Helping Kids Deal With Trauma from Typhoon Haiyan

We just wanted to give an update, and to thank you all for your quick support for our project to help children deal with the trauma of displacement from Typhoon Haiyan, by providing them with books this Christmas. The response has truly been amazing and immediate. Already, GlobalGiving has sent us an initial tranche of $4,044.30 plus another $5,000.00 grant to support our project. In addition, CANVAS raised an additional $2,708.97 from our local supporters, which we matched with another $2,325.58.

To date, then, the total amount raised is already $14,078.85, and it's only been less than a month since Typhoon Haiyan!

This amount is enough to publish more than 12,000 books, in addition to helping us send trained facilitators and psychologists to provide emotional relief and support to the children. We've already began ordering several titles. In fact, the first 2,000 copies of our "Earth Tales: 3 Ecofables for Children" were delivered to us yesterday, December 2 (pictured below).1,000 copies of this book - which are appropriate for kids aged 8 and below - will be going to disadvantaged communities and public schools in the province of Zambales and the other 1,000 copies will go to children in the islands of Palawan and Leyte.

Also in publication as we speak are several thousand copies each of "Message in the Sand", "Nadia and the Blue Stars" and "Ang Batang Maraming Bawal". We are very hopeful that most of these will be in the hands of children just in time for the holiday season.  In case you're interested, all these stories, including the 3 fables that comprise "Earth Tales" (The Hummingbird; The Star Thrower; and The King and the Royal Trees) can be read and downloaded for free on our website (www.canvas.ph).

Meanwhile, we haven't forgotten the children displaced by the Zamboanga conflict that shook Mindanao several weeks before Typhoon Haiyan hit. Two thousand "Nadia and the Blue Stars" books (out of a committed 4000 copies), with a local dialect translation (chabacano), have been printed and went direct from the press to the pier, and are now sailing for Mindanao (pictured below). A local NGO called Project Banig will use our books to conduct basic psychosocial intervention for displaced children affected by the armed conflict in the city of Zamboanga.

Be assured that we'll be sure to post more updates in the coming weeks and months as we bring the books to the typhoon-ravaged communities in Central Philippines.  

For now, please do continue telling your friends about this project. Because of your generosity, we've already surpassed our initial funding goal for providing 10,000 children with 10,000 books - but really, there are many many more children who need help in understanding, coping and moving forward. 

We truly believe that our books do help to do just that. We've seen how the experience of receiving the books, and knowing that it’s yours to keep, give children real and unadulterated joy. And, in light of the recent calamity, it is also a profound reminder to them that there are people like you out there, who remember and care enough to give them these books.

Again from the bottom of our hearts, thank you!