Help Families Recover from Typhoon Haiyan

The last update we sent you was on Thanksgiving, and we’ve been very busy bees since then! Here is some of the work your generosity has made possible since our last update:

• We worked with Filipino NGOs, the military, and volunteer doctors to organize a clinic for more than 400 people who had not seen a doctor since Haiyan struck
• Aid distribution to local clinics has been uneven, so we’ve facilitated ‘swaps’ of medical supplies between clinics to fill gaps in one clinic with surplus from another
• We rebuilt the roof on local community centre which also acts as the headquarters for a Filipino NGO called ‘Volunteer for the Visayans’. That roof is now allowing this group of local leaders to meet their community’s needs.
• We safely removed the mangled steel roof of a local centre for rehabilitating youths who have been in trouble with the law. The roof removal has made the centre safe, and the centre can now re-open.
• We’ve begun work to re-open the Aaram Learning Studio – a school for children with developmental disabilities.

All the above has changed lives, but it’s one of our smaller projects that has had the biggest impact on our team on the ground.

Virginia is a midwife who works in the town of Santa Fe just outside Tacloban. You might have seen Virginia being interviewed by the international media.  Despite this attention, prior to our team's arrival she hadn’t received any international relief.  Her clinic had a gaping hole in its roof and her home had been completely destroyed. In spite of the damage to her clinic, Virginia has still delivered over thirty babies since typhoon Haiyan struck. 

Despite everything she’s been through, when our team reached her clinic her requests were simple – she wanted tarpaulin to cover the holes in her roof, so that she could deliver babies without the rain coming in, and some wellington boots to keep her feet dry. On November 28th -  Thanksgiving Day - our team provided those items.

While boots and tarpaulin may not sound like much, they’re the first international help that Virginia has received.  These small gifts are now allowing her to deliver babies without being rained on, and they’ve made a huge difference to her state of mind – now she knows the world hasn't forgotten her. That someone cared enough to help keep the rain out gives Virginia the strength to carry on.

Our help gave Virginia hope – and this Christmas we’re asking you to set up a monthly donation so that we can give hundreds of other survivors that same gift.

If you set up your monthly gift between now and the New Year, Globalgiving will even match your donation – allowing us to help even more survivors like Virginia.

Set up your monthly donation here 

Not ready to commit to a recurring donation? No problem. Your one-off gift, whatever its size, will change survivors like Virginia’s life.

Thanks so very much - and, if you’re celebrating this year, we wish you a very Merry Christmas! 

It’s been just shy of three weeks since one of the strongest typhoons on record struck the Philippines. Haiyan, or Yolanda as the storm was known locally, forced more than four million Filipinos from to leave their homes and killed thousands more.

The UN estimates that more than 13 million people have been affected by the typhoon and overall recovery will take years of support. Thanks to your gifts and GlobalGiving’s own extraordinary $10,000 donation, we intend to be there every step of the way.

Here’s what we’re doing with the funds you’ve donated: 

• IDV’s International team arrived in Tacloban on Monday November 25^th. Meet our team
• Thanks to your generosity, and the kindness of Joyson Pte Ltd our team landed with more than 80Kg of medical supplies worth $1,800. These medical supplies are allowing local health professionals to provide medical care to hundreds of survivors in Tacloban.
• IDV’s international team is working with local Filipino groups to scale up the delivery of other urgent relief items like food and emergency shelter. Working through local partners who are themselves typhoon survivors empowers communities to lead their own recovery.
• We’ve begun assessing how we can support other badly affected areas which have not yet received as much news coverage or help as Tacloban itself. With so much attention being focused on Tacloban we’ll avoid duplication by supporting other, so far neglected, communities in their recovery.
• IDV CEO and tsunami survivor Andy Chaggar will arrive in Tacloban on or around December 8^th. His unique experiences as both an aid professional and disaster survivor will ensure our own relief efforts empower Filipinos who have lost everything.  
• We’ve already also  begun assessing the best way that IDV can move beyond providing immediate relief and start supporting the long-term sustainable recovery of typhoon affected communities.

Recovery from Haiyan will not simply be about handing out food and rebuilding homes. Survivors need our support across all areas of their lives. With your support, we’ll be there to provide that support and ensure that survivors are empowered to lead their own recovery.

If you ever have any questions about how we’re using your donations in the Philippines, please don’t hesitate to email Emma@IDVolunteers.org. We would be delighted to answer any questions you might have.

We hope that, this Thanksgiving you take a little extra joy in the knowledge that Haiyan survivors are thankful for you!

Happy Thanksgiving, and we wish you all the best!

Links:

• Find out more about our response