Second School Renovation in Tacloban

At the time of writing this article we have almost completed repairing the devastating damages to the Fisherman’s Village Elementary School in San Jose, Tacloban.

The fifth grade and first grade classrooms along with the kindergarten classrooms were all in need of serious repair. The work included repairing the damaged roof in two buildings as well as the ceiling and the walls, and installing new doors and renovating the toilet.

When I first visited the school almost three months has passed since the typhoon had struck and no one had helped to renovate the buildings except by providing plastic to cover the roofs.

With my local assistant Albert, I immediately organized and started the renovation work. Despite considerable difficulties in finding available carpenters, masons and roof workers we decided to help the school first so that the children will be able to return to their studies in a safe environment. After having several meetings, the school principal, teachers, Mr. Edward Chua and Albert Chua all worked hard to pull together the workers needed to get the project started.

Since I had exhausted our funding on the first phase of our project at that time and no sponsor had come forward yet, Mr. Edward and Albert Chua had lent us the money to begin this new project and we were able to start the work immediately.

Later with the help of the Triple Gem Society Vice President Laurie Taylor additional money was transferred and we were able to pay the bills. One building remains under construction and scheduled to finish soon.