Directly Help Siargao Rebuild - Bones' Appeal

I CAN'T CHANGE THE WIND - BUT I CAN ADJUST MY SAILS

 

Hey all, hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas!

 

As some of you may know the island my dad lives on in the Philippines is Siargao island and has recently been hit head on by a category 5 Typhoon. Below is a message from him appealing for donations so that they can rebuild homes for people that have absolutely nothing. I will be sending all funds raised directly to him for his endeavour through Wise to his Filipino bank account.

 

From Bones:

 

Santa never made it into Siargao Island......... As Christmas is a time for giving-here is my PRESENT to you. An "Opportunity" to give in a direct practical way. We have just got back internet, it’s on/off (electricity won’t be back for months) and this is my 1st communication. You probably know more about this typhoon that hit us than I do, I don’t know wat ya seen on tv but I can tell you it was a savage bastard that slaughtered us. Sure, there will be aid come in, where it ends up=that’s another story.

 

We are asking you to donate some of your money to help us rebuild (not our own house) we are working on managing that, it’s for people with NOTHING - yea that’s right 5/8ths of f--- all. I’ve ridden around the island and seen it all, we have only 16 people deaths so far and still people missing, and of course injury’s, also now we have a water problem and many sick and with poisoning of some description,,, every structure in every town/village is damaged, some not too bad and those with stronger houses will probably have a better chance to rebuild over time, but lots 10,000+ of total annihilation, 1,000 upon 1,000 of coconut trees down and this is where we have an opportunity to help. The very very large % of people here will NEVER be able to buy chainsaw and only a tiny % will ever afford to hire one, usually tree cutting is done with a machete but the scale of the job that needs doing is so massive chainsaws (cost 70,000 pesos each=about $A2,000) are needed. There will be other private help groups happening as well. We will focus on two different villages. My brother in law Ding is a Jack of all trades and will help with organizing the operation, we need 2 chainsaws, 4 crow bars, 4 pinch hammers, 8 hammers, SOME roofing tin and a shitload of nails. I will need to go to a city on the mainland to buy this stuff, Mostly the labour will be the people whose house we are building so no charge but not entirely, we will have to pay some labour$A12 and the 2 skilled chainsaw operators about $A16 per day and gasoline is $3 a litre, hopefully from your donations we have some left over and Lorna and I can cover these ongoing cost(yea the reconstruction path ahead is uphill).

 

I don’t want to go on & on but we have here MANY problems that are beyond description. I could rewrite this many times using different words etc. but it would all add up to the same thing. WE ARE UP SHITCREEK AND NEED YOUR HELP TO PADDLE. I fully realize we are all in different circumstances in our lives so please give comfortably whatever amount as it will ALL be very much appreciated. With your help we can get this project up and running very soon (next week) I will keep you all informed of our progress.

 

Ok time to say" Many Thanks" in advance/Gods blessings on all of us......

YESTERDAY IS HISTORY-TOMORROW A MYSTREY-TODAY IS A GIFT, THATS WHY ITS CALLED "THE PRESENT"