View from a Habitat Team Leader: Disaster Response trip to The Philippines

View from a Habitat Team Leader: Disaster Response trip to The Philippines: The article below was constructed following an interview between myself and HfH. It was published by Habitat for Humanity and appeared in t...

Disaster Response trip to The Philippines

The article below was constructed following an interview between myself and HfH. It was published by Habitat for Humanity and appeared in the Global Village Update January 2015. It refers to my project in November and December 2014. I have added a few pictures to illustrate.

  

Building through the storm: Team leader keeps project in check during typhoon

In late November, veteran team leader Ray Fowell took 13 volunteers on a disaster recovery mission to Daanbantayan, Cebu, Philippines.

They came with the intent of helping with Typhoon Haiyan recovery, only to be caught up in Typhoon Hagupit. In his own words, Ray explains how his disaster recovery trip to the Philippines was a unique experience from previous Global Village trips.

You asked how this trip differed from my other projects. I think the fact that we don’t always have to contend with a typhoon descending upon us halfway through the build would be a good place to start.

Before and after Typhoon Hagupit

All projects are mostly the same. The ground is always hard and the digging harder. On this project, one difference was the lack of home owner partners because the properties had not been allocated. But with the understanding of the situation and the fact that this was a disaster relief project, it made little difference to the team.

Juniper (team member) digging foundations

Part of my job as a team leader is to manage the team’s expectations, and as opposed to previous builds, they were very much aware of the situation in the Philippines. It was unfortunate that Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby) disrupted our build. My team understood that the job was to work with the skilled labour and help advance the progress of the build as best they could. I believe they did a fantastic job. Everyone worked within their capabilities and engaged with the local labour, which made it a fun place to be for all involved.

   

Local labourer (man of mystery)

After the Typhoon past through.The team also pulled together and joined the relief efforts in packing food parcels. In fact, they purchased food and water to help the with relief efforts in some small way. 

  

The team packing relief supplies

They also helped load the trucks for distribution to the community and again unloaded them onto the boats at the port.

Everyone on the team wanted to be a part of this exercise and would have done far more if they could. The damage to the Daanbantayan area was minimal so after a couple of days we were back on the build site as if nothing had happened.

Heinrich and Ted loading trucks with relief supplies

On a technical issue, the build in Daanbantayan was the most organized I have worked on. To have plans, drawings and an engineer on-site was unprecedented. It made a pleasant change to see how organized this site was.

 

I think everyone gets something different from Global Village projects. It changes lives and makes some people reflect on their own existence.
   

The fact that these people come back time and time again, raise funds or pay directly from their own pocket, take themselves out of their comfort zone and use what little vacation time they may have to work in an environment that is far removed from their everyday life, to labour in the heat and humidity that they are unused to, says so much about what they take from it.

The team left to right: Ken, Ted, Brian,Tony, Heinrich (Henry), Juniper, Elaine, Gina, Alden, Don, Cameo and Jim. Originating from UK, USA, Switzerland 

As for myself, I gain great satisfaction in knowing that I in some small way have affected someone else’s life, hopefully for the better. Not only for the home owners, but also the team members. I want them to take something from the experience and promote the cause, either by volunteering hometown or by encouraging others to take up the Global Village challenge. I am sure they also go home with a greater understanding of the lives of the people they help. That is what drives me to lead teams and take on Habitat projects throughout the world. It is the people, the kids and the team that makes the package complete.  This was my first build in the Philippines and hope it will not be the last.

  

Me with one of the local children (Paul)

    

That was a published interview with me regarding the teams experience following the Typhoon.