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 hal.schroeder@aol.com. 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

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

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

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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