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"When life on earth is but temporary, then let's all make it beautiful"

swiss solidarity

Sta. Cruz Blues

6/7/2014

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by jun asuncion



Ketsana Fund Raising Campaign (or Ketsana Foundation Philippines- Switzerland) has its headquarter in Zürich situated at Witellikerstrasse 22, 8008 Zürich
and can be reached through phone numbers 076 223 63 10 and 078 8117821. We are ready anytime to answer any question or request pertaining to the works or projects of Ketsana Foundation.

As a small group of dedicated helpers, the Ketsana Foundation Philippines- Switzerland is in need of any help it can get from friends and donors so that it can realize the small projects that it supports in the Philippines, projects like a small library for a public school, purchase of some more fishing boats to some fishermen in a fishing village Sta. Cruz in Leyte, school materials for elementary pupils and the construction of deep well water pump for selected communities which were heavily destroyed by typhoons, floods, erosion and earthquakes.

Two members of Ketsana Foundation- Franklin and Elizabeth Patricio- were sent to Tacloban city last February, three months after the onslaught of super-typhoon Haiyan in order to find a place where Ketsana could focus its support. After a hard day's search, they found Sta. Cruz, a tiny fishing village outside Tacloban city.Their first impression was that the people there still radiated with love, friendliness and hospitality in spite of the miseries that befall them- of losing hundreds of community members in just a wink of an eye. Franklin and Elizabeth went to work immediately and organized a group of local people to help them find somebody who builds fishing boats. And they found one in Samar, a city adjacent to the north of Tacloban.So they ordered three boats first complete with motors and fishing nets. The idea was that Ketsana should give something that would help some people instantly earn their living. The proceeds from Siebenmann's Concert last November 2013 were used for this project.


The idea worked well. Last April, another two members of Ketsana Foundation- Mila and Jun Asuncion-  were sent to Tacloban to check on the project in Sta, Cruz. They were greeted with joy by the local people and they were enthusiastic to know that we were from the Ketsana Foundation. They immediately told us that Ketsana's  donation was the most helpful of all donations they got for they were able to use them (the boats) at once to catch fish for selling and for their own consumption. This sound very small if you are a guest coming from Switzerland but this sounded very cool that we even forgot that the sun above our heads was burning like a furnace. We were very happy for their feedback and thankfulness that we also went to work immediately by gathering the children to give them the school supplies that we had brought from Manila.The woman village chief told us that that there were only 200 children left after the waters had swallowed St. Cruz that early morning when the winds of the super-typhoon Haiyan pounded this fishing village.

Mila's eyes were tearful and my heart was bleeding when we heard about this. The children came and we gave them notebooks, papers, pencils and erasers. Even though most of them were smiling, still it was hard to look into their eyes directly for I knew that each one of them had lost one or even the whole family. Yet they came because they wanted to go to school and learn. I was anxious because as I moved my eyes around, I've seen no school building standing. For the meantime, they would be learning in improvised school rooms, we were told. I said to myself: There is still a bright future for Sta. Cruz.

Before leaving Sta. Cruz, we got the chance to see one of the Ketsana fishing boats and this made us happy again for we got the chance to talk with some fishermen and hear what they had to say. They said the boats were built solid and performed well in high seas. They were thankful.

Before we left St. Cruz we  told them that in September, Franklin and Elizabeth were coming back to bring some more school supplies for the children and to discuss with them our next project of building a deep well water pump in the center of their small village.



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