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Philippines Disaster Recovery and Empowerment Project
Philippine Disasters from Typhoons: "Whatever you did for one of
the least of these brothers and sisters of
mine, you did for me. (Matt.25:40)To: My Brethren of Light and
Love, Manifestors and Miracle Makers of Gods Love.From: Hal
Schroeder, founder, Ethiopian Empowerment Project
Re: Philippines Disaster Recovery and Empowerment Project
By way of introduction, I am Hal Schroeder, a retired
superintendent of schools in the United States (Nebraska, Texas)
and abroad (Ethiopia.) I am also a former Peace Corps volunteer and
an author of five spiritual books on forgiveness.
A little over a year ago, Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the
Philippines, causing over 6,000 deaths. As of November 2014, 14
million people are still affected; many are still living in tents.
In some cases, the impact approached that of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. The country is at a standstill in terms of any viable
economic activity.
On Nov. 8, 2014, USA Today reported on just how stark many
Philippinos' lives are one year from Typhoon Haiyan:
"Although there are signs of recovery, just 100 of 14,500
promised permanent, inland homes have been built in Tacloban, the
worst-hit city located less than a mile from the village of
Anibong. Hundreds of people still live in shabby tents and
thousands in crowded, temporary bunkhouses, mostly built by foreign
non-profits."
This month,Typhoon Hagupit also swept the islands in a tragic
repeat of many of last year's disasters.
The plight of this country a year later triggered a fervent
desire in me to establish a mission beachhead in the Philippines to
help bring relief to those whose entire lives are still uproot-ed.
I can do this only with your assistance.In return, we will receive
more from this service than we can ever give.
Three years ago, I personally led a project in the Philippines,
funding 5 businesses at 1000 dollars each for five individuals with
large families.
A dozen years ago, I established a similar project in Ethiopia,
and started a number of busi-nesses. This project also stressed
education; the funds were directly allocated to people through
individual Coptic priests. by starting small businesses and
erecting homes to help them be self-sufficient by starting small
businesses and erecting homes to help them be self-sufficient.
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What I propose is a continuation of these earlier missions,
along with the building of homes. As a private citizen, I would be
your mission representative: I will collect funds from people of
good will in the United States. Then I will come to the Philippines
to help those in need by starting small businesses and erecting
homes to help them be self-sufficient.
This modest project is guided by the biblical verse: Truly, I
tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers
and sisters of mine, you did for me. (Matt. 25:40.)
Let us begin today, as I, myself, have de-layed too long in
acting on this tragedy. I would begin by identifying the least of
these. The details of this proposal are on the next page.
I can be reached at [email protected]. References from those
who have partici-pated in my Ethiopian project are readily
available. A biography and excerpts from my books are on the
Ascensionist Press Blog.(http:/ascensionistpress.blogspot.com)
Support can be given by writing a check, payable to Hal
Schroeder, and sent to:
Pat Libutti, Editor, Ascensionist Press, Box 246, The UPS Store,
492-C Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJ 07666.
In conclusion, I do know, from my spiritual training of 26
years, that we must love our neighbors as ourselves, and that we
must decide who the least of these in our lives are to support from
our abundance.
All blessings, grace, and miracles to you,
Hal Schroeder
PROJECT ETHIOPIAN EMPOWERMENT
Girl with scholarship funded by project
Ethiopia store construction through project funds.
Hal with Ethiopian students. They raised chickens in a
school-wide project.
Coptic Priests and families
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-Establish triage procedures to determine who is most in need,
starting with women raising children.
-Maintain rigorous accountability on the part of all so the
fuding can be expanded exponentially.
-Encourage business formations that support more than one
person, partnerships and profit-sharing so as to develop ownership
and giving to one another.
-Promote ownership as a dual commitment of project and citizen
so that, when able, the funding can be repaid to expand the
business project.
-Devise and implement home building project, moving from the
simplest housing for shelter to more functional units for viable
family interactions.
Project Methods-- As a private citizen, I would collect funds
from people, organizations, and religious institutions of good will
in the United States and then come to the Philippines to help those
in need from these funds.
- I would start small businesses to help the affected become
self-sufficient, both for themselves and for their families.
-I would mobilize groups and communities to erect housing units
to, at least, start on a more permanently viable housing solution,
one in which the families can prosper.
-I would lean heavily on the religious organizations in the
country to help identify those in greatest need,
- As soon as possible, within a six month time frame in 2015,
funds permitting, I would travel to the Philippines and begin
setting up this project of businesses and home building, with
degree and scope based on monies available.
-I would begin building housing with whatever is inexpensively
available, whether it be Quonset huts, mud, sod or whatever
materials are available until prosperity returns.
-I would establish an organization of volunteers in viable
countries to seek out monies that would dramatically increase the
number to be helped.
Let your town or organization sing out the praises of a God of
Love through us to the people of the Philippines.
Goals: The Philippines Recovery and Empowerment Project
-Establish small businesses from funds collected to jump-start a
normal exis-tence for as many people as possible. The amount of
available funds will deter-mine both the width and scope of the
beginnings of the project.
-Use the Bangladesh model, (loans are given to the most affected
people to start businesses, and only when self-sufficiency is
attained, would they be required to pay back the loans.) The monies
would then be used to fund additional businesses.
Hal Schroeder
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Amors Family in Tents in Manilla Here are the pictures of the
living quarters of Amors family in a tent near Manilla.There are
four children and their mom.They sleep on the floor.
The pictures indicate what chaos a life of poverty looks
like.From sleeping on the floor, to finding a place to put ones few
possessions so one can spread out on the floor, from lack of
washing and toilet facilities, to lack of places to cook, ones life
is an endless struggle for survival.
The pervading issues are mud and water. There is no place for
the mud and water to go. Even the tents are flimsy and eas-ily
blown over. The few remaining possessions are subject to the
hostile elements.
As you can see, meals are taken outside; the tents are not big
enough.
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You can see stunned people just sitting, looking for relief that
is not coming.There are relief and aid organizations, but they are
only serving about 10 % of those affected,because of the
overwhelming amount of people. There was also no place on higher
ground to move the tents, which would only provide minimal escape
from the elements.
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Marilyns Family Living in Tents in Cagayan De Oro
This is part of Marilyns extended family; she tries to support
them with her vats of cooking Philippine foods. Marilyn is pictured
above, standing in front of her new store inven-tory, thanks to
donations from individuals like you.
The faces reveal a family suffering from the vagaries of
poverty, but with strong spirits, buoyed by a strong belief in an
Almighty that will take care of them.The few buildings in the
background are wrecks ready to fall down with the next strong
breeze, indicating that the infrastructure needs to be totally
remedied.
This is one of the projects of the Catholic Relief Services ,
but again, with all the aid com-bined, only about 10 % of the
people are being helped, so massive is the impact of the
ty-phoons.All we can do is to take care of one family at a time,
one by one, loving our neighbor as ourselves, until there are none
left suffering, until our example spreads nationwide.
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These pictures illustrate the importance of families in the
Philippines. Families and chil-dren are everything. If you look at
the picture carefully, these children are clean, reason-ably
dressed, obviously loved, obviously attached to one another, and
are the objects of deep familial devotion.
Those on the right are Marilyns children; she not only dotes on
them, but has added to her responsibilities by being the head of
the larg-er family unit, seen in the picture above.
Large numbers of mothers, many highly educated, leave their
children in the capable hands of aunts, or aunties" here, and
jour-ney abroad to work as domestics in places like Taipei,
Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canada,but not the U.S., because of visa
prohibitions.
They work for the low wages of a maid,which are low to us, but
dramatically much higher than in the Philippines. There is aways
the barrier of If, indeed, they can find work at all.
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Holidays like Christmas are most joyous, even without our
penchant for gifts.Can we modify their lives so, at the least, the
mothers of such children can stay home and make enough money from
our contributions helping to establish a small self-sustaining
business?
Lets do the minimum and get some money flowing in these families
lives by allowing them to work for a living wage.
Marilyns Children
Marilyns Extended Family: Nephews and Nieces
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You can see the food she cooks in the open air and sells to
others.
Marilyn not only takes care of her children, she cares for many
in the area. She cooks outside, as she has no kitchen facilities,
and sells for a pit-tance.This young woman is in charge of her
little clan of 20-some people, including many little children.
When I asked Marilyn to prioritize a list of what she needed,
the first item she asked for was not rent for a small store, but a
bag of rice, so she could better serve her clientele in the
primitive way in which her family has become accustomed.
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These are pictures of what our contributions can do for the
poorest of the poor. from tents and cooking in large vats outside,
our aid has enabled Mari-lyn and her family to set out on the road
to self-sufficiency by selling basic com-modities to her small
world while being able to provide for her family, and gain our
number one goal, empowerment of self and family.
Marilyn knows that once she has made it, she will begin sharing
her new-found riches provided by us to one by one outside her
family, hence an economy and society is built by us, and our
generosity.
Thank you for being your brothers keeper. Thank you for
answering the universal concept of giving what a brother asks
for.
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Jera's Family Recovering from Devastation to Their
Livelihood
These pictures are of the Cariaga family and their farm. The
farm is located in the high-lands of the island of Cebu, about
three hours from Cebu City.
The farm has been destroyed by typhoons. They have had the
livestock wiped outand fields of crops destroyed.
This family, in trying to resurrect a life of very simple means,
only asked for a piglet with enough money for feed, so they could
begin to replenish their livestock to make life more bearable.
I would love to be able to help them also get chickens and a
milk cow for a start, even before we attack their basic living
situation.
Above, Jeras piglets, financed by your donations.
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Piglets are behnd the fence
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In a large family, there are few of the basic necessities that
we enjoy as a right of passage.
They sent pictures that show that they sleep on the floor, have
a kitchen with a wood-burning stove, and a toilet facility in an
unsanitary condition.
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Jeras farmhouse is a ram-shackle house that is easily blown
away.
Until our contributions can expand to other farms, one by one,
this will be the farm of the Philippine Empower-ment Project.
We can follow it closely, and learn how to best cope with the
problems of the natural and economic disasters in the
Philippines.
This farm, as virtually all were in the typhoon zones, was
decimated by the strength, power, and feroci-ty of the
typhoons.
Livestock was obliterated, making survival quite tenuous.
These are subsistence farms, which allow, as you can see from
the other photos of the farm, no amenities at all.
Jeras Farm Fields
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Our project, hopefully, will allow the restocking of the farm
with livestock, and make the lushness of the fields that you can
see somewhat profitable, so the things we all take for grant-ed,
such as beds, running water, and sanitary toilets, become a
reality.
Help us, starting here, to establish at least a minimal standard
of existence.
Allow us to look a typhoon in the face, and say:
we will survive and thrive due to the humanitarian, spiritual,
and Christian efforts of our brethren who have adopted the truth
that we are all our brothers keeper.
Support for the Philippines Recovery & Empowerment Project
can be given by writing a check, payable to Hal Schroeder, and
sending it to: Pat Libutti, Editor,
Ascensionist Press, Box 246, The UPS Store, 492-C Cedar Lane,
Teaneck, NJ 07666
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