A year after one of the world’s most powerful storms smashed into the
Philippines, a group of women are stitching their lives back together
by weaving colourful reeds used in handicrafts sold by the world’s top
retailers.
Their workshop is a far cry from the high-end shops selling their
products such as handbags and homewares on 5th Avenue in New York.
Sitting in one of the caves dotting the seaside highway of Basey town
in central Philippines, about a dozen women weave the reed plant, known
as tikog, which is sold to sustain their families still struggling to
make ends meet after Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,000 dead or missing
last Nov. 8.
“Weaving helps feed our families. But we haven’t really recovered, we
still don’t earn enough,” said Marilyn Corpus, 46, from inside the cave
whose cool temperature helps preserve the grass.
Amongst the despair and devastation wrought by Haiyan – the strongest
storm ever recorded to hit land – hundreds of women weavers have
emerged as the main breadwinners in their families.
Most of the weavers say they received relief and building materials
for their homes from foreign and local NGOs and private groups, but none
from the government, possibly because of their remote location.
But theirs is a rare story of hope in the region’s rural economy,
which was mainly dependent on the coconut groves destroyed by the storm.
In a country where about one in four people lived below the poverty
line at the beginning of last year, Haiyan drove another 1.5 million
Filipinos into the extreme hardship of living on less than $1 a day.
The U.N.’s International Labor Organization (ILO) says nearly 6
million lost their jobs immediately after the typhoon – mostly
retailers, service crew, coconut farmers, fishermen.
Most of those from the 44 worst-hit provinces in the centre of the country decry the government’s relief effort.
Data from the U.N. humanitarian team working in the disaster areas
shows that more than half of the 1.05 million houses damaged by Haiyan
remained totally destroyed or unsafe as of July. The government
estimates it needs almost 170 billion pesos ($3.8 billion) to rebuild
all Haiyan-affected communities.
Some of the coconut farmers are now growing vegetables and have
livestock, while some fishermen have returned to the seas, albeit only
to shallow waters reachable by their unmotorized boats. But for most of
the typhoon victims, a more sustainable livelihood is still far from
sight.
“We’re seeing very good signs of recovery, but we’re not there yet,”
said Michel Rooijackers, deputy director for Philippine operations of
Save the Children, adding that recent studies show many of the poor
survivors “are just meeting their survival level, so they are getting
by, just getting by”.
Almost 25,000 people still live in tents, shelters and bunkhouses in
the hardest hit regions in central Philippines, including Tacloban City,
considered Haiyan’s ground zero as it accounted for almost half of the
death toll.
A year later, Samar’s women weavers stand out as being among the most resilient and industrious workers.
Weeks after the typhoon, aid organisations identified the weavers as
being critical in holding families together – both socially and as
primary income earners. They were given training and funding to optimise
their household standing.
Philippine fashion company Banago, whose bags and home accessories
are made from mats produced by Basey weavers, has doubled its workforce
since the storm to about 1,000 weavers. The Banago range is a top seller
at high-end retail stores such J. Crew, Anthropologie, Nordstrom and
Macy’s.
Haiyan washed away Banago’s entire production facilities in Basey,
but the company’s founder Renee Patron and her partners decided to
restart their business a few months after the disaster struck.
“The typhoon made the business more focused, and it also gave me the
opportunity to learn much more about the women … and how we can make
their lives better,” said Patron.
“We had the women rebuild their homes and after that we just tried to
get them back to work,” said the U.S.-based merchandiser and fashion
designer.
