By Laurence LIGIER | Project Leader
Despite the floods and COVID 19, the girls and staff persevered.
Our center now shelters 26 girls! 6 new girls were integrated in our center in 2020, aged 9 to 17.
After typhoon Phanfone and the earthquake that hit the Philippines a year ago for Christmas, the country was again hit by torrential rains and floods on January 1 and 8, 2021, especially on the island of Negros where our new CAMELEON center is located.
The exceptional floods and mudslides caused considerable damage. In the province of Negros Occidental, the latest total death toll is two dead and more than 70,000 people evacuated. In reaction, the local authorities of Talisay, Silay and Victorias declared a state of natural disasters.
At our center in Silay, the girls and staff are fortunately safe but frightened as the river running alongside the center overflowed, washing away part of the 80-meter long surrounding wall and completely flooding the garden and offices. The foundations of the remaining wall are very weakened, as the erosion of the bank extends 20 meters into our grounds. In total, the erosion has swallowed up 1780 m² of our land!
The violent floods also washed away the building materials that were stored in our center. The administrative buildings and the electrical installation were also severely damaged. An expertise of the land is in progress to evaluate the other damages.
In addition, several families of the children and CAMELEON staff had to be evacuated urgently and end up with heavily damaged housing. One of our beneficiaries and her family have been temporarily accommodated in an evacuation center. In order to regain acceptable living conditions, their partially destroyed home must be repaired. However, the family does not have the means to finance the cost of the work.
To help the rebuilding of our center : Emergency aid after floods in CAMELEON center
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, electrical and plumbing repairs were done and a temporary fence was built by Filipino workers and volunteers. The girls are now kept safe while the works are in progress on the riverbanks. Unfortunately, the repair do not prevent the ground’s flooding as the water keep stagnating when it rains. CAMELEON’s team continue to mobilize to ensure the girl’s comfort and help the beneficiary families.
Because of COVID 19, the start of the school year has been postponed in the Philippines. However, in order not to fall behind, all the girls attended a daily tutorial session in anticipation of the opening of classes on October 5. This prepared them for the new normal learning which is a modular mode of instruction. Until now, the hired teachers still help them out in accomplishing their modules.
While the oldest girls were consolidating their knowledge in Mathematics, Science (they studied about solute and solvent.) and learned about parts of speech in English, the smallest ones learned about colors and shapes. They also familiarized themselves with alphabets.
In the Philippines, the schools are still closed and the teachers send modules to be completed. That is why at CAMELEON Negros center, hired teachers continue to come and give classes. The housemothers are there to help the girls with their homework.
In January, girls in elementary and high school levels were preparing for their summative tests, while one girl began her 2nd semester in college. The girls have shown significant improvement in their reading skills. On top of their modules, they also have a daily reading time.
The housemothers support the girls in their school career and help them overcome their difficulties. For example, they created an activity to encourage two dyslexic girls to draw to elicit responses from questions such as “what is that?” ; “why did you draw that?” ; “who is the person in the drawing.” Through these questions, the girls were able to share about their experiences with their family, how they lived, and their relationship with their family members. This was the first time that they were able to convey their stories well since they have difficulties of speech.
“I am happy to help my younger co-girl learn how to read. Because together we are discovering life-lessons that we get from the stories”
Art and artistic activities help the girls express themselves and help each other. The social worker conducted a group dynamics activity entitled: “Identifying emotions” and “I am the one I should love.” The girls were grouped in two and were given terms (i.e. usual emotions such as happy, sad, angry, etc.) and they would reenact it. This aims to help them understand the importance of knowing their emotions.
For their Values Formation activity, House mother facilitated the activity entitled “Songs of my life’ where they shared their life’s theme song. They also enjoyed a time of singing. Girls were able to share about their favorite songs with their fellow girls. They also learned that songs can be a form of therapy.
They also took part in the drawing competition for children's rights on November 20th organized together with CAMELEON France.
This year, the girls had to spend Christmas in the center of Negros.17 girls had 1-day Home Visits to their families since they were not allowed to go home for Christmas due to COVID-19 restrictions. They were accompanied by the House Mothers and Social Workers.
“In the past I used to be so strict and often did not give my children the place and the freedom to express their thoughts at home, which I now regret. Now I am very wiling to learn new ideas and techniques on how to help my daughter and my other children”
On Christmas Eve, a dinner was prepared by the girls, together. They enjoyed a night of parlor games and songs !
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