Many CAFO member organizations have served long in the Philippines. The work of some lies outside the path of Typhoon Haiyan. Others face devastation.
We’ve received updates from many of these organization, which you can read below.
Please stand with these ministries and the people of the Philippines in prayer as they labor to bring help and hope amidst devastation.
Alongside prayers, what is most needed in the aftermath of catastrophe is emergency relief: food, medicine, clean water and shelter. Over time, needs shift to rebuilding and development.
For children left without parental care, of first priority are immediate physical needs, followed by a safe care environment. Aggressive efforts are vital to reunify these children with parents or relatives whenever possible. Eventually, some of these children will likely need new homes, and we can pray that the local church will be the first to step up for this need, supported by committed ministries from around the globe.
Read reports from CAFO organizations that serve in the Philippines:
Sacred Portion
The area where we work in the Philippines was not greatly affected by the typhoon. The devastation occurred further south to the island of Leyte. The Intercountry Adoption Board of the Philippines (ICAB) is transferring children from a government-run orphanage in Leyte to Manila. They will need to find new housing for these children and our facility, the Rehoboth Children’s Home, is full to capacity. In fact, we had to turn away two children this past Saturday. We have a new facility that was recently finished that can accommodate up to 24 infants and toddlers but still need to raise the monthly operating budget before we can begin taking children there. So, we need prayer for pledges and sponsorships that would provide a stable base of operating the new Baby Home. This home would serve as a place of care for children until a suitable permanent family can be found for them.
What can people do?
We are calling people’s attention to the need to get our Baby Home open. People can donate to the Baby Home by going to our web site (www.sacredportion.org) to the donate page. We have had other requests from people who want to send money, diapers, etc. to the area affected by the typhoon and we are looking into some connections for that.
One Child Matters
We have three projects that were largely destroyed and about 500 children lost their homes. We are not aware of any deaths at this time. The three projects were: Daan Bantayan; Malapascua island just across from the northern tip of Cebu Island; and one called Ati, which is a tribal area on the other side of Catilclan island. The Ati building also served as a church and was completely swept away. The other two projects had some structural and roof damage but are still operating as a shelter to the communities.
What can do?
We are asking anyone who is interested to donate to our Children’s Crisis Fund, which we use to quickly respond in emergencies. So far the CCF is helping provide food, clean water, and water filters, and may be used to buy a generator and fuel to help the project/church buildings continue to meet the needs of the people in their communities. Because we serve fairly rural areas, it will be at least 6 months (and probably much longer) before any sort of power is restored. We can also use the CCF to help our projects repair or rebuild. And the families of children we serve need to rebuild their homes – the simple structures they lived in could not withstand the force of this super typhoon. So the needs we’re seeing are immediate and urgent, yet also long term. For more information on giving: www.onechildmatters.org/ccf
A Child’s Hope International
A central focus for A Child’s Hope has long been our emergency food program, more recently paired with provision for clean water. Contacts in the Philippines have asked for immediate aid in these areas. As we know, the children are at the greatest risk from dirty drinking water, lack of food and fading hope. We’ll be shipping a huge volume of our “Hope Boxes” to help address this need. Learn how you can be a part of this HERE, whether as a packing volunteer or via needed financial support.
Children’s Shelter of Cebu
We are okay in Cebu City. We just had a few trees down on our property, but no major damage or injuries. The more significant issue for us relates to the family members of some of our employees. We know of the death of a cousin of one of our house-parents, and quite a bit of damage to the homes of relatives of our employees. We are helping meet their needs through our outreach program.
What can people do?
As people are asking us what they can do we are suggesting a couple possibilities. One is to give to the organizations that are trusted and known for disaster response. We are doing orphan care, of course! Since we have a different mission and are small we aren’t soliciting funds. Those that are offered we are using to help those that we have a connection to, like family members of our employees.
Mission to Children
We’re very grateful to report that the group of children we work with are in Davao and were not affected by the Typhoon.
Orphans Promise
We have made contact with the projects we support and it looks like all of our contacts there are well. Our projects are to the north and the south of where the typhoon struck and so far everyone is safe. We appreciate your prayers!
Hope International
Our hearts mourn for the “endless path of misery” caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan this past weekend. The storm made landfall in the southern islands of the Philippines, causing widespread coastal flooding, severe damage to homes and buildings, and the loss of thousands of lives. Power lines are down and roads are clogged with debris, making communication difficult and slowing relief efforts to the most affected areas. Many survivors are still waiting for much needed food and shelter supplies.
What can people do?
We ask you to join us in prayer for the immediate emergency relief effort, which is a critical first step toward recovery for the thousands who have lost their homes and livelihoods. HOPE International’s local partner, the Center for Community Transformation (CCT), works in the regions hit hardest by the typhoon, and they are currently mobilizing to provide these communities with immediate help. Already invested in these areas, CCT will continue to walk with them long-term as they seek to rebuild their homes and businesses. If you would like to give to CCT’s direct relief and recovery efforts, please do so on their Typhoon Haiyan relief page. Any donation given will be processed through another partner and sent directly to CCT for their relief work.
Please pray that CCT, along with local churches and individuals, can reach out to the most vulnerable in their communities with Christ’s love, to comfort the hurting as they grieve and to give them a hand up so they can reclaim their livelihoods.
God’s Kids
We have a mission in the Philippines on the Island of Bohol, which is in the Central Philippines and was hit by the super typhoon. Of course, the storm came on the heels of the 7.2 earthquake just 3 weeks earlier in Bohol. The home directors, Mike and Jeanette Propp, run a Bible college there as well as the 4 home orphanage “Village of Hope” (VOH).
The area is completely devastated. The four buildings comprising the VOH on Bohol are still standing but damaged. Even before the super typhoon hit, the staff and kids were sleeping outside the buildings in tents because of many powerful aftershocks and the buildings were not considered safe. They are repairable, (we think) but they are definitely damaged. The village’s two water wells are effectively “gone” and beyond repair. We will need two new wells but that has to wait until the aftershocks stop and the water from the storm recedes.
Bohol got a lot of the storm’s fury but not a “direct” hit the way the Island of Leyte (where Gen MacArthur “returned” in WWII) was. Still, the Bohol area had massive typhoon damage on top of the earthquake damage. Bohol, like the rest of the Central Philippines is in massive trauma without power, no food, and people drinking sewer and dead body contaminated water. The fear of disease runs high. The staff and kids were not killed or injured but it was and is a rough time for all.
What can people do?
For immediate emergency response, we recommend funneling funds to Samaritan’s Purse
Royal Family Kids Camps
We had two camps hosted by Pastor Ancho Buenaventura. Their church and surrounding area was not affected as severely as the rest of the nation. His church is LifeChurch Palawan — Puerto Princesa City. Pastor Ancho’s church is reaching out to their country and helping where they can.
Open Schools Worldwide
Thank you for your concern. Our partner in the Philippines is in Manila; we have not had any news but presume all is well because of their location. We are still waiting to hear from one former staff member of a partner who moved home to Cebu after she retired. It is a heart-breaking situation.
Home for Good Foundation
Although we are not present in the worst-hit areas, we are aware that many children were very suddenly and catastrophically orphaned by the storm and have no one to protect and care for them. We need to pray that they will be found, identified and placed in a proper living environment before they starve to death or are snatched up by predators and child traffickers. Even if parents survived, their children who get separated may be too young to identify who their parents are or where they lived. The work of reuniting separated families, and of finding new families for children who need them, will not be easy. Pray also that this tragedy will provide a platform to bring more awareness to the need for children to be adopted in their own country and culture.
Compassion International
Compassion has sent out an email with updates on their projects and are collecting donations here. In their update email they included a letter from one of their on the ground team members with specific prayer requests, which was shared on the CAFO blog here.
Christian Adoption Services
Our liaison is in Manila and was not directly affected. The good news is that the children at the Reception and Study Center for Children in Leyte have been found to be well. Plans are now being made to bring them into Manila for on-going care. We are very concerned for a 7-year old girl named “K,” who was about to be placed with a family in Charlotte, NC. We have not had confirmation of the status of little “K” because she was with a private foster family. We eagerly await confirmation that she is considered part of the group reported safe even though she was not residing at the RSCC.
One of our families has received a wonderful commitment from a businessman who has gathered water purifications systems, generators, etc. that are valued at $500,000 that will be flown to the distressed area within the next few days. At this time, we are exploring how best to get financial gifts directed to the ICAB (Intercountry Adoption Board of the Philippines) and the Department of Welfare and Development for direct distribution to the victims of the typhoon. We have also asked our liaison in Manila if we can direct funds to her program, My Father’s House.
About Children Waiting for Adoption
We at CAS are receiving inquiries about the availability of children who have been orphaned by the typhoon. As you would expect, there are likely to be hundreds of children who are classified today as being undocumented orphans. It is unknown if/when the Intercountry Adoption Board will be in a position to clear these children for adoption.
We do know is there are many children in the Philippines who are cleared for adoption and are waiting for families to call their own. Because the ICAB is very concerned about posting these children’s profiles to the public, we can only release those profiles on an individual basis once a prospective adoptive family contact CAS.
As in most countries, the typical children who are most readily available for adoption are medically needy children, school-age children and sibling groups (especially group of 3 or more).