(ANS – Iloilo City) – Vikash Gupta, Naresh Agarwal, Snom Panlook and Ramachand Shimray are students of Salesian College, Sonada.  They participated in the International Conference and Service-Learning programme on Disaster Response, Community Resilience, and the Role of the University which took place from 28 June to 11 July 2014 in Iloilo City, Philippines. They were accompanied by the Salesian, Fr. Ujjol Mondol.

Eight months after Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, the disaster no longer features in the international news, but the Philippines is still reeling under its effects. This monster storm had blown apart not merely the buildings, but more importantly families and communities.

As a response to the natural disaster the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia co-sponsored the International Service-Learning programe this year on Disaster Response, Community Resilience, and the Role of the University.

Two hundred students from twenty-nine Asian Universities and colleges participated.

The first two days of the Conference were on Typhoon Haiyan and the remaining days were devoted to an outreach to the different communities affected by the typhoon. The students and staff were divided into teams, one for each area, and each team was given a different task. Most worked at reconstructing the buildings that were destroyed.  They re-built schools, planted mangrove trees, facilitated medical check-ups for the affected communities, helped in handicraft making, and even constructed a fishing boat.

One of the students, Ramachand Shimray, commented: “It was a wonderful experience of service for all of us. We learned to adjust to the different communities there. We learned things that were not written in any books. One attitude that stood out most as we worked as a team was that “No one is a foreigner. Everyone is my brother or sister.”

Published 21/07/2014