The Re-housing Project Cebu, Philippines 2010
For for 6 months (starting from April 1st 2010) a group of 18 Fellows from around the world helped build a new village for scavenger families, who, due to their extreme poverty, have been forced to make a garbage dump their home in Cebu, Philippines.
About 250 families live in their shanties and makeshift houses made of garbage on the dumpsite. Incomes derived from it are insufficient to meet even the most basic daily needs and they lack sufficient and nutritious food.
Dekeyser & Friends has donated the new land to the Umapad community. We work together with the local Phillipino NGO JPIC-IDC, which helps the families to structure their new lives, as well as to finance their lot and house. JPIC has promoted various successful re-housing projects and has worked with this community for years to build up mutual trust and to empower the people to organize themselves. This new project in which you will be involved is special, since the new village is far away from the dumpsite and the community has to become self-sufficient through sustainable agriculture and cooperatives that sell handmade handicrafts. As a Fellow, you take part in this unique adventure to support the scavengers and informal settler families in Compostella, Cebu to build a new life for themselves.
The Fellows were part of the team from the very beginning. They were involved in building the village from its start. They prepared the site development (prepared the piece of land for construction) and helped construct a community center. Together with experts they trained the families during a skill development training to start micro-finance cooperatives in sustainable ecological farming, livestock breeding and handmade handicrafts, so that the families could make a living and sustain themselves in a healthy way. At the end of their stay, the Fellows – together with the families – prepared a party to open the new community center. The Fellows joined us in our efforts to promote sustainable development and economic growth. They became part of a unique movement that collaborates with local people in the fight for a better future!