Jazz for Joshua

Come along to an evening of superb jazz at Horringer Court Middle School, Bury St Edmunds to raise funds for the completion of the House of Joshua  Children's Home.

Tickets available now!

House of Joshua The Final Push

Just yesterday we got the architect's costings for the fourth, and final, stage of construction at the House of Joshua. At almost 1.4 million Philippine pesos (£20,000) it is about £6000 more than we were expecting. We were a little disappointed but with the costings came photos of the roof trusses now being formed and the access road under construction; so we were not overly  discouraged.
And then this evening, completely out of the blue, Horringer Court Community Church in Bury St Edmunds decided to give us another £5,000 towards the project. In addition they are holding a series of fund raising events over the next few months specifically for the House of Joshua.
We are nearly there, and with the substantial number of orphans from the floods in December urgently needing a new home, we just need to give this one last push.

 Access road almost finished and electricity supply pole

Metal roof trusses being fabricated on site

End view showing roof trusses February 2012

Artists impression - what it should look like when finished

Thanks For Flood Donations

We have been amazed by the generosity of our supporters who have donated more than £7000 for emergency relief for flood victims in Cagayan De Oro City enabling us to fund a feeding program, provide basic domestic equipment such as cooking utensils, cutlery and sleeping mats as well as purchase some building materials for repairing houses.
In addition readers of the Bury Free Press newspaper article in Bury St Edmunds Suffolk have donated over a quarter of a tonne of sheets, blankets and tinned food for shipment to families in need.
Thank you to everyone who has made all this possible.
Our main priority now is to complete the House of Joshua Children's Home to provide accommodation for some of the hundreds of flood orphans.
The access road has been built and with electricity now connected to the site work has commenced on fabricating the welded steel roof trusses.
About £14,000 more is needed to get the house ready for habitation.

House of Joshua November 2011 - work is now proceeding to construct the roof

The Philippines Red Cross has estimated the cost to communities of recovering from Tropical Storm Sendong as 262 million pesos (£4 million).

"More than a month on from Sendong and at least 223,000 are still living in emergency shelters, with host families, or in makeshift conditions. It may take a long time for these people to get back into permanent homes, and they will need our support in the interim," said Richard Gordon, Chairman of The Philippines Red Cross.

We continue to support a feeding program and outreach, especially to children living in the tent cities at Canitoan and Agusan.

Sendong - a Month On

It is almost a month since 'Typhoon Sendong' devastated Cagayan De Oro City with catastrophic flash floods that killed over 2000 people and destroyed thousands of houses.

Still many thousands of people are homeless. Many are still staying in schools, basketball courts and other public buildings. At a number of locations large 'Tent-Cities' have been set up with tents provided by Shelter Box Charity and Rotary International. In due course permanent houses will be built on the same sites but official sources are saying that it could take until 2013 to complete this work.

Cooking for 200+

In the meantime our Mission partners, Lifenet Children's Foundation Inc. have joined forces with several other organisations and local churches to continue providing hot food to some of these evacuees. We have been pleased to provide funding for this and more money will be sent in the next few days.

It is estimated that around 1000 children are now orphans as a result of the floods and the local authorities are hard pressed to find enough people able to care for them. So we now need to push on and get the House of Joshua children's home completed as quickly as possible to provide a loving and supportive home for some of these children where they can receive help and counselling to start to rebuild their lives.

We need your help and we need it NOW! If you are able to please, please click on the donate button on the left of this page and give whatever you can afford.

£25 will feed 200 people for a day or pay the wages of one of the workmen building the House of Joshua for a week. £2500 will buy the roofing materials for the house but even just £5 will make a significant difference.

We promise you that the money will be spent well and wisely. We have no paid staff and virtually no overheads so everything you give will go where it is needed the most.

More photos of the aftermath of the floods and the relief efforts can be found via our Facebook Page

Local Newspaper Publishes Appeal

T.C.R.C.T trustee Jo Conroy, who is also logistics manager at Aid to Hospitals
Worldwide, with some of the boxes of aid to be shipped to the Phillipines

Local Newspaper for West Suffolk, The Bury Free Press has covered the story of our efforts to provide relief to flood victims in Cagayan De Oro City appealing for it's readership to contribute tins of food and blankets as well as money to help with the costs of shipment. Read the full article here

Sendong Aftermath Video

This YouTube video from some friends of ours shows some more images of the aftermath of Tropical Storm Sendong and the efforts being made by numerous charitable organisations and even groups of private individuals to try and bring some help and comfort to the flood victims.

Responding to The Floods

A whole community of shanty houses
once stood here now reduced to rubble and debris.

A huge thank you to our supporters who have, so far, contributed more than £3500 to enable us to respond to the tragic flooding in Cagayan De Oro City caused by Tropical Storm 'Sendong' (international name Typhoon Washi.

This money has been passed on to our local agents who have been out most days feeding up to 400 people as well as distributing bags of groceries and clothing.

Sacks of rice and boxes of groceries  

for distribution to the needy.

'Arroz Caldo' (hot rice and chicken soup) 

for homeless flood victims.

Rebuilding and rehousing people is going to take several months so the Philippines Government now plans to build several large tent cities to provide a temporary safe environment for those who have lost their homes in the floods. One of these tent cities is to be located near Canitoan (where the House of Joshua is being built. We are therefore urgently seeking permission to send a container of tools and medical equipment to help the Canitoan Barangay Medical Centre cope with the anticipated increase in demand for their services.
If you would like to contribute to the relief efforts please click on the Paypal button on this site.

Flood Disaster Latest

Distributing bags of groceries

Today BBC Radio Suffolk interviewed Mary Rendon live via telephone to get the latest situation on the flood disaster in Cagayan De Oro City. You can hear the interview by clicking on the podcast player below.

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Donations for the flood relief effort may be made via the Paypal button on this blog page

Lots more photos of the flood can be found via our Facebook page

Cagayan De Oro Flash Flood Disaster

Parts of Cagayan De Oro City have been devastated by flash floods in recent days due to torrential rains associated with 'Hurricane Sendong' which struck the Philippines last Friday.
Video footage and newspaper articles can be found here.
One sad case we have heard of where a mother and father had their only child snatched out of their arms by the flood waters just as they were being rescued. The body of the poor child was later washed up on the shore of an Island some 20 miles away.
This is the second time that the city has been affected by flooding like this in four years. sadly it is the poorest of people who have no choice but to build their shanty homes in the vulnerable, low lying areas along the riverbanks. We have a  number of contacts and projects in the affected areas, including Puntod where we helped to fund some rebuilding after a fire destroyed homes about 3 years ago. Our friends at Nehemiah House, a refuge for young girls, have also suffered some flood damage to their premises.
Donations to help those affected by this disaster can be made via the Paypal button on this page. Any money donated will be used to buy food and clothing for flood victims who have lost everything. If you are a UK tax payer we can also claim tax relief on your donation if you also click on the gift aid form link after your donation has been confirmed.