Malaria, May 5 2012 — UN-Habitat organized a house building activity last May 05, 2012 in Camia community in partnership with Answering the Cry of the Poor (ANCOP). This is part of the collaborative efforts of BDO Foundation, UN-Habitat, BASF and ANCOP to provide decent homes to 31 households displaced to a staging area in Barangay Malaria after their old houses were destroyed by typhoon Ondoy in 2009.  Twenty-four volunteers came to Malaria, Caloocan City to support the ANCOP Camia community members who are finishing the last batch of houses that will be turned over to the beneficiary families by the end of May 2012. Staff of UN-Habitat, UNAIDS, IOM and DTI with their family members and friends painted house interiors, assisted in setting hollow blocks and plastered interior walls.

For the volunteers, this activity gave them the opportunity to contribute to society and to learn from the experience. IOM volunteers, who were used to doing general office work, administrative or finance tasks, although indirectly involved in community assistance through their agency, had the chance to actually build houses and support communities just like their field personnel. An UNAIDS staff considered the activity as a character-building opportunity for his sons to learn the value of helpfulness and concern for others. In the end, everyone went home tired but content knowing that with the house build, lives were built—both for those who were helped and those who lent their hands and heart to fulfill other people’s dreams.