Volunteer in Cebu

09/01/2022

UPDATE from January 2 Relief Operations In Bohol

After an asthma inducing start, running between piers, standing in-line, and running some more... we finally got our 2 trucks (filled to loading capacity) on the 1st ferry of January 2 to Tubigon, Bohol.

Thank you to the very helpful crew of Lite Ferries Number 88! They really tried their best to make this trip as less stressful as they can given their limitations. Kudos to their wonderful crew!

• At Tubigon, we were met with our volunteer, Mak Mak , where we were briefed on the current situation and what to expect on the road. Because of your donations, we were able to provide for him a temporary shelter, rice, and food aid while he rebuilds his home, so he can continue helping his community too.

• We then continued our drive to Talibon, Bohol to deliver the relief goods Heidi Cajes and friends have gathered. Unlike previous relief efforts, instead of dropping the relief packs at Evacuation Centers, we drove up the muddy hills to deliver door-to-door their much needed supplies to 150 families who have not received any sort of aid yet.

• While Heide and her team was busy distributing the relief goods, we took care of the children by distributing treats to the kids and the kids at heart (each goodie bag contained different cookies, wafers, chocolate, and a little candy), while of course reminding them to brush their teeth and throw their trash properly.

• After distributing aid in the hills of Talibon, we immediately left for the 2 hour drive to Guindulman where we had our late lunch c/o Kim Anthony A. Castro and his family . Thanks fam!

• We delivered 350 kilos of rice and 300 cans of sardines gathered from Kims fundraising, plus an additional, 400 kilos of rice, 200 cans of sardines, 80 packs of noodles, and 5 rechargeable solar lamps from the donations we gathered. These will be repacked and distributed to families in need in Guindulman. Photos coming!

• We then headed to the community of Blgu Basdio , where we set up our free charging station. This includes:
~ 1 gasoline generator
~ 2 containers of gasoline enough for 2 weeks
~ 2 cables
~ 6 extension wires that can charge 32 devices at once
~ 9 fast charging cables
~ 1 folding table
~ 1 tarp to protect the charging station and for giving away to a family in need (its very long).
~ 30 oraganizing trays
~ 30 claim stubs

• We showed the the LGU the system for our mobile charging station and did a demo on how to operate the generator to insure safety. We then left immediately to make it to our ferry back in Tubigon.

Unfortunately, when we arrived in Tubigon, we were told that our 10pm ferry was cancelled. We had to wait for the next available ferry which is at 4am, and all the food places were closed. Luckily we found a bakery that had warm sweet bread and peanut butter. Got back on Cebu soil at 6am and now we're recovering, accounting, and fund raising for our next relief efforts.

❤ Thank you donors! Your donation has made it possible to ferry our delivery trucks to Bohol, and for the fuel used to power these trucks through rainy roads and muddy tracks so we can deliver these much needed supplies to the families.

❤ Thank you donors! The generator, fuel, cables, and everything needed to efficiently and effectively run a mobile charging station would not have been possible without you!

❤ Thank you donors! The rice, sardines, noodles, shelter, solar lights, and treats for the kids would never have happened without you!

❤ And lastly, thank you to our exhausted volunteer drivers, who not only had to drive us around Bohol for 12 hours, but had to load and unload donations too! Maayo kani kai maskels mo.

Again, thank you so much donors! You made all this possible! ❤ Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! ❤❤❤ There's still so much that needs to be done, and we'll get there eventually!

Padayon! Power on! 💪
Volunteer in Cebu

08/01/2022

A few photos from the last day (for now) in Cordova of our FREE Mobile Charging Station. Thanks again Islaviva Adventures for running this project! Thank you to our donors for making this possible!

07/01/2022

Update No: 5

Here's Day 1 & 2 of our FREE mobile charging station at Bantayan, Cordova. Thank you to Islaviva Adventures for being our volunteers in the ground!

(Pics taken before we transported the charging station to Bohol)

01/01/2022

We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. In times of tragedy, of war, of necessity, people do amazing things. The human capacity for survival and renewal is awesome. - Isabel Allende

Happy New Year Cebu! Its just been a bad 2 years, not a bad life. We can make it through this! We got each other! Never give up!

P.S. We have taken it easy the the last 2 days to purchase supplies and raise funds. We will be back in full force tomorrow!

31/12/2021

UPDATE No 4:
Day 3 of our Mobile Charging Station (and Relief Efforts)

MOBILE CHARGING STATION:
- After 3 days in Bantayan, Cordova, we took the generator in preparation for Bohol. Since the solar powered generators we had ordered have encountered delays in shipping, we are assigning this generator to Bohol instead. We have gathered fuel containers, and will be bringing enough fuel so the generator can run for at least 2 weeks. We are hopeful that this should be enough time until Bohol will have their fuel stocks replenished, so our volunteers there won't have a very difficult time refueling until then.
- One of our volunteers have acquired fast chargers for us! The last 10 he could find in the mall. We will see how these affect our output, and if we can find more, we will get more.

RELIEF EFFORTS
- This day was spent gathering supplies for our Bohol Relief efforts. Water is not an issue in Bohol but food is, so we are focusing on acquiring rice and canned food.
- We have initially purchased 7 sacks of rice (350 kilos) and 500 pcs of canned sardines from the donations that our volunteer in Bohol gathered. We have since added 8 more sacks of rice (400 kilos) from the donations gathered by our volunteer in Cebu. This will be delivered to Guindulman, Bohol.
- We have also coordinated with volunteers from Talibon, Bohol to deliver the donations they gathered (between 100 - 200 packs for families) to their town.

SHELTER
- It started raining today, and forecasts indicate it will be a rainy week, so we have purchased tarps for assigning to different areas.
- We have donated a tarp to Sherwin Ngujo, founder of Cebu Bike Commuters, so he can continue repairing bikes (the most effective form of transpo here in Cebu at the moment). He not only charges a minimal fee for his services, he also provides free bike repairs for those who can not afford. We are supporters of his clean energy social enterprise and we hope this tarp can help continue his advocacy.
- We have allocated 1 of the tarps to another volunteer along the Luboc river. The storm brough the water levels of the river to overflowing levels and have submerged houses in its vicinity. We will know more about the situation on the river when we deliver the tarp and some food aid to his area.
- The last tarp is allocated for Guindulman, to shelter the generator and the devices being charged.

And lastly, we are very sad to report that our planned trip to deliver much needed supplies to Bohol has been rescheduled. Ferry trips are full and we couldn't get tickets for our transport vehicles. We are hopeful that we can get on the ferry to Bohol in 2 days, January 2 (hint hint Lite Shipping Corp) ;-)

This also means we can accept more donations! Our 1st vehicle is at their weight limit for rice, but we can still accommodate canned goods, noodles, and kiddie treats in the 2nd vehicle! We don't have a drop off center in the city, but if you can Angkas/Grab deliver it to our tiny place in Mandaue, we'll make space for it!

In the meantime, we are returning the generator to Cordova, so it can charge devices until we bring it to Bohol! Dont worry, we are replacing this generator with a solar powered generator when it arrives.

30/12/2021

UPDATE No 3:
Day 2 of our Mobile Charging Station Project: December 27
Location: Bantayan, Cordova
Details:
• After doing the math, it didn't make sense to keep a gasoline powered generator on an island where gasoline is almost impossible to get. And the logistics of bringing it from the city is not cost effective. We will be replacing the generator with a solar-powered generator instead. We are now just waiting for the delivery and we will install on Olanggo Island the moment it arrives. In the meantime, we will be focusing on providing water to Olanggo Island instead.
• The generator is now installed with our trusted friends at Isla Viva Adventures. Their location is the closest to one of the few areas in town which has cellular reception. The generator will be at Bantayan, Cordova for 3 days with fuel being brought in every day. Afterwards we will move it again to another location.
• Thank you to Ybong La Pasaran, Matt Raven Lapasaran, and the AWESOME crew Islaviva Adventures for running the FREE charging station despite the damage to your livelihood. Thank you! 🙏🙏🙏 Encouraging everyone to come support Islaviva when repairs are done. 🛶

28/12/2021

Hey Plantitas and Plantitos! 🌿
Looking to revitalize your garden after the typhoon? Please consider buying from Baláy Tanaman to support their fundraising plant auction for Super Typhoon -affected indigenous communities in Palawan via Centre for Sustainability PH, Inc. 🙏🏼

28/12/2021

UPDATE:
Day 1 of our Mobile Charging Station Project: December 26, 2021
Location: Sta Rosa, Olanggo Island, Lapu-Lapu City
Details:
• We had received reports that a huge number of people in Olanggo Island were not reacheable. We tried reaching out to friends on the island and we would confirm that it was impossible to reach any of them. Our coordinator on the island was able to brief us more on the situation there before we arrived.
• It was quite challenging bringing the generator to the island since the RoRo ferry was gone. Access was only available via the Angasil port, and loading/unloading was via crossing wooden planks. Thankfully there were experienced porters on both ports which made loading and unloading possible - we would not have been able to do it had we done it ourselves. So if you go bring supplies to the island, tip your porters generously!
• We set up at station in front of home (which had survived the Category 5 typhoon) and was on a busy street in Brgy Santa Rosa, and all plugs were occupied in less than 30 minutes.
• We had charged 52 devices from 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM (5 hours) - prioritizing flashlights, mobile devices, and power banks. 95% of the devices we received had fully drained batteries.
• We noticed that all of the charging cables that the locals had were slow chargers and most were falling apart. Some devices took all 5 hours and were still not fully charged. We will be looking for fast charging cables in the city so we can be more efficient with our time and resources, and charge more devices in a shorter period of time.
• This experience taught us to develop a better system for monitoring devices and to keep them safe/secure while we are charging them. People are able to just drop off their devices with us, and return later to pick them up fully charged. This also avoids crowding (yaaay for social distancing) and confusion later on.
• To those looking to get in touch with family and friends on Olanggo Island: there is no cellular signal on the whole island. But there is spotty signal on the very edge of the pier (the closest point to the Mactan), so sometimes, text messages can come through IF they are there.
• If you want to help Olanggo: please send clean drinking water to the island. We can send you directions on how to get there. It's fairly easy. No need to coordinate with anyone there before you go (they are not reachable anyways). DM us.
• Thank you for making this possible!
• Apologies that we only took a few photos. There were only 4 of us volunteers and none of us are especially talented at photo documentation. We might need to bring 1 volunteer along just to document.

28/12/2021

Hey friends! If you wish to donate directly for Bohol relief operations, our friends are doing Gods work over there. You can donate directly to their efforts here:
https://gofund.me/396aa10f

Any amount helps! 🙏

Hi! I'm doing this relief drive in behalf of Heidi Cajes, who is from Bohol, … Angela Kan needs your support for TYPHOON RAI EMERGENCY RELIEF DRIVE FOR BOHOL