Worlds 1st armless pilot

visits REBUILD Project

JULY 2014
MEET AND GREET Baras Federaton of Persons with Disabilites Associatons, Inc.
President Angelito Donaldo Roxas Sr. introduces his co-ofcers to mult-awarded
Filipino-American pilot Jessica Cox. Photo: Daryl Zamora / Handicap Internatonal
After giving encouragement to
victims of typhoon Haiyan in
Tacloban City and Eastern
Samar, renowned armless pilot
Jessica Cox met with people
with disabilities in Baras, Rizal
on March 5.
The 31-year-old Filipino-
American talked to five
beneficiaries of Handicap
Internationals REBUILD Project.
The project aims to empower
people with disabilities by
facilitating their access to various
livelihoods and social services. It
also works with the local
government and organizations of
persons with disabilities in
advocating for an inclusive society.
The REBUILD Project also
serves as a follow-up to HIs
emergency response to the
typhoons which devastated the area
in 2009.
It is amazing to see Handicap
Internationals long-term
Whats Inside
BFPWDAI recognized,
gains new mems p. 2
Mayor signs MOA p. 3
Facts and fgures of the
REBUILD Project p. 5
Kuya Boys 2nd life p. 7
Photo gallery p. 8
CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
News
2
REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014
The Baras Federation of
Persons with Disabilities
Associations Inc. (BFPWDAI)
has seen dramatic increase in
membership and
accomplishments since the
coming of the REBUILD
Project, said its president,
Angelito Donaldo Roxas Sr.
We used to have only about
360 members, says Kuya Boy, as
the 49-year-old president is fondly
called. Now we have about 700;
almost half of them have already
received their ID card as Persons
with Disabilities.
Kuya Boy attributes much of
this surge to the awareness
campaign being carried out by the
REBUILD Project alongside the
BFPWDAI. Seminars, forums, and
printed materials do well to inform
Baras residents of the benefits of
becoming a Federation member,
he says.
Among these benefits is getting
an ID Card for Persons with
Disabilities, which enables the
holder to receive 20 percent
discount in many services and
products. This privilege is enshrined
in the Magna Carta for Persons with
Disabilities and Republic Act 9442.
According to Kuya Boy, the
BFPWDAI has also piled up other
achievements, which were facilitated
largely by the REBUILD Project.
Now the Federation is officially
recognized by local government, he
said. The Federation and
government now have the same
language when it comes to
discussing disability affairs.
Today the BFPWDAI is already
part of the Municipal Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Council
and the Municipal Peace and Order
Council. Kuya Boy said that soon the
Federation will also become part of
the Municipal Development Council.
Local government support for the
Persons with Disabilities sector is
also seen in the renovations it carried
out in Municipal Hall recently. Baras
Mayor Kathrine KC Robles
instructed the refurbishment of the
ground-floor comfort room to
accommodate people with
disabilities. Improvements were also
made at the town halls entrance
ramp.
BFPWDAI gains recognition, surge of new members
EUROPEAN UNION
REBUILD Project
Solem Bldg., JP Rizal St.,
Santiago, Baras, Rizal
Tel. (02) 234-5404

2014 Handicap International -
Philippines Program

This document has been produced through
the financial assistance of the European
Union and Swiss Solidarity. The views
expressed herein should not be taken, in
any way, to reflect the official opinion of
the European Union and Swiss Solidarity.
OPEN FORUM BFPWDAI Secretary Ruben
Moral answers questons during the
Federatons General Assembly last year.
Photo: Handicap Internatonal
Thirty beneficiaries of the
REBUILD Project a livelihood
and inclusive local development
project in Rizal province have
attended a training on organic
agriculture last May 13-15. They
were either relatives of or were
themselves people with disabilities,
female household heads, or elderly
persons who have agricultural
livelihoods. Speakers from HI and
agricultural offices shared their
knowledge in the stay-in seminar.
Topics ranged from rice production
to fisheries and hog-raising. The
town mayor of Baras, where the
REBUILD Project is based, also
announced that soon a fair would be
set up, so that trainees could sell
their harvest easily.
HI conducts training on organic agriculture
Baras mayor, HI sign MOA for REBUILD
SIGNATURES Baras Mayor Kathrine KC Robles (lef) signs the MOA on the partnership
between Handicap Internatonal and the Municipality of Baras. Photo: Handicap
Internatonal
Baras Mayor Kathrine KC Robles
and then REBUILD Project Manager
Mary Grace Baban signed a
memorandum of agreement (MOA)
on their partnership for the Project
last December 17. The ceremony
was held at Punta de Fabian Hotel
and Resort in Baras, Rizal. Officers
of the Baras Federation of Persons
with Disabilities Associations, Inc.
also attended the event, as well as
other local government officials.
Eighty-eight people witnessed the
event.
News
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REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014
HOW TO Yoniza SJ Matamis (right) of the Baras Municipal Agricultural Ofce
demonstrates how to make a fermented fruit juice as an organic fertlizer.
Photo: Handicap Internatonal
Leaders and persons with disabilities from Baras attended a seminar on disability and disaster risk reduction (DRR)
at Punta de Fabian resort on July 23-25, 2013. The event was held in celebration of the National Disaster
Consciousness Month. They engaged in workshops and other interactive activities. Cresencia Comia, then an
officer for Handicap International's project on DRR, explained the main concepts on disabilities and disasters. On
the other hand, Program Inclusion Officer Edward Ello tackled other concrete ways in practicing inclusion.
Local leaders, persons with disabilities learn ways to reduce risk of disasters

In the morning, I wake up at 3 am
to prepare the fishballs and hotdogs,
as well as the dipping sauce, the 39-
year-old mother of two says. Then
at around 6 am, I fetch water for our
neighbors who pay us five pesos per
gallon.
Yet all that is now routine for
Jessebel. Even her injured hip
which she has been sustaining since
childhood and was not treated
because her parents couldnt afford
medical treatment is neither a
hindrance to her. She does feel pain
in her upper leg sometimes, but she
would rather not pay it any attention.
Thats how it is. I have to work to
earn a living, she says, smiling
and glancing wistfully at her cart.
Jessebels situation used to be far
worse. Her family was among
those seriously affected by tropical
storm Ketsana (Ondoy) in 2009.
Left with nothing save for some
luck they were afterwards able
to avail of a housing program in
Baras. The Sahaguns used to live in
Angono (also in Rizal province, 20
km west of Baras) where Jessebels
husband would fish in the nearby
lake, while she would sell his
catch.
When they moved into the
resettlement village in 2011, the
couple started to live on fetching
water for their neighbors. They filled
gallons at the community pozo
(water pump). At best they would
earn only P100 per day so much
so that sometimes the family would
need the help of neighbors to have
their lunch.
But Jessebel saw an opportunity in
making rags from spare cloths,
which she would buy near her
former place in Angono. She would
sew doormats out of the cloths and
sold them; in a given month, she
earned P2,000. But the business
MOTHER AND SON Jessebel Sahagun's eight-year-old son sometmes helps her cut the
hotdogs, ready for sale. Photo: Daryl Zamora / Handicap Internatonal
The merciless afternoon sun scorches the awning that protects Jessebel Sahaguns street-food cart.
She has parked the cart outside her friends house in Baras, Rizal, 50 km east of Manila.
A cartful of hope
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
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REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014
Features
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REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014
REBUILD Project: Facts & Figures
Data as of May 2014
The 43-year-old former teacher
always finds something to chuckle
about even if youre discussing
serious topics such as her plans for
the PDAO in Baras.
My name spells out my
priorities, she says. Livelihood,
Education, Advocacy, Health!
Cheerfulness has served Leah
well. This is especially true in her
early years of service to the
disability sector, where one could
immediately see various injustices
done to people with disabilities.
A year after glaucoma destroyed
her sight in 1996, Leah joined the
Philippine Blind Union and helped
the group in every way she could.
She also volunteered in a
Community-Based Rehabilitation
organization and soon became its
treasurer. In 1999 she pursued a
yearlong course in massage therapy
and baking. And within 10 years,
she was elected president of her
barangays organization for people
with disabilities. She also spent a
term serving as a barangay
councilor.
Today, in Baras, Leah has more
reasons to rejoice. As PDAO focal
person since January 2013, she has
seen the partnership between the
Municipality of Baras and the Baras
Federation of Persons with
Disabilities Associations Inc.
(BFPWDAI) grow and gain
strength. She witnessed how the
REBUILD Project has empowered
people with disabilities in Baras,
including herself.
Through REBUILD, I was able to
go places to attend various trainings
on disabilities, she says. We
talked in flag ceremonies to express
our rights, and the people of Baras
became aware that people with
disabilities also have rights.
But Leah is looking forward to a
more cheerful future for herself,
her son, and her fellow persons with
disabilities. Among her plans is, of
course, described by the acronym
LEAH. She cant be stopped. Her
spirit is indomitable. Indeed she
incarnates the cry of many young
people: YOLO You Only Live
Once!
LEAH is an acronym
Baras Persons with Disabilities Affairs Office (PDAO) focal person Leah Mercado has
a contagious joy.
My name spells
out my priorities.
WITNESS Leah has observed how the
disability sector in Baras fourished with
the support of the REBUILD Project.
Photo: Daryl Zamora / Handicap
Internatonal
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REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014
Features
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REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014
in his native Baras, Rizal. He was
appointed as secretary. It was at
this point that Kuya Boy
understood that his second life
would be dedicated to helping
people with disabilities to attain
justice, exercising their basic rights
as human beings.
When I became paralyzed, I
realized there are people who are
weak, whose rights have to be more
vigorously asserted, he says.
The devastation that tropical
storm Ondoy (Ketsana) wrought in
September 2009 also bolstered
Kuya Boys resolve. He too was a
victim of the freak storm, but he
knew other people with disabilities
in Baras suffered more perhaps
even died because a disability-
inclusive disaster management was
still lacking then.
It was no surprise, then, that in
2010 Kuya Boy was elected to
become the first president of the
Baras Federation of Persons with
Disabilities Associations, Inc.
(BFPWDAI). He has since poured
all this strength and mind to the task
of supporting people with
disabilities in the best way he could.
He met various obstacles, including
insufficient capacity for
organizational development,
advocacy, and other competencies to
push the federation forward.
And then came the REBUILD
Project in 2012. Working as
collaborators to facilitate access of
people with disabilities (and other
vulnerable groups) to basic social
services and livelihoods as well as
to make organizations of people
with disabilities significant in local
Kuya Boys second life
Trees and houses blurred to
green and brown.
Lean and thirsty for speed, 42-year
-old Angelito Donaldo Roxas (also
known as Kuya Boy) was zooming
on a motorbike across Laguna
province one sultry day in March
2008. He was on his annual
pilgrimage to the Kamay ni Hesus
(Hand of Jesus) shrine in Lucban.
Suddenly he felt he needed to pee.
So he thought of stopping by the
next gasoline station.
But before he could reach it, the
left side of his body lost all sense of
feeling. He couldnt move it. Kuya
Boy panicked. His heart was beating
fast, his mind reeling. But knew he
wouldnt be able to stop without
getting an injury. So he considered
colliding to a soft object to avoid a
worse way to crash. The
speedometer indicated he was fast
theres a tricycle on the roadside it
must be the least dangerous object to
collide on CRASH!
***
Now 49, Kuya Boy looks back to
that day that could have been his
last.
My heart stopped beating three
times! he says, recalling his
familys tales from the emergency
room. Thats why I asked God
what it was that he wanted me to
dowhy he still kept me alive.
A year after he became paralyzed,
his question was answered. In 2009,
Kuya Boy was invited to become
part of the pioneering federation of
persons with disabilities associations
PURPOSE DRIVEN Kuya Boy fnds fulfllment in being a family man and serving his fellow
persons with disabilites. Photo: Daryl Zamora / Handicap Internatonal
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
My heart
stopped
beating
three times!
Gallery
8
REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014
1. Baras Mayor Kathrine KCRobles
formally opens an exhibit at the Municipal
Hall in celebraton of the Internatonal Day
of Persons with Disabilites last December.
2. Handicap Internatonal Inclusion Advisor
Edward Ello (right) facilitates an accessibility
audit during a seminar last year. 3.
Partcipants of a disaster risk reducton and
management training collaborate during a
workshop. 4. BFPWDAI Secretary Ruben
Moral awards prizes to winners of an art
contest during the Natonal Disability
Preventon and Rehabilitaton Week
celebraton last year. 5. Jessica Cox visits
one of the REBUILD Projects benefciaries.
6. In a forum with the BFPWDAI, an ofcer
of the Makat Federaton of Persons with
Disabilites shares her organizatons
experience in collaboratng with the local
government.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Features
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REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014
First, it is a way to improve her
interpersonal skills and confidence.
Part of the job is to visit people with
disabilities in Baras.
I talk to them about the basic
concepts on disability, she says.
Doing this has helped her to become
more understanding with people
particularly persons with disabilities
and challenged her to be more
creative when communicating to
them.
Second, it is helping her to
understand better her 20-year-old
sister, Hyacinth, who has a hearing
impairment. Im now able to help
her more, Honey Lyn says.
Hyacinth is studying information
technology at the University of Rizal
System in Morong, Rizal. Indeed it
was Hyacinth who inspired Honey
Lyn to volunteer as a Peer Educator.
And third, being a peer educator is
expanding the reach of her
community service.
Having a bachelors degree in
math, majoring in computer science,
Honey Lyn is now teaching math
and computer skills to kids at a
private school in Cardona, Rizal.
But that is not enough for her
generous heart. On weekends, she
tries her best to be available to
whatever activity or visiting
session she needs to do as a peer
educator.
Before I was hired as a teacher, I
had all the time to attend the
REBUILD Projects activities,
particularly seminars and
trainings, she says. But now that
Im teaching on weekdays, I look
forward to any weekend activity
that I would have to do.
For Honey Lyn, being a peer
educator is truly fulfilling. You
tell [people with disabilities] about
the advantages of having a Person
with Disability ID card, she says.
You tell them about the benefits of
the card. And you impart to them a
sense of belonging, of not being
alone.
Today Honey Lyns enthusiasm
is such that she plans to follow a
career path specializing on
educating children with disabilities.
I want to become a good
teacher, and if given the
opportunity, I would like to focus
on providing Special Education
(SpEd), she says. She has big
dreams to advance the rights of
people with disabilities in the
Philippines, especially in
education. So perhaps killing three
birds with one stone is a wrong
metaphor. Honey Lyn wants to fly.
Of teaching and learning
For 25-year-old Honey Lyn Ruiz, being a volunteer peer educator under the
REBUILD Project allows her to kill not two but three birds with one stone.
[By being a peer
educator of people
with disabilities],
you impart to them a
sense of belonging,
of not being alone.
DEDICATED Honey Lyn Ruiz commits her
tme to teaching her young students at a
private grade school, as well as people
with disabilites in Baras. Photo: Daryl
Zamora / Handicap Internatonal
Honey Lyn has big
dreams to advance
the rights of people
with disabilities
in the Philippines,
especially in
education.

policy-making Kuya Boy and the
Project worked on laying the
groundwork in the first few months.
They conducted seminars and focus
group sessions to gather preliminary
data. They burned midnight candles
to live up to the mission of Kuya
Boys second take on life.
Today, says Kuya Boy, the
BFPWDAI has already achieved
significant improvement in
promoting disability rights in Baras.
Thanks to the REBUILD Projects
constant support through seminars
and workshops, the federation now
has considerable influence even in
local government. The
Municipality of Baras has formally
recognized the federation and has
heeded their call for a more
accessible municipal hall.
(Recently the town halls entrance
ramp was renovated better to
adhere to current standards of
accessibility.) The group has also
embarked on a continuous
awareness campaign around town.
According to Kuya Boy, the
biggest difference he sees between
Baras before the REBUILD Project
became too expensive to sustain.
She needed another enterprise which
did not require her to travel so far to
buy materials.
With the help of Handicap
Internationals REBUILD Project
which assists people with disabilities
in finding jobs or setting up their
own small businesses Jessebel
was soon able to identify a new
business: street food vending. That
business wouldnt be as demanding
as rag-making, but would likely be
more profitable.
Jessebel went through some
orientation talks and consultation
with the REBUILD Project. Soon
she decided to apply for a loan from
REBUILD Project partners SEED
Center Philippines, Inc. and
Entrepreneurs du Monde for her
street-food business. Late last year,
she received the money from the
Project, with which she bought a
cart and her first fishballs, hotdogs,
and kikiam for sale.
Today Jessebel cannot say that
her familys life has improved by
leaps and bounds, but she says it is
significantly better than before. She
now earns more aside from the
fact that her husband has also found
a less unstable job at a construction
site in a neighboring city. This
helps a lot in paying her loan
punctually.
My kids can already ask for
things which they couldnt before.
Now they can also pay for certain
projects in school, she says.
With the REBUILD Projects
focus on holistic development
among its beneficiaries, Jessebel is
also expecting to have her hips
checked. She has also signed up in
the public registry of persons with
disabilities; this allows her to
receive privileges such as discounted
prices of medicines, transportation,
and some basic commodities.
It is now almost 3:30 pm, when
Jessebel already has to move to a
different location to avoid a
competitor nearby who opens shop
at this time. As she begins to prepare
her cart for the trip, Jessebel finds
one of her sons arriving from school.
When mother and son embrace, you
immediately learn what keeps
Jessebel and her cart going.
came and Baras today is the level of
awareness that even remote
communities have regarding
disability. He also notes that in 2009
only about 360 people with
disabilities registered as such in the
federation, but today almost 700 are
already due to be given ID cards as
persons with disabilities.
Truly, lifes great mysteries such
as accident and illness can only be
unraveled when taking the big
picture. People with disabilities in
Baras should be thankful Kuya Boy
leapt from feeling sorry for his
personal tragedy to fulfilling a
mission of advancing the rights and
welfare of his townspeople,
particularly persons with disabilities
like himself.
A cartful of hope
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
Kuya Boys second...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
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10
REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014

investment in people with
disabilities in the Philippines
following disasters, Jessica said. I
saw HIs emergency work in
Tacloban, and heard many people
who were feeling uncertain about
their futures and were hoping to find
employment so they can rebuild
their lives. In Baras, I saw how HI is
rebuilding lives and teaching people
with disabilities business skills, and
connecting them with loans and
employment opportunities. In a way,
HIs coming in to a community is
the silver lining of these typhoons.
Funded by Swiss Solidarity and
the European Union and in
partnership with the Baras
Federation of Persons with
Disabilities Associations Inc., Local
Government Unit of
Baras, Tahanang Walang
Hagdanan, SEED Center
Philippines, and Entrepreneurs du
Monde the REBUILD Project
strives to support 250 families in
Baras. Together these organizations
help provide the economic, social,
and psychosocial needs of the
beneficiaries, who may be people
with disabilities, elderly persons, or
single women who head their
households.
Before she visited the
beneficiaries, Jessica Cox also met
with the town officials led by Baras
Mayor Kathrine KC Robles. The
mayor surprised Jessica with a brass
band and a welcoming program on
her arrival at the Municipal Hall.
They also had a brief discussion on
the REBUILD Projects work with
the local government.
Worlds 1st armless pilot visits...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
AFTER ONDOY With the help of an interpreter, Jessica Cox asks questons on how people
with disabilites who were victms of tropical storm Ondoy have recovered and gained a
new livelihood.
News
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REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014
MINI-JESSICA Jessica Cox thanks a group of girls who made a rubber Jessica doll. Baras
Mayor Kathrine KC Robles (center) and Jessicas husband, Patrick Chamberlain, look on.
Photo: Daryl Zamora / Handicap Internatonal
In Baras, I saw how HI is rebuilding
lives and teaching people with disabilities
business skills, and connecting them with
loans and employment opportunities.
Handicap International, through
the REBUILD Project, celebrated
the International Day of Persons
with Disabilities (IDPD) last
December 3.
A livelihood and inclusive local
development project, the REBUILD
Project organized an interactive
exhibit composed of miniature
buildings (or scale models) with
accessible facilities. The displays
also included colorful posters on the
rights of people with disabilities.
Baras Mayor Kathrine KC
Robles graced the event and called
on everyone to recognize the dignity
and capabilities of persons with
disabilities.
Officers of the Baras Federation of
Persons with Disabilities
Associations, Inc. also delivered
short talks during the flag ceremony
held at the Municipal Hall grounds.
A motorcade around town also
made the celebration more festive. It
featured a jingle advocating an
inclusive society.
REBUILD Project celebrates IDPD
Teams composed of people with and without disabilities battled to
grab the championship in this years Access 2020 Race to Success
Adventure Race Year 2.
In celebration of the International Day for Persons with Disabilities, the
competition took the teams around Metro Manila to accomplish certain
tasks such as cleaning a hotel bedroom and making chocolates.
Aiming to promote the rights of people with disabilities, Handicap
International co-organized the contest with Tahanang Walang Hagdanan.
A fun run was also held and attended by thousands.
Racing towards success
EXHIBIT Baras Mayor Kathrine KC Robles formally opened the interactve exhibit at the Municipal Hall in celebraton of the
Internatonal Day for Persons with Disabilites last December. Photo: Daryl Zamora / Handicap Internatonal
CHOCOLATE FACTORY Handicap Internatonals team competes in the
Adventure Race. Photo: Handicap Internatonal
News
REBUILD Project Newsletter | July 2014