The Jesuit Refugee service (I realise you may not have heard of it but look it up) funds a few of the small scale projects run by RIAP. Whilst I was in Mindanao we had a visit by one of the their project coordinators- a priest, father Bernard- to evaluate the impact of the projects and where they could go from here. I was priveleged to be able to visit projects run in partnerhsip with them. They are small scale but making a huge impact in these remote rural communities that were severely affected by the conflict in August 2008 and many of whom are still IDPs (internally deisplaced people). These communities have received little or no help from other NGOs or the government itself and are in dire need.
We had to stop on the way and check in with the Military outpost to gain their "permission" to carry on and so they knew who we were and where we were going. Safety first!
The Roads to some of the projects were very very bad, we had to take a four wheel drive car but one that would fit us all and that wasn't too low otherwise it wouldn't make it on the terrain. Even then it got stuck and we had to walk the last bit.
The tap was installed by the JRS project as before they had to walk far in order to get water, even at night. There was no running water of the kind we are used to and still isn't.
This village (Bansayan) also wants/needs a school - as JRS is a small scale funder, they have to really evaluate the needs of the community and how to best impact them and work with them on improving their lot. This can often mean helping them meet their needs themselves to a large extent therefore requiring an intelligent social model with minimal funding reliance.
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