My Boat, My Life
Last quarter we collected for My Boat, My Life and Raised £1,300! Well done everyone!
This is a project run by the Walk and Work Foundation which is devoted to helping persons with disability (amputees) to be able to walk and work and become responsible and productive members of society. It is based in the Philippines, and is our response to the dreadful typhoon they had there last year.
“My Boat, My Life” is described here:
Dear Friends,
A warm greetings to you from Iloilo City.
The past several months were a flurry of activities for giving assistance to our brothers and sisters who were affected by the recent calamity in northern Iloilo.
Last December 6, 2013 During our annual gift giving activities, the program “My Boat, My Life was officially launched to provide fishing boats to affected fishermen in the north. Ten PWD (Persons with Disabilities)Amputees and who belong to the marginalize sector were chosen for the first batch. Walk and Work Foundation provided them with their prosthesis so that they may be able to work again.
It was a joyous moments for all and the Mill Hill Fathers and Seminarians were there to lend their full support for the project.
The first batch of 10 fishing boats were delivered to Concepcion, Iloilo last Feb. 7, 2014 and were gladly received by Disabled People’s Organization of Concepcion and its officials. Another 10 boats are being constructed at the moment further north in Carles, Iloilo and will be given to the different island villages. The official turnover will be on Feb. 28, 2014 and all the donors will be represented by Joop Duindam, a Dutch lawyer and a very good friend of the late Fr. Jacques Derksen, who had a big heart for the poor. The next project monitoring will be done again on April this year. The situation in the damage areas needs our full support and after 2 months the people are still struggling to return to their homes. Destruction are still evident everywhere but with the help of this boats which you donated, we have given back their dignity for work. Slowly they will be able to return and earn a living to feed their respective families. I would like to relay to you all their gratitude and thank you very much for helping us in this time of urgent needs. They will not forget for you have remembered them with your generosity. A lot of work lies ahead for all of us here in Iloilo but it gives us inspiration to continue and not counting the cost.
“God is good all the time.”
I will keep you updated for the next news.
Dr. Jessie
