and makeshift and donated tents sharing the same facilities along with the students while school is in session. In some of the temporary and permanent relocation centers, conditions are even more challenging. In the schools, most evacuees are living in a building with a relatively strong infrastructure whereas the relocation centers were built hastily and are generally overcrowded. In the aftermath, respiratory and water related illnesses have plagued the communities, and there is now an outbreak of dengue fever in the province. "Bringing People H2ope" is a program of A Single Drop for SafeWater (ASDSW), our Philippine non-governmental organization that provides water technologies to ensure safe water for the poorest of the poor. A sister office of the U.S.-based A Single Drop, ASDSW opened in September, and we are working in the rehabilitation efforts in the Albay Province as well as in the other island regions of the Philippines. We just launched a project in partnership with UNICEF, U.S. Peace Corp, Aquinas University (AU), Department of Health-Regional Office (DOH) and the Albay Disaster Relief Network (ADRN). Our project, Water for Albay Typhoon Emergency Relief (W.A.T.E.R) focuses on transferring technologies for safewater access to local organizations that will have long-term impact and emergency preparedness components as opposed to immediate relief that is temporary and not sustainable. We trained ADRN and AU in the BioSand Filter Technology (BSF) in addition to training the Local Government Unit (LGU) municipal engineers to build small water systems. BioSand Filters are household water treatments that remove 95-100 percent of biological contaminants and can be built locally using local resources and requiring no energy to use. We also gave an engineer training that helped the local governments design small community water systems as many systems were either damaged by the disasters, or never existed before that. We specifically chose these organizations because they are established in the Albay Province and have the capacity to reach out into the communities to help the community heal themselves. The main part of the grant was to install BioSand filters into the schools that were damaged by the typhoon and that served as the evacuation centers, the lifelines, for the survivors. Last Thurs, March 22, in celebration of World Water Day, we installed the first of 100 filters into these schools/evac centers. We had an inaugural ceremony to install this filter by launching a 6-month Nationwide Water Campaign, For the Prom-Ocean of Peace and Equity through Safe Water. This campaign intends to build the first Country-wide Million Voice Youth Choir on September 21, in celebration of the International Day of Peace, to encourage youth to take a leading role in protecting and preserving their water resources. With these evacuee children, who truly know the value of water since they have been in lack of it, it was the perfect way to celebrate World Water Day. We sang, WE RISE, (Tayo Na! in Tagalog) the theme song of the Million Voice Choir International Peace Movement, and now the Philippine Youth Water Advocacy Campaign. I had written the song in response to the World Trade Center bombing, as I was supposed to be in the building when the first plane hit. The sentiment of WE RISE expresses our power to RISE from tragedy and work together to heal. I went to four schools/evacuation centers and over a thousand children sang WE RISE along with me. The teachers came up to me afterwards and said that some of the children were getting goosebumps because it had an even more powerful meaning to sing WE RISE with them because they are all still healing from their losses of family, friends, homes and material belongings. So needless to say, it was a moving day for everyone. In the next three weeks 100 filters will be installed in over 30 schools providing safe water for thousands of evacuees and students not only for immediate relief but year round. As we continue our fundraising efforts, we can begin to reach out to the four hundred and 68 schools that were damaged, not to mention the daycare and health centers. Our work continues as we are also partnered with OXFAM, Plan International, the Canadian Embassy, along with so many other national NGOs all over the country. We've started over 20 projects and already thousands of people are being impacted with safe water! Some in areas of conflict (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, ARMM), areas in disaster rehabilitation (South Leyte, Mtn Province, Bicol), and of course regions with high incidence of water related diseases. In addition, we are offering the BSF workshops to train out-of-school youth as a vocational training. We are also working with multi purpose cooperatives to add BSFs as another product/service for their community. And our Women WaterKeepers Program focuses on making the technology available to women. Our workshop also provides training on creating BSF projects as livelihoods for income generation to ensure financial sustainability. Based on the concept that "it takes a single drop of water to start a wave" we believe that it takes one thought, one action, one person to make a difference. We focus on simple acts that can have great impact and we inspire unified action to sustain it. I learned a great deal in Albay, as well as the areas that I have been honored to assist in relief work in the Gulf Coast after the Hurricanes and India after the Tsunami. The great lessons that we learn from our surviving sisters and brothers who have endured such hardship, is that humans have an unbreakable and invincible spirit. And because they have been able to live through such devastation, gives us an opportunity reveal the best in all of us. For Filipinos, one of the most powerful things in a way that brings healing and hope to the country is music. In the midst of it all, they still sing. And beautifully at that. Gemma Bulos is Founder, A Single Drop & Architect, Million Voice Choir US +1.917.497.1094;/ Phil +63.920.840.0945; SKYPE: gemmabelle |
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| A report from Albay, Philippines A Single Drop brings survivors H2Ope By Gemma Bulos |
| Brought to you by: Heidi M. Pascual* Publisher & Editor * 2006 Journalist of the Year for the State of Wisconsin (U.S.-SBA) |
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| In the short span of just two months, the Bicol Region, especially the Province of Albay, was devastated by two of the most powerful typhoons to hit the Philippines in 20 years. To make matters worse, Mount Mayon, an active volcano that serves as one of the most beautiful backdrops in Albay's landscape, had been simmering since August, and had completely erupted between the typhoons' rampage. Its devastation only second to the eruption of Mt Pinatubo back in the '90s. With the combination of Typhoon Milenya in October, Typhoon Reming in November, and Mt Mayon's eruption in between, this battered community has had to endure some of the worst natural disasters in the history of the Philippines. This region is considered the most disaster-prone region in all of Southeast Asia, and the most shocking part of this is that it wasn't even typhoon season when these typhoons struck. |
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