All Hands and Hearts
Typhoon Odette made its first of 9 landfalls on December 16 in the Central-Southern Philippines causing severe rainfall, flooding, and mudslides. Rapidly intensifying over a 24-hour period, It had max sustained winds of 195 KM/hr and it was the strongest storm of 2021 to affect the Philippines.
The super typhoon affected an estimated 9.9 million people, killed 405, and left 2.4 million in need of assistance across all sectors, primarily with food, shelter, and livelihoods. Around 144,000 people were displaced immediately after the disaster. As of June 10, 2022, 6,800 people still remain displaced. There was significant damage to infrastructure, schools, community structures, and farms; 1.7 million homes were damaged, 415,000 homes were destroyed, and according to recent reports in some areas, 80% of coconut trees were uprooted entirely, whereas they often sway and remain standing in typhoon force winds. In the beginning stages, the response and recovery efforts were delayed due to the spread of COVID-19 and travel limitations within and into the islands.
Southern Leyte, where our program is located, was one of the worst-affected provinces. Out of 528 schools in Southern Leyte, 312 were impacted by Odette. From these 312 schools, there are 522 totally destroyed classrooms and 1,673 classrooms with major damage.
We are working on nine schools in rural communities near the municipalities of Malitbog, Tomas Oppus, Macrohon and Padre Burgos, which educate a total of 2,347 students combined. The schools are a mix of elementary, teaching kindergarten to grade 6, and secondary, teaching grades 7 to 12. We will construct 1 to 3 Transitional Learning Spaces (TLS) at each school. Our project team will consist of experienced construction and engineering staff to ensure that the TLSs are built to the highest standards.
What can you expect to do on the site? Each day depends on the scope of work the project you are placed on requires. Typical tasks include digging, bending and tying rebar, fabricating formwork, sifting sand, wheelbarrowing, site development like landscaping and supporting our amazing local workers with the higher-skilled tasks. Because the TLSs are constructed mostly of timber, there will be a high proportion of carpentry and woodworking-related tasks on these projects. You will also be working alongside skilled carpenters and masons from the local community.
Don’t worry if you have never done this before – we will teach you everything you need to know when you get here!