I don’t normally repost (actually, up to now, I’ve never reposted) other people’s blog posts here – but, in this case, I’m going to make an exception. You can read the original article here: http://helpinghandsfortacloban.wordpress.com
Article by Helen Walker, reposted with permission.
A couple of years ago a colleague in America helped me out at work. We didn’t know each other, we’d never spoken but she was one of just a few people who responded when I asked for help and because of her input, others followed. Her name was Jackie Duerr.
I changed roles and our paths didn’t cross again until, on the 11th November, she published a blog post on our company intranet. You can see the post here. It was 3 days after the super typhoon that hit the Philippines and Jackie’s family had been in the middle of it. I cried, I donated to the Red Cross and I sent as many positive thoughts as I could in the right direction. A month later, an email was sent around saying Jackie was collecting things to be shipped direct to her family. There are A LOT of people in her family, so I got my family involved and took a few sacks with me up to London for the collection. Then mostly, I forgot. I assumed that things were getting back on track over there and that was that.
In March I came across charity asking for volunteers to help in the Philippines. I contacted Jackie. Was there really still a need for help? Was the charity one she knew of? Were they actually making a difference to people like her family?
Jackie responded in a matter of hours and what she told me made me sad, angry and wanting to help. Bodies were still being found. Some international aid was already being withdrawn, with more to follow in the coming weeks and months. Huge numbers of people were still living in tents. Schools had been partially or completely destroyed. Livelihoods had been lost. Jackie sent me a link to Kusog Tacloban, the group she and some friends had set up to get help to those on the ground when politics proved an issue for others. They did stuff. And they all had family, or lived in Tacloban. I wrote back to ask if there was anything I could do, from here and on the ground there.
And that is how this blog was born.
We’ve not got all the details sorted yet. We know that we’re probably going to be helping a school in a place called Candahug, which is near Tacloban. We’re also going to help support some of the widows who need to learn and earn a livelihood now their husbands and breadwinners have been lost (many stayed to protect their homes while the women and children sheltered in evacuation centres, a large number of these men lost their lives).
Rather than wait until everything is known and this blog is perfect, we thought you’d like to join us on our journey. Jackie will be putting me in touch with people in Tacloban and we can meet them together and see where we can all help. And, even better, we can follow together where we do help through the visits Jackie and I are making (Jackie in June / July, me in August). I’m learning as I go along – Jackie is a great teacher. I’ve used the pages at the top to give you some background on the key things I thought you’d want to know.
With almost no media coverage it’s easy to remain unaware that there are people who genuinely need our help to put their lives back together so they can look after themselves and each other.
If you’d like to make a donation, at the moment it is a little complex as Kusog Tacloban is going through the process to become a registered charity. If you would like to give now, the instructions are here. If you mention ‘Helping Hands’ specifically, the money will go directly to the projects Jackie and I work on. (Please note: every penny will go to those on the ground. The trips Jackie and I are making are entirely self funded).
You can wait though, find out more of what we’re doing and, when charity status is given we’ll create a Just Giving page. For now though, we’d mostly like you to follow this blog (there’s a ‘Follow’ button on the top right of this page) and maybe our Facebook page too. Let us know how we’re doing, and give us your ideas and if there’s something you want to find out about, let us know and we’ll blog about it if we can.
There have been a lot of pieces of the puzzle that got me here but I like to think that what goes around comes around. Jackie helped me out, now it’s my turn to help her. We’d love it if you could help us.
Thank you,
Helen and Jackie
