Hands On Disaster Response is now All Hands Volunteers

The volunteers have all left Santo Domingo (actually, we all left on the same plane bound for Manila!). We had our despededa, gave away our accumulated assets, cleaned the house, and said our goodbyes. The volunteers have left for Indonesia, Ireland, Borneo, Cameroon, Malaysia, Thailand, the USA – places exotic and home. Bound together by a commitment to help those in need, wherever Hands On will be next.

Thank you to those who followed our activities, made comment and suggestions, and made donations. Thanks especially to the volunteers of Project Santo Domingo for all of the hard work, long hours, passion, patience, understanding, and fun. It is you, the volunteer, that gives a part of your life to a common cause and makes this organization what it is and what it will be.
Thank you all, and until we meet again………. (more…)

*************PROJECT END DATE*************
At the time of this writing it appears as though we will wrap Project Santo Domingo the last full week of April. We have agreed to help the Scandinavian Childrens Mission (SCM) with rebuilding schools in Santo Domingo. SCM is in the process of evaluating whether they can target 4 or 5 schools for rehabilitation. Our exit will hinge on their decision on the number of schools to be rebuilt.
************************************

Santa Misericordia Elementary School
Our very first project in conjunction with Scandinavian Children’s Mission (SCM) has been completed! It was so much fun to take a devastated school and make it almost new for the children and families of barangay Santa Misericordia. Our volunteer work included roofing, interior walls and ceilings, electrical, windows, doors, and painting (expanding the skill sets!). In total, 7 rooms were rehabilitated. Each day 6-12 volunteers worked on site, enjoying the students’ company and eating wonderful food prepared by the teachers and community members. The learning that took place (by our volunteers!) will enable us to be better suited for the continuation of our relationship with SCM

Lidong Elementary School
Our second project with Scandinavian Children’s Mission has started as well! This school had not been touched since Super Typhoon Reming struck Novemeber 30 and it was disconcerting to walk amongst the lahar and learning materials scattered on the classroom floor. Undaunted, we spent two days shoveling the inside and cleaning up the outside of the elementary school with the help of many local residents. Currently the roof has already been replaced and the interior walls are going up! It won’t be long before we turn over another school!

Tarping
Holy carabao! Our latest tally shows that we have provided dry space for almost 150 families!! Thanks to all of the volunteers, I am happy to announce that we have completed all of the work orders for tarping in barangay San Isidro. Nice work, team.

Alimsog (Aaaaahlimsog)
It is with a heavy heart that I announce the end of the Alimsog safari. What started as 3 day rotations by the volunteers into an isolated barangay to build fishing bancas and rehabilitate a school turned into a love fest. The volunteers loved the remoteness and warmth of the community, and of course the interaction with the children. The community, in turn, loved the hardworking fun-loving volunteers who dedicated themselves to helping. The memory of our volunteer presence and their efforts will far outlast the tangible aspects of the projects and I know all of us will have a special place in their heart for Alimsog (sigh).

Baleti Daycare Center
If you look back to some of the first photos posted, you will find one of a collapsed daycare. It was made of native sawaali siding between posts supporting an anahau roof. Well, we rebuilt that building, better! Now a block building with a GI roof covers a cement floor for the preschoolers of Baleti. Our builder Jun, working with our volunteers and members of the community took great pride in the construction process to complete the sturdy new building. What a beautiful change for the better.

Sitio Kawayan: 1000 Coconut Seedlings and 1 Chapel
The most recent safari was not to Alimsog, but to Kawayan where the coconut trees were devastated. This is a very small farming sitio in barangay Calayucay, accessible by an arduous drive, risky motorbike ride, or exhausting hike. Lucky for us we had the help of local volunteers Noel and Chat Estillomo (owners of Costa Palmera Resort) to guide us throughout the project. The volunteers camped at the Estillomo farm while working to distribute and plant coconut seedlings to the surrounding neighbors. Imagine slogging through muddy rice paddies, as well as up and down hills carrying 10+ coconut seedlings strapped to a pole! We also helped the residents rebuild their chapel/community center which was destroyed in Typhoon Milenyo, prior to Reming. The residents were at a loss for words to express their gratitude to our group of volunteers that had come so far to find and help them.

Sweepstakes
Our home barangay elementary school, Sweepstakes, is almost completely renovated. A loyal group of volunteers have worked diligently to make the school better than its pre-typhoon state. From additional GI roofing, ceilings, windows, and electrical work to painting the buildings’ exteriors, the work rolls on. Our final project is the renovation of the former library/physical education space which was in a state of disrepair even prior to the typhoon. When we finish all of the rooms will, again, be usable by the San Isidro students.

Village Photo Project and Kid Snaps
With as handsome a crowd as we have here, we can’t help but keep taking pictures, printing, and distributing them! The most recent batch went to the residents of Alimsog, keepsakes for families without photo histories. In an interesting twist on the photo project we are now giving one-time-use cameras to some of the children and letting them take the pictures! We develop the film and eagerly wait to see what they have given us, then the volunteers gather around the photos, much the same way the residents and children do! We certainly have found some interesting perspectives and have posted some of the kids’ photos on our flickr site.

Thanksgiving
No, not the American holiday, but what the residents of the affected communities call their celebrations in our honor. The volunteers attended a thanksgiving in Alimsog that included singing, dancing, speeches, and yummy food. Then the teachers of the Santa Misericordia school took all of us to a water park (something like you can imagine, but also hit hard by lahar flows that destroyed the basketball and tennis court…….. and isolated the pirate ship ??) Bottom line is the Filippinos are very happy to have us and are very willing to show that gratitude. We have a busy schedule of celebrations lined up for the next few weeks!

Power
For those of you interested: the power went off 30 November, 2006 during typhoon Remng. The power returned to our volunteer center on 10 March, 2007.

Last, but certainly not least, a thanksgiving note to Mr. Monsef, my colleague. Darius arrived here in late February to give me two weeks of R&R and did a masterful job of running the operation during my absence. Thank you, and I do respect the mustache.

Marc Young
Operations Director
Hands On Disaster Response
Project Santo Domingo

Mabuhay! Exciting News!

We are extending Project Santo Domingo!! As many of you know we had planned a closing date of 31 March, 2007. Due to some recent developments we will be staying into April, 2007.

(more…)

Project Santo Domingo after 60 Days

Buy a Banca, Launch a Banca

Wow! The idea was simple: Hands On furnishes the materials and expert builder, then the boat owner builds his own boat, his livelihood. The outcome was overwhelming. On a perfectly gorgeous February day our volunteers helped carry the boats, some finished with names chosen by donors, the ¼ mile from the community build area to the beach. The omnipresent children, proud fathers and hardworking mothers of the barangay Salvacion gathered near the sea for the blessing of the fleet carried out by the Catholic priest. The fishermen knelt next to their boats, shielding candles from the wind, as the priest asked for their safety on the seas. The moment was too much for many (some even now …as “they” write this). The boats were launched and the volunteers were given rides, followed by rides for the children and a celebration of food, laughter, and fun. Rachel Kroeker guided this project from day one, persevering with help from other volunteers over language barriers, gender stereotyping, and a general lack of woodworking skills. She shaped a very, very successful and most rewarding project and a BIG thank you to all of you who made donations to this project.

(more…)

…help is needed, and appreciated. Typhoon Reming was definitely a major disaster in the Philippines, and the small towns where the average daily wage hovers around $3 and most people live in tiny huts with tin or reed roofs are definitely poor. I’ve spent the first two weeks of January at the Hands On project in the barangay (village) of San Isidro, in the municipality of Santo Domingo, a town near the city of Legazpi, a few hours from Manila.

This is a poor rural area, with surrounding rice fields and fishing as the major food sources. Their homes and livelihood were both affected by a category 5 (highest level) typhoon that struck on November 30th, and triggered massive flows of accumulated sodden ash, called lahar, off the slopes of Mt. Mayon, an active volcano that is 6 miles away from our project site. The lahar flow redirected rivers, eliminated rice fields, mowed down homes, destroyed most trees (including the materials normally used for roofs and walls). Fishing fleets were destroyed and power will be out for months.

(more…)

30 Days of Project Santo Domingo

Wow, what a difference 30 days make. We now have 15 volunteers on hand and have representation from 8 different countries so far!!!!! Our vols have come from the UK, New Zealand, Cameroon, Ireland, Philippines, Sweden, Canada, and the USA and every one of them is working hard to help the victims of supertyphoon Reming. The Bicol region of the Philippines was hit hard and the area is still in need.

(more…)

I am recently back in the US… and very cold! There is about a 70 degree temperature difference between Santo Domingo and here Portland, OR.

My time with Marc and the rest of the HODR volunteers was a great experience and since Marc had things well under control I got to take some time to get dirty and do some good ol’ work.

This project was a hard one for me, and not because I was there for Christmas and New Year, away from my family. But because of how poor the people are in the Bicol Region where we are set-up. While we are only a short term disaster relief organization, I feel good knowing that we will be making a lasting impact in a community and leaving behind means to better themselves for years to come.

Aside from my favourite thing in the Philippines (That being the very delicious Pan De Agua bread, baked daily by our neighbors.) I loved the locals. The kids there have amazingly big hearts and bright smiles. If you like kids, then this project would be the one for you. They are always around, and they are always being helpful. If you’re trying to carry it, tear it down, pick it up, shovel it, cut it, Etc… there is always a young boy or girl who is there to help you.

(more…)

We have a house! On Dec, 31, we’ll move into our new house, located in the heart of barangay San Isidro in Santo Domingo. We’ve updated our FAQs with housing details, and have also posted some photos of the house in our project gallery.

Looking for that perfect holiday gift? Looking for a gift that will keep on giving?

We are happy to announce that for a project-directed donation of $180.00 USD you can own* a genuine Filipino fishing banca. But, wait……that’s not all. If you act now we will throw in an authentic fishing net AT NO ADDITIONAL COST. That’s right for a mere $180USD you will create a livelihood for an entire family in the village of Buhatan, in Santo Domingo

Ok! That is the hype. The actuality of it is this: the fisherman in Buhatan lost 26 of their 30 bancas. This small (about 4m) family-owned boat can be rebuilt locally, providing income for the boat makers and also the fisherman. There are other larger boats in the area that are owned by businesses who hire the fisherman to work on them, but our target is to help the family-owned bancas.

We would like to be able to help rebuild the fishing fleet quickly. The peak fishing season starts in February, when the families can harvest the most profitable fish.

So, act now don’t delay! Don’t miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity to own an authentic fishing banca and receive our free gift fishing net!!

Please visit our online donation site or email us. You can contact fisherman Tom Taylor at info@hodr.org for more details.

* Fine print: your ownership, of course, DOES NOT INCLUDE possession of the boat or the net!