A little piece of paradise

So to break it all up at the end, Imee and I took a little weekend holiday......

Camiguin island in the distance- volcanoes and beaches- our destination

The place where we stayed..... with Phil and Sue

The Golden Sunset Beach Club and resort

Awesome waterfall- in the rain but the power of it was incredible!


The yummiest dinner I ever cooked- mixed veg, daal, rice and tandoori fish. YUM! Twas good.

Camiguin at sunset

Making our way to the beautiful island of Mantigue

Do you see the desert island paradise in the distance? Eeek! Excitement.

Look at the glorious water.... and the sand..... subhanAllah.

Only a few families left on the island.... fishermen.

I heard a terrible rumour that they are thinking of turning this place into a resort and opening a casino etc. Please God no!

Resting spot

They have Turtles...... but I didn't get to see them!

Beautiful

Just stunning!

I want to go back!!!
Never thought I would be in such a beautiful place. I'm truly blessed Alhumdulillah.

Thank you Phil and Sue and Imee!!

Flood Relief in action

The Distribution Process:



Planning the distribution process



Preparing the car for the relief convoy to Lala



Loading the trucks in the rain- which only got worse!

The rain made us late for the distribution and the poor people had to wait for us in the ..... u guessed it, rain!

Making sure all the paperwork is in order as we go along- it's a detailed process to make sure accountability levels are met.

The distribution begins...

The Volunteers made sure each family got their alloted amount depending on the vouchers they had been given.

Signing the paperwork-
This old lady had queued in the rain with everyone else in order to get the relief alloted to her family.


The queues continued as the whole process took hours- but everyone was so friendly and good natured subhanAllah.

The last lot of families from the area that had been damaged the most receive their relief including pots and pans etc.


It was an incredible effort to have been part of.

Typhoons and Flooding

Whilst I was in Mindanao, I experienced some crazy rain! There was one night when we could hardly fall asleep for the sound of the driving rain on the rooftops and the loud cracks of thunder, at one point we thought the roof might blow off!
There was a lot more rainfall then expected for that time of year and this resulted in some serious flooding in many parts. Houses were destroyed, farms wrecked and families displaced. I had the opporunity through Christian Aid and MuCAARD to help with flood relief wok in one particular area called Lala. We were involved in collecting information regarding the extent of damage, the needs assessment, writing the reports and applying for funds, sourcing the relief, packing and distribution of relief- most of this was done by local volunteers and to help with and observe the whole process was very educational and inspiring.


Packing the goods:


Kitchen/cooking supplies for some of the families that lost everything

Packing dried fish- staple diet

Yes, it looks dodgy but it's all salt, rice, sugar.

Working late into the night- whilst it continued to rain outside