Heifer Philippines Continues Rehabilitation Efforts

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Rehabilitation work is underway in the Philippines to help Heifer International project participants begin the long recovery from Typhoon Bopha, which struck the southern island of Mindanao on December 4, 2012.

Elmer Negros and his son, building a makeshift cabin in the place where their house used to stand. His wife watches while washing all the clothes that got soaked during the Typhoon Bopha. Their house was totally destroyed by the typhoon. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

Philippines country staff has asked Heifer International for $50,000 in immediate disaster rehabilitation funding to help provide short-term food relief and materials to repair homes and a feed mill, such as tin for the roofs and raw feed ingredients for surviving animals.

At the headquarter of HEED, Heifer's local partner in Santa Josefa. Staff and volunteers preparing bags of rice for distribution to the families that have nothing to eat as a consequence of the Typhoon Bopha. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

On Saturday, representatives of the federation of self-help groups (SHGs), organized by Heifer Philippines country staff, met with HEED, the local partner, to discuss and schedule procuring and distributing supplies to help families who were affected. For Heifer, 366 families in two projects in Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur, were significantly affected, with homes damaged or destroyed. More than 250 pigs were lost, as well as 90 goats. Rice, corn and banana crops were significantly damaged.

A banana plantation, destroyed by Typhoon Bopha. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

The groups also met with representatives of Save the Children and World Vision to help coordinate rehabilitation efforts and food supplies. Heifer regional staff plans to meet December 21 in Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur, with the SHGs and HEED to discuss longer term rehabilitation planning.

Florita M. San Miguel, a Heifer participant, with her pig and recently born piglets. They were born right after Typhoon Bopha hit Santa Josefa. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

Between today and December 23, Hercules Paradiang, Heifer Philippines country director, and his team, will work with the SHGs and HEED to secure, repack and distribute food and roofing materials for repairs. Then, between December 21 and 24, members with carpentry skills and others will be divided into groups to help repair and rebuild homes that were damaged, as well as distribute and help prepare food as needed.

Ariel Alcantara, a neighbour of Santa Josefa, in front of what remains of his house. It was almost destroyed by Typhoon Bopha. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

Between December 26-29, crews plan to reconstruct the feed mill warehouse, and then on December 30-January 2, 2013, to purchase raw materials to put the feed mill back in operation by January 2, 2013. Between January 8 and 10, 2013, Heifer Philippines staff, along with the self-help groups and local government units, will provide Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) workshops to five Heifer project communities.

The workshops, which help families prepare for and endure emergencies and disasters, had been planned for December 4-7, but was canceled because of Typhoon Bopha’s assault on the island.

Heifer International plans to send a World Ark writer and photographer to the Philippines in late January to visit the impacted area and report on the families, as well as ongoing CMDRR efforts across the country to better prepare families for disasters such as Bopha, lessons that can be shared with other Heifer International communities in high-risk areas around the world.

Heifer Philippines Staff Assess Typhoon Bopha Damage

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Heifer International sent a photographer to the Philippines over the weekend to document damage from and record existing state images in the wake of Typhoon Bopha, which struck the southern island of Mindanao last week with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains. The photographer will return to the area in late January, along with a World Ark writer to record the situation and report on long-term agriculture rehabilitation plans.

Update 12/12/12: The following photographs are preliminary photographs; images from the professional photographer will be shared as they are made available.

Meanwhile, Heifer International country staff in the Philippines continues to assess damage in the south from last week’s typhoon strike, and to help prepare for the rehabilitation efforts that will be needed to help project families get back on their feet.

Hercules Paradiang, Heifer Philippines country director, and his team are also working and talking with other nonprofits that are experienced in disaster response, as well as a federation of eight Heifer-organized self-help groups that have been supporting relief efforts since last week and will play an important part in on-the-ground rehabilitation work.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development has also assumed direction of NGO efforts and is discussing longer-term rehabilitation partnerships.

Officials said 647 are confirmed dead, with another 780 missing. Total affected population is 487,364 families, or 5,412,140 people in 30 provinces in eight regions. Estimates of overall damage are as high as $173 million.

Specific to Heifer, at least 366 families in two projects in Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur, were significantly affected, with homes damaged or destroyed. More than 250 pigs were lost, as well as 90 goats. Rice, corn and banana crops were significantly damaged, and initial estimates from Heifer communities place damages at $550,000.

Heifer Philippines country staff is asking Heifer International for immediate $50,000 disaster rehabilitation funding to help provide short-term food relief and materials to repair homes and a feed mill, such as tin for the roofs and raw feed ingredients for surviving animals.

Heifer Haiti Distributes Food to Hurricane Sandy Victims

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Annie Bergman

Last Friday we posted about emergency efforts that were underway to help the people of Haiti affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Yesterday, Heifer Haiti’s Country Director, Hervil Cherubin, let us know that the food distribution was a success. More than 400 food packages were given out to families who needed help in the wake of the storm. Cherubin said Heifer Haiti also helped provide food to Haitians who are physically challenged.

The distribution took place in Solon (a community in Saint Louis du Sud) where Heifer Haiti has a rabbit project and various communities in Les Cayes where the office is located.

It was the first of Heifer Haiti’s planned efforts to provide emergency aid. While Heifer does not specialize in short-term relief but rather in long-term sustainable solutions, our Heifer Haiti colleagues and participants need your continued help. Please consider donating to our Disaster Rehabilitation Fund so we can provide the best assistance possible and help equip families with the means to help deal with future disasters.

Heifer Haiti Emergency Efforts Begin

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Editor’s note: The following update on Heifer Haiti’s Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts comes from Heifer Haiti Country Director Hervil Cherubin.

Today Heifer International’s Haiti country office team will be distributing emergency help to 400 families affected by Huricane Sandy. Each one will receive a kit (bag), containing rice, corn, sugar, milk, beans, flour and cooking oil. The distribution will be in Solon (a community in Saint Louis du Sud) where Heifer Haiti has a rabbit project and various communities in Les Cayes where the office is located.

Some of the kits will be distributed to a group of people with handicaps (many as consequences of the 2010 quake) in collaboration with the Haiti office for the Integration of the Handicap in Society. It is worth mentioning that being handicapped here in Haiti is very complicated and stigmatized. We will be helping 100 families.

Photo by Jason Woods, Heifer International

At 2:30 p.m. we will go to a very poor community named Sous Roche, which is close to the ocean and a river, to help 150 families. These people were hit hard by the storm because of their location. Their houses were flooded. Later we will go to small communities (Pelerin and Fond Fred) to distribute kits to 50 families each.

Tomorrow morning we will go to Solon to distribute kits to 100 families. This community was devastated by the storm. Many houses were flooded and crops destroyed. It is very sad to see all these plantain and pigeon bean plantations completely wiped out by the water.

All these activities are in coordination with the local emergency committee, Centre d’Operation d’Urgence (COU), on which Heifer is a sitting member. They work with partners to assist different communities. The communities Heifer Haiti is helping today and tomorrow have not yet received any help.

We started the process yesterday morning after receiving emergency funds from Heifer International headquarters. Yesterday afternoon we bought the goods, and with the help of some volunteers we put together the kits. We stopped at midnight, and this morning we started again to get them ready by noon.

These are the first of our emergency assistance plans. We will also assist many of our beneficiaries who lost their animals and crops with replacements and seed for the next planting season. These activities will happen in the coming days as things get back to some kind of normalcy.

Our Heifer Haiti colleagues and participants need your continued help. Please consider donating to our Disaster Rehabilitation Fund so we can provide the best assistance possible.

Heifer’s Long-term Approach to Natural Disasters

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Pierre Ferrari

Earlier this week, Hurricane Sandy barreled through the Caribbean Sea and up the eastern seaboard leaving a path of destruction. In roughly 10 days she caused damage to countries in the Caribbean, including Haiti, most of the eastern United States and finally dissipating up the Canadian coast.

Haiti project participants participating in community meeting. Photography by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International

But for us at Heifer, Hurricane Sandy’s destruction hit close to home. Haiti was one of the hardest hit countries in the Caribbean with large losses, including homes, livestock and agriculture. Project participants working with Heifer Haiti have a new set of challenges before them. In addition, Heifer’s Washington, D.C. office, and Overlook Farm learning center, in Massachusetts, were closed.

And while Haiti is dealing with the aftermath from the storm, Heifer Haiti staff gave us a silver lining when they informed us that homes we help to build as part of a previous project had withstood the storm.

The good news didn’t surprise me; it confirmed that Heifer’s work addresses the needs of project participants. Heifer is not a relief organization, but rather we work with families and individuals through long-term development to support their efforts of building sustainability for themselves and in their communities. We cannot predict disasters but we can prepare people for the aftermath. When individuals have the tools and the capacity, they can—and will—overcome the challenges from Mother Nature.

This is Heifer’s sustainable approach to ending hunger and poverty—one family, one animal at a time. It’s not temporary relief. It’s not a handout. It’s securing a future with generations of people who have hope, health and dignity.

Project participants in Haiti. Photograph by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International.

Earlier this year I visited Haiti and experienced the vibrancy, passion, and drive of the communities involved in Heifer Haiti’s Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti (REACH) project. The effects of Hurricane Sandy will not deter them. Their desire to bring change to their communities motivates them. You can encourage their efforts by providing support to Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund.

Photography by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International.

Heifer Haiti Homes Stand Up Against Sandy

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video, used under Creative Commons.

We have another update regarding the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy from Heifer Haiti Field Technician Ludger Badette:

Heifer Haiti staff examined the damage in the Saut Mathurine area where houses were built/rebuilt in the wake of the 2010 earthquake. People in that area said the houses that resisted the damage from Hurricane Sandy were those built by Heifer International. During the hurricane, those who lived in houses that were destroyed or damaged took refuge in the houses built by Heifer. People there remain grateful for this project.

The building and repair of homes in Haiti were part of Heifer Haiti’s From the Ground Up umbrella project that set out to rehabilitate the rural livelihoods of 12,000 families.

Click here to give to Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund

Hurricane Sandy Causes Flooding in Haiti

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Photo by mdpNY, used under Creative Commons license.

Heifer International’s Haiti country office remains closed today after Hurricane Sandy passed near the island country, dumping several inches of rain. The storm, which has been upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, is expected to produce a total of 6 to 12 inches of rain across Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Earlier in the year, a number of Heifer International project participants’ livestock were killed and a breeding center was damaged when Tropical Storm Isaac struck Haiti in August.

Hervil Cherubin, the country director of Heifer Haiti, relates reports that many crops have been destroyed in the area near Heifer’s office in Les Cayes, and rivers are overflowing. Transportation is very difficult and project activities this week are not possible.

No harm to Heifer project participants has currently been reported, but Heifer Haiti staff is evaluating the situation and will share more information as it becomes available.