Rebuilding Creekside Liwayway

It will be one year on Sept. 26 that tropical storm Ondoy ripped through the Philippines leaving massive death and destruction in it's wake. Among the many, many communities devastated was Creekside Liwayway, clinging to the steep walls of a gorge a few blocks from the Shiphrah Birthing Home. Several of our staff live there and many babies from Liwayway have entered the world at the Birthing Home so ties are close.

The Birthing Home quickly became first a refuge and then a staging center for relief efforts. When that phase of things wrapped up we turned to rebuilding.



We hosted a community meeting during which the community prioritized the order of the rebuilding march. It was quickly agreed that the most urgent need was to rebuild the retaining wall (rip-rap) that would protect the community during the sure-to-come high water of any rainy season.

When funding came in, the building commenced. The community was splendid! Providing masons, laborers, and cooks, the whole community became involved at one time or another during the two months of the project. When they were finished, a strong, safe wall stood where a few months before only remnants of the former wall had been. And, along the top of the new wall ran a real sidewalk. The first time the community had had one. Tatay Insong, shoveling sand in the picture above, was our oldest worker. He is 76. His comment? "I'm so happy. I feel useful again!"









The section shown above is the the first one finished...just a part of the long span of the whole project.