Health, Sanitation and Food Security Project

Dear Friends,

Barangay Mahayahay in Ormoc City is an upland barrio. It can be reached via a dirt road by motorcycle and 4x4 car. There are 185 families living in Mahayahay. The place has no water except for rainwater that residents gather during rain. Or else they fetch water from a river source 3 kilometers away. When Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) devastated Mahayahay, the suffering of residents worsened. We started work in the area by constructing low cost dry toilets and also providing vegetable seeds. To date we have constructed 85 toilets already and we planned to provide each of the families with one toilet each. Cost is low because we are using the coconut trees felled by the typhoon as the main framing materials for the toilets. The residents are very happy about the suupport we are providing as no aid agencies are looking at providing toilets for the survivors. 

Thank you very much for your generous support without which we will not be able to do this important task. Much is yet to be done and may I ask that you share this effort with your friends via social media.

Very sincerely yours,

Cora

The following is an e-postcard from Zamil Akhtar, a GlobalGiving Representative in the Philippines.

It took two hours to arrive at the most remote place I’d ever been. A tiny dot in the middle of a vast valley, the village was constructed out of bamboo and wood. With the help of WAND Foundation, many of the pitfalls that befall these poor and remote communities have been averted. Thanks to WAND’s food garden initiative, they are more food secure, and with their eco-friendly latrine initiative, healthier and safer from disease. WAND has installed hundreds of these latrines in communities around Mindanao: made from a special concrete and using sawdust to cover waste, they naturally fight bacteria that cause water borne illness.