Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Good Tidings
Read all about it! Read all about it! A lot has been happening in recent weeks with our aid shipments and with the House of Joshua so we have published a "Christmas Special " newsletter. You can find it by clicking here
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Finishing Touches
The House of Joshua home for orphaned and abandoned children is almost complete. Staff are now moving in the furniture and adding the finishing touches.
An application for the operating licence and various permits has been lodged with the Department for Welfare & Social Development.
Staff training starts in earnest next week so the first children could be moving in very shortly. Now all we need is some money to keep it running. Our main way of doing this will be through a child sponsorship scheme - please click here to find out more Download Child Sponsorship Pack.
When the home is at full capacity (70-75 children) we estimate the running costs to be around £1,500 a month so we are going to need plenty of help!
An application for the operating licence and various permits has been lodged with the Department for Welfare & Social Development.
Staff training starts in earnest next week so the first children could be moving in very shortly. Now all we need is some money to keep it running. Our main way of doing this will be through a child sponsorship scheme - please click here to find out more Download Child Sponsorship Pack.
When the home is at full capacity (70-75 children) we estimate the running costs to be around £1,500 a month so we are going to need plenty of help!
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Breakfast and Thanksgiving
I'm looking forward to Bacon Butties at Horringer Court Community Church this morning, before a special service when we give thanks to God for a year of fundraising for the House of Joshua.
Through social events, car boot sales, strawberry teas, barbecues, concerts, collecting tins, knitting scarves and just digging deep in their pockets members of the church have raised over £16,000 (as well as put on a few pounds round their waists!).
We are so grateful to everyone of you, especially Barry Eastwood who laid down the challenge to the church and got everyone fired up about it.
Through social events, car boot sales, strawberry teas, barbecues, concerts, collecting tins, knitting scarves and just digging deep in their pockets members of the church have raised over £16,000 (as well as put on a few pounds round their waists!).
We are so grateful to everyone of you, especially Barry Eastwood who laid down the challenge to the church and got everyone fired up about it.
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Habagat Relief Container Departs
Just over 72 cubic metres (7.8 tonnes) comprising 40 pallets, plus a further 864 individual boxes, of medical supplies and equipment were crammed into a 40 foot high cube container at Aid to Hospitals Worldwide in Bury St Edmunds.
And when I say crammed I mean CRAMMED. At times a sledge hammer was used to budge pallets over by a few millimetres so the next one could be squeezed in. It took over 5 hours to complete the load because there was so much to get in and because tessellating the boxes correctly was so critical to making it fit.
All this equipment is going to Phillipine Relief and Development Services (Philrads) in Manila who will distribute it to other aid agencies and Barangay (district) Health Centres to provide medical support to the millions of people affected by the Habagat flooding in August when vast areas of Luzon were inundated by flood-waters after eight days of torrential rains.
And when I say crammed I mean CRAMMED. At times a sledge hammer was used to budge pallets over by a few millimetres so the next one could be squeezed in. It took over 5 hours to complete the load because there was so much to get in and because tessellating the boxes correctly was so critical to making it fit.
Cramming in the last few boxes
Another pallet load is pushed up the ramp by the volunteer loading crew
A very big box to fill
All this equipment is going to Phillipine Relief and Development Services (Philrads) in Manila who will distribute it to other aid agencies and Barangay (district) Health Centres to provide medical support to the millions of people affected by the Habagat flooding in August when vast areas of Luzon were inundated by flood-waters after eight days of torrential rains.
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Another Container of Flood Relief Aid
In August this year a typhoon, informally known as "Habagat", deluged the Philippines capital Manila, and much of the surrounding area with eight days of torrential rain.
90% of Metro Manila was inundated with flood waters affecting more than 1 million families with more than 6500 homes destroyed and many more damaged (according to Wikipedia).
In partnership with our friends at Aid to Hospitals Worldwide and Philippine Relief And Development Services (PHILRADS) we are working on shipping another 40 foot container of medical equipment to provide additional resources for hard-pressed Barrangay Health Centres and hospitals in the flood affected areas.
We hope to have the shipment on it's way within the next month.
90% of Metro Manila was inundated with flood waters affecting more than 1 million families with more than 6500 homes destroyed and many more damaged (according to Wikipedia).
In partnership with our friends at Aid to Hospitals Worldwide and Philippine Relief And Development Services (PHILRADS) we are working on shipping another 40 foot container of medical equipment to provide additional resources for hard-pressed Barrangay Health Centres and hospitals in the flood affected areas.
We hope to have the shipment on it's way within the next month.
flooding in Metro Manila August 2012
Friday, 19 October 2012
Aid Gone Down Well
There is no doubt about it, our recent shipment of medical equipment, school resources and tools has gone down well with the recipients and is already making a big impact on the lives of many people in Cagayan De Oro City.
A pastor of a church that runs medical missions in remote mountain areas, as well as working in some of the poorest flood affected areas of the city, wrote to express his gratitude,
"Words could not truly express our gratitude for such great wonderful help after
many years of waiting and praying for the loads of blessings for the brethren over
here. We are so blessed to have so many tools that will empower the brethren for their
trade or job such as carpentry, mechanics and plumbing.
A pastor of a church that runs medical missions in remote mountain areas, as well as working in some of the poorest flood affected areas of the city, wrote to express his gratitude,
"Words could not truly express our gratitude for such great wonderful help after
many years of waiting and praying for the loads of blessings for the brethren over
here. We are so blessed to have so many tools that will empower the brethren for their
trade or job such as carpentry, mechanics and plumbing.
We are planning to have some job
empowerment seminars and give those
graduate the tools needed to empower them. The sewing machines could be a great help
to those flood victims to get to their feet again especially those who lost
their husbands. They live on their own and they need help with sewing skills as a second part time job when there will be no employment available for them.
graduate the tools needed to empower them. The sewing machines could be a great help
to those flood victims to get to their feet again especially those who lost
their husbands. They live on their own and they need help with sewing skills as a second part time job when there will be no employment available for them.
About the
computers; what a great help it will help to our satellite kinder schools who
don't have any access
to computers. We also gave some units to our school over here in the city.
Thank you for taking great efforts of gathering these tools which we know
can restore the dignity of poor families by being self sufficient to make
a living and help them break the cycle of poverty. Once again thanks a
million for such wonderful blessings. We don't have enough words to say it
but a BIG THANK YOU for making possible what seems impossible!
to computers. We also gave some units to our school over here in the city.
Thank you for taking great efforts of gathering these tools which we know
can restore the dignity of poor families by being self sufficient to make
a living and help them break the cycle of poverty. Once again thanks a
million for such wonderful blessings. We don't have enough words to say it
but a BIG THANK YOU for making possible what seems impossible!
You help us change communities for
Christ !
Friday, 28 September 2012
What's In The Big Box?
It's taken two years in the planning, paperwork and preparation as well as two months in the actual shipping roughly 12000 miles from Bury St Edmunds to Canitoan Barangay, Cagayan De Oro City in the Philippines, but after various delays and difficulties along the way, our 40 foot container of medical aid finally arrived at its destination this week.
Now it was time for the excited recipients to find out exactly what was in this great big box all the way from England.
Despite the full heat of the sun many willing hands spent hours carefully unloading and sorting the contents; 630 packages, 77 cubic metres in volume and over 8 tons in weight - a soft play room and specialist wheel chairs for disabled children, a full baby delivery suite for the local health centre, proper hospital beds, walking sticks and mobility aids, a dentist's chair and utensils, bandages, syringes and needles, autoclave sterilising machines, tools, computers, school books, boxes of blankets - so many boxes. Soon most of the basketball court was covered with boxes of equipment that will bring better health care to many thousands of people.
Canitoan Barangay suffered substantial damage in the flooding that followed Typhoon "Washi" last December and several families are still living in an "Alternative Transitional Shelter ( the partly built new medical centre building) in the background of this photo, until new permanent homes can be provided for them. In the meantime the equipment that we have supplied for it will be put to good use in the old medical centre at the other end of the village.
We too thank God for allowing us to achieve this, along with our partners Aid to Hospitals Worldwide, Rotary UK and Lifenet Children's Foundation. However a special vote of thanks goes to Bernadita Amor, social worker at Philippine Relief and Development Services (PHILRADS) who handled all the complex paperwork with all the different agencies and officials with great efficiency, tact and tenacity!
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Almost Finished- But Not Quite Ready
Internal doors have been hung, windows glazed, plumbing and electrics installed.
This week the builders are just finishing painting, polishing floors and fitting kitchen cabinets.
The necessary licences are being applied for and staff are being recruited to care for the children.
All that remains is to furnish and equip the downstairs rooms ready to turn this empty building into a proper home ready to welcome the first intake of 25 orphaned and abandoned children. About £3000 is needed to beds, toys, cupboards, tables, chairs, bathroom and kitchen equipment and the like.
Any body like to help? How about sponsoring a room, or maybe just one or two specific items to go in the room? A list of required items can be found here
Once the home is open there will, of course, be ongoing running costs to provide for the children's needs and pay the bills. In Great Britain the government would provide funding but this is not the case in the Philippines so our partners, Lifenet Children's Foundation who will operate and run the home, are launching a child sponsorship scheme. Click here for more information or visit the Lifenet website www.lifenetkids.moonfruit.com
Thursday, 19 July 2012
A Long Time Coming
It has taken several months of hard work sorting all the paperwork to apply for tax exemption but at last our shipment of medical aid for Cagayan De Oro City, Philippines is on its way.
Packed with over 8 tonnes of medical equipment kindly donated by Aid to Hospitals Worldwide, and sent on its way today, the 40 foot high-cube container should arrive in early September to re-equip the Barangay Medical Centre at Canitoan where many of the people made homeless by last December's floods have been relocated in a massive tent city.
New, permanent, homes are being built in the area for the flood victims but the village medical centre has virtually no equipment with which to provide even the most basic medical care to its newly enlarged population (now approaching 30,000). Now it will have some of the best equipment in the entire city, including proper hospital beds, a fully functional delivery room complete with ultrasound machine and resuscitaire, and lots more besides.
As well as medical equipment the shipment includes tool kits to enable flood damaged homes to be rebuilt and to provide a future source of income for those who have lost their livelihoods as well as their homes.
It has been a long time coming but it should be worth it in the end!
Packed with over 8 tonnes of medical equipment kindly donated by Aid to Hospitals Worldwide, and sent on its way today, the 40 foot high-cube container should arrive in early September to re-equip the Barangay Medical Centre at Canitoan where many of the people made homeless by last December's floods have been relocated in a massive tent city.
New, permanent, homes are being built in the area for the flood victims but the village medical centre has virtually no equipment with which to provide even the most basic medical care to its newly enlarged population (now approaching 30,000). Now it will have some of the best equipment in the entire city, including proper hospital beds, a fully functional delivery room complete with ultrasound machine and resuscitaire, and lots more besides.
As well as medical equipment the shipment includes tool kits to enable flood damaged homes to be rebuilt and to provide a future source of income for those who have lost their livelihoods as well as their homes.
It has been a long time coming but it should be worth it in the end!
boxes of medical equipment and supplies
Electric beds
Fully adjustable child delivery bed
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