Photos: Left images shows photo taken on Nov. 14, 2013 of a ship anchored next to destroyed houses in Tacloban City (top) after it was swept ashore during Super Typhoon Yolanda and motorists along the street (lower) on Nov. 1, 2018. Right combo images shows a photo taken on Nov. 18, 2013 of survivors of Yolanda marching during a religious procession in Tolosa, Leyte (top) and women holding religious statues walking along a highway in the same municipality on Oct. 17, 2018. 

TACLOBAN, Philippines: 8th Nov 2018 is the fifth anniversary of the country’s deadliest typhoon on record when Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) devastated the Philippines in 2013. Monster storms strike more frequently than previously, packing destructive rainfall that experts say is supercharged by climate change. Yolanda struck in the predawn darkness as the then strongest typhoon to ever hit land, leaving more than 7,360 people dead or missing across the central Philippines.
The wall of seawater the typhoon that was sent crashing into densely populated areas – known as storm surge – is one of the key reasons it was so deadly. Many people simply did not understand the term and did not evacuate despite official warnings.
In the Philippines, roughly 15,000 of the poorest families were ordered relocated from the worst-hit city of Tacloban, yet many have not moved and those who have are struggling. Many people have chosen to stay in the area because the government-proposed housing in a safer area doesn’t even have running water and electricity. Moustafa Osman, a Britain-based disaster management expert, said: “Everywhere the single most difficult thing to do is to move people from their own village or territory and put them in a strange place. Unless you have a proper plan and a better alternative they won’t go. Substandard housing, difficulties in earning a livelihood, no transportation and even conflict with the existing residents of a resettlement area are habitual barriers.
The peril that looms over communities in the Philippines and elsewhere is only expected to grow because of the influence of global warming on extreme weather. Oxford University climate expert Friederike Otto said there is a clear connection between climate change and heavier, devastating rainfall. The storms packing these intense rains are expected to get more harmful as the impact of climate change manifests itself, and because so many vulnerable communities live in threatened areas. “How destructive a storm is crucially depends on who and what is in harm’s way.”
(Philippines Star)

We remember our Deaconess sisters in the Philippines and pray for their safety and strength for their ministry.

Diakonia Philippines

Diakonia Philippines is hosting the 17th National Biennial Assembly at Siliman University, starting at 6pm on October 26th, continuing until October 30th. Please uphold this gathering in your prayers, including Emma Cantor, Regional President, DIAKONIA Asia-Pacific.

Philippines - yet another typhoon

Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos have been displaced by Typhoon Koppu, the second strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year. The Philippines endures about 20 major storms a year, many of them deadly. 

Now, heavy rain has lashed the typhoon-hit areas, where 22 people have been killed. Nearly 300,000 people have been affected. The floods are as high as rooftops in some of the nation's most important rice and corn farming regions in Luzon. More than 200 villages have been flooded, with some areas more than a metre under water. Weather forecasters have warned that the typhoon could cut back onto the far northern edge of Luzon on Wednesday morning after picking up more water in the South China Sea.  

The churches in Northern and Central Luzon are deeply affected and devastated by this typhoon. DAP regional President Emma Cantor and Diakonia Philippines, along with the social service agencies of the churches and NGOs, are collectively engaged in supporting those who have been affected by the typhoon.

Christian Education in the 21st Century - Diakonia Phil (Philippines)

Diakonia Phil (Philippines) has hosted a Christian Education Summit, with the theme, 'Rekindling the Spirit of Christian Education of the 21st Century. More than 25 Christian Education Coordinators and Chairpersons from the Lutheran Church, United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), United Methodist Church and other church denomination joined the Regional CE Summit in Concordia Theological College (Lutheran) from Feb 27-28th, 2015. Great to see this ecumenical cooperation.

Global Justice Volunteers in the Philippines

GJV training 2014

Great to see Emma Cantor providing leadership for the GJV training for the Asia Pacific region. Training takes place from June 22nd - 28th, followed by the period of service from June 30th to August 16th. The Global Justice Volunteers Program of Global Ministries is a short-term service opportunity for young adults ages eighteen to thirty, run by the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church (USA).  Participants are from all over the world and serve all over the world. Small teams of volunteers spend ten weeks during the months of June through August exploring the links between faith and social justice as they work with local grassroots organizations. Volunteers work alongside their host community to address critical issues such as HIV and AIDS, poverty, human trafficking, and migrants’ rights. This program gives the volunteers the opportunity to develop new skills, to learn from local experts, and to channel their passion to help build just communities.

 

The Global Justice Volunteers Program of Global Ministries is a short-term service opportunity for young adults ages eighteen to thirty.  Participants are from all over the world and serve all over the world. Small teams of volunteers spend ten weeks during the months of June through August exploring the links between faith and social justice as they work with local grassroots organizations. Volunteers work alongside their host community to address critical issues such as HIV and AIDS, poverty, human trafficking, and migrants’ rights. This program gives the volunteers the opportunity to develop new skills, to learn from local experts, and to channel their passion to help build just communities. - See more at: http://www.umcmission.org/Get-Involved/Young-People/Serve/Short-Term-Programs/Short-Term-Programs#sthash.VG65jGgu.dpuf

The Global Justice Volunteers Program of Global Ministries is a short-term service opportunity for young adults ages eighteen to thirty.  Participants are from all over the world and serve all over the world. Small teams of volunteers spend ten weeks during the months of June through August exploring the links between faith and social justice as they work with local grassroots organizations. Volunteers work alongside their host community to address critical issues such as HIV and AIDS, poverty, human trafficking, and migrants’ rights. This program gives the volunteers the opportunity to develop new skills, to learn from local experts, and to channel their passion to help build just communities. - See more at: http://www.umcmission.org/Get-Involved/Young-People/Serve/Short-Term-Programs/Short-Term-Programs#sthash.VG65jGgu.dpuf

Philippines relief in Tacloban

More than three months after super-typhoon "Haiyan" hit Tacloban, life is slowly returning to the ravaged Philippine city. But many residents are still in desperate need of shelter and jobs. (read more here)


 
Recently, the United Methodist Women's Regional Missionary Initiative travelled to Tacloban, including Emma Cantor (DAP President), Jen Ferrariza, (Board of Women's Work), Chita Framo (DiakoniaPhils) and Ikit Framo (San Nicolas UMC) to enable psycho social debrief, do relief and consult with the UMC members and communities as well as with Bp Cerie Francisco on projects and programs we can do together as enablers and partners.The ongoing work of aid and relief in this area is something that will be a high priority for a long time to come - please continue to uphold those who offer support as well as the victims who yearn for healing and wholeness. 'May God bless the earth. May we allow God's grace to bless us always!' (Emma Cantor).

Diakonia Biennial Assembly

Emma Cantor, President, DIAKONIA Asia-Pacific (DAP) region (second from left) sends greetings as the 16th National Biennial Assembly of Diakonia Philippines in Puerto Princesa Palawan (Southern Philippines) begins tonight (October 23rd to 26th). There are 125 participants coming. The business meeting will be held on October 25th.
My own experience at the DAP Conference held in the Philippines is remembered with pleasure at the joy, laughter and warmth of the deaconesses. Please hold them in your prayers as they meet together.

DAP Regional Conference 2012

Philippines - floods in Manila, now earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks in Visayas......

Basilica of the Holy Child, Cebu City, after the earthquake

Tuesday was a national holiday in the Philippines, to mark the beginning of Eid ul Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, a Muslim festival commemorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac. What would have been a day of rest and rejuvenation for many, spent at home or in shopping malls, quickly turned into a day of devastation and terror spent in the streets.

(The following report is from The Australian newspaper)
A POWERFUL earthquake on Tuesday this week killed at least 93 people in the Philippines as it generated landslides that buried homes, triggered terrified stampedes and destroyed historic churches.
Fifteen of the confirmed fatalities were in Cebu, the country's second most important city and a gateway to some of its most beautiful beaches, the national disaster agency reported. Cebu, with a population of 2.5 million people, is the political, economic, educational and cultural centre of the central Philippines.
The 7.1-magnitude quake killed another 77 people in the neighbouring island of Bohol, famed for its rolling “Chocolate Hills”, while one other person died on nearby Siquijor, which attracts tourists with its pristine white sands. Authorities said the death toll could still climb, with officials struggling to assess the extent of the damage in the worst-hit areas of Bohol where roads remained impassable and power was cut at nightfall. One of the worst affected areas was the coastal town of Loon, where at least 18 people were killed by landslides that buried houses along large stretches of highway.
Ten churches, some of which have crucial links to the earliest moments of Spanish colonial and Catholic conquest in the 1500s, were also badly damaged on Cebu and Bohol. The limestone bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church, Cebu's Basilica Minore del Santo Nino, was in ruins. Other limestone churches that were built in the 1700s and 1800s on Bohol had crumbled completely, prompting grieving for the loss of some of the Philippines' most important cultural treasures.
“It is like part of the body of our country has been destroyed,” Michael Charleston “Xiao” Chua, a history lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila, told AFP.
Aside from its beaches, Bohol is famous for its more than 1,000 small limestone “Chocolate Hills” that turn brown during the dry season. One of the main tourist venues there, the Chocolate Hills Complex, was severely damaged, according to Delapan Ingleterra, head of a local tourist police unit. “There are huge cracks in the hotel and there was a collapse of the view deck on the second floor,” Ingleterra told AFP, adding that no-one was injured at the complex.
Tuesday's quake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks, at least four aftershocks of which measured more than 5.0 in magnitude.
The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

Prayer points include:

• Disaster relief teams who are assessing the damage.
• Rescue teams and those providing emergency services
• Grieving families and friends, and communities in shock
• Safety from the continuing aftershocks
• The work of churches and diaconal ministry agents in responding to the situation

Gracious and compassionate God, we ask your comforting and strengthening help for the people of the Visayas. Comfort those whose loved ones have died, bring swift rescue for those who are missing, and strengthen those who are injured. In all of this crisis, empower your people with your Holy Spirit as they bring Gospel love and courage to their community. Keep us steadfast in prayer until this season of trial has passed for our brothers and sisters. All these things we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (adapted from a prayer by Archbishop Robert Pittsburg, Christchurch) 

Clergy and lay Women's Peace Conference in Manila

Deaconess Emma Cantor (President, DAP) has been part of the group meeting for the UMW Peace Conference in the Philippines attended by 38 Indonesian and Filipino Clergy and Lay Women.
 
There are significant Issues for ministry in Indonesia and the Philippines, and some were discussed at the conference including:

* the Asian situation on peace and migration
* unpeace and peace in Asia
* Ecofeminism and advocacy for a peaceful earth
* sharing of the struggles and joys of women in the ministries of the church
* Biblico theological reflections on the perspectives and resolution of peace and unpeace in the churches
* empowering the churches towards building peaceful communities
* advocacy and engagement for peace in all levels.

As well, there was a separate seminar on early childhood education for the participants as part of engagement to peace and a visit to preschools and poor children's communities.

Please remember these women in your prayers.

Participants in the UMC Peace Conference in Manila