The Philippines

DANIEL S. BULANTE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 

On November 2013, the 250 kilometre per hour Typhoon Haiyan destroyed six million homes and thousands of schools in the Philippines. One of the severely damaged schools included Daniel Bulante Elementary, a 3-room school that held 333 students from kindergarten to grade four.  The school is situated twelve kilometres from Tacloban City, on land that was donated by the grandfather of a Richmond Sunrise Rotary Club member.

Daniel S. Bulante Elementary’s destroyed school room

Builders Without Borders Response

In 2014, a team including Builders Without Borders (BWB), the Rotary Club of Vancouver Fraserview, the Rotary Club of Tacloban and the Rotary Club of San Juanico in the Philippines undertook an assessment of the damage, and created a plan for repairs.

During a 2016 visit to Tacloban, a Vancouver-area Rotary Club member met with the School Principal, Alma Macanip.  Ms. Macanip indicated all the buildings had been repaired by local efforts except for the destroyed outdoor multipurpose Music, Cultural and Dance Centre.  Builders Without Borders agreed to help with the schematic planning and funding for the construction of the centre and to work with the Rotary Club of Kankabato in Tacloban, who would manage the construction.

The Anticipated Result

This project, when completed, will add the final structure to complete the school to its pre-typhoon condition for the 300+ students and staff.

UPDATE (JUNE 2016)

BWB is involved in the schematic planning and funding for the Music, Cultural, Dance and emergency assembly Centre, with an estimated build cost of $13,000 Canadian.  With support from the Richmond Singers as well as a member of the Sunrise Rotary Club, BWB has secured most of the funding.  The contract has been let to a local contractor and we expect the work to be finished by the end of August 2016.

Concrete columns constructed to support the roof of the Music, Cultural and Dance Centre