Villa Pag-Asa, Piat City

Since Typhoon Ondoy struck the Philippines in 2009, Kaloob, the NGO established by the Assumptionists to aid victims of natural catastrophes, has been working in the city of Piat to build houses, provide micro-financing to residents so that they can launch small businesses to earn a living for their families, and provide university scholarships to a limited number of promising, but poor, students in the city.

This past year, after months in the planning, Kaloob initiated a new project entitled: Water for Villa Pag-Asa. It was created this past August in partnership with Piat mayor's office which requested that Kaloob concentrate its efforts on the town's refugees displaced from the river-bank because of flooding during the typhoon period. This project will help 100 families. It was recently completed, in March, in partnership with the mayor's office and the French student association RES’eau.

The Kaloob foundation was created by the Augustinians of the Assumption in 2007, just after their arrival in the Philippines. Kaloob's objectives are to help the Philippines in these areas:
- organizing educational and recreational activities for youth in some of Manila's squatter areas;
- coming to the assistance of typhoon victims;
- granting university scholarship aid to students in rural areas;
- providing learning training formation for Chinese leaders studying in the Philippines.

Representatives from the mayor's office along with Kaloob volunteer, Rémy Morand (second from right)

The town of Piat is the smallest and poorest city in the Cagayan Valley with a population of 20,000 in the Cagayan Valley region.The local economy depends on three resources: tourism (in fact the city welcomes every weekend thousands of pilgrims who come to pray to "Our Lady of Piat"); agriculture, especially cereals like corn and rice; a college, CSU, that educates about 1000 students.

Recently constructed water tower in Piat; Piat home, and young project 'helper'

Every year, the town of Piat is battered by many typhoons and one of the first effects is the damage caused by river flooding, often destroying homes and endangering the local water supply.

Kaloob is also involved in the city of Tacloban, an eastern city also severely affected by typhoons, which Pope Francis visited during his recent trip to the Philippines. As a matter of fact, four Assumptionist brothers accompanied five incoming postulants from April 16 to 28 this year to spend time building houses and offering catechesis and games to local children.

Anyone interested in contributing to the efforts of Kaloob is asked to refer to the following information: