Help the Mamanwa Tribe in the Philippines get their own homes!

Get the Mamanwa people a home

International Needs responded to help the Typhoon Haiyan victims. In the course of its relief and rehabilitation work it came across an indigenous peoples group named the Mamanwas. With no government intervention to help, they live in a hand to mouth existence by gathering rattan in the mountains to be made as baskets which they sell or exchanged for rice. Typhoon Haiyan destroyed their main source of income, thus, they barely survive by begging and looking for other jobs which they can hardly find, being unskilled and not used to living in the lowlands.

Background

International Needs responded to help the Typhoon Haiyan victims in Leyte and Samar. In the course of its relief and rehabilitation work in the typhoon affected areas, it came across an indigenous peoples group named the Mamanwas, composed of twenty three (23) famiies with more or less 70 persons. Originally they came from down further south in Mindanao, more particularly Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur. They migrated to Central Samar Philippines to escape being caught in a cross fire between the Philippine military and the communist rebels who frequently had encounters. In Central Samar, they were again exposed to the same danger until typhoon Haiyan came which displaced them to a rocky hill in Barangay, Guirang, Basey, Samar where they were given temporary place to stay. There was no government intervention to help them.

They live in a hand to mouth existence by gathering rattan in the mountains to be made as baskets which they sell or exchanged for rice. Typhoon Haiyan destroyed their main source of income, thus, they barely survive by begging and looking for other jobs which they can hardly find, being unskilled and not used to living in the lowlands.

International Needs cannot bear not to help these neglected indigenous peoples group and decided to jointly help them.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

To provide for a resettlement site to build 23 houses.

To showcase the culture of the Mamanwas for tourism purposes for additional livelihood or income generating activities.

To help them provide food for the table of their respective families through an integrated farming activity.

To make the Mamanwa tribe a self-reliant community.

The Cost and Scope of the Project:

To Mamanwa Tribe by building them a community of their own as follows:

Provide a hectare of land for housing and farming

Build 23 houses for 23 families,

Build a Function House for community gathering

Construct 15 toilets (1 toilet for each family, 2 for the guest houses and another one for the Function House

Provide water and electricity

Provide training and assistance in farming

Provide them 6 (type of cow) carabaos for farming

There is a Philippine church organisation prepared to raise half the money if we can find the balance.

Cost

Transfer of ownership and titling of land P 25,000

Professional Fee for Geodetic Engineer P 15,000

Clearing and Cleaning P 10,000

25 houses including 2 houses for supervision (P30,000 x 25) P 750,000

15 toilets @ P15,000 each P 225,000

Function Hall P 150,000

Water and Electricity P 50,000

Farming equipments P 50,000

Seeds P 100,000

Carabao (4 x P35,000) P 140,000

Supervision/visitation P 65,000

Total Mamanwa Project P 1,550,000

The total cost in NZ$ 65,845 – ie $32,923 for us in NZ.

The wide angle photo attached ( or is in the photo gallery) is where we want to resettle the Mamanwa people - note the contrast from living on rocks to living with fertile soil.