22 November 2013
In makeshift shelters in Metro Manila where survivors of typhoon Yolanda are temporarily housed, teams of TESDA Specialistas have come in armed with scissors, powder and calming oil.
Amid the burden of rehabilitating the ravaged provinces, empty stomachs to fill and bureaucratic tangles in the relief effort to unravel, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) brought in skilled haircutters and massage therapists to the shelter at Villamor Airbase in Pasay City to offer something that could help ease the lives of the survivors: haircut and massage.
"The free haircut and massage are complement to the most in-demand relief like food, water, and medicine," Secretary Joel Villanueva, TESDA director general, said.
"It gives us a chance to get an up-close look at the people stuck on the city's margins because of the calamity," he added.
Soon, TESDA, in coordination with private technical vocational institutions in the National Capital Region, would also be offering free skills and livelihood training to the people in the shelter to keep them busy and provide them opportunity to earn income.
"This is TESDA's way of pitching in help to the survivors of the typhoon as relief and rehabilitation continues. We have an army of trained specialistas who can provide the grooming services and livelihood training to help the families move on," Villanueva said.
A new trim, for instance, can give the survivors a new look and better feeling.
"Appearance matters. It helps people with their self-esteem. Feeling good about themselves after their grim experience in the province will give them a fresh start," the TESDA chief added.
TESDA has partnered with the Hortaleza Beauty Center, one of the country's leading retailer of health, beauty, personal, and home care products, for the free haircut and provision of some grooming and wellness supplies.
For the livelihood training, Villanueva said they plan to offer meat processing, home bread making and other short courses that can be an immediate source of income for the families.
The families housed at Villamor Airbase, who mostly came from Leyte and Samar provinces, have availed of the free ride through the government's cargo plane to get to Metro Manila. Many of them have lost their homes due to the November 8 typhoon that ravaged many areas in the Visayas region.
Local government units have also started building tent cities in their respective districts to accommodate the survivors, who still hope to return though to their hometown.
Villanueva has also been supervising the repacking of relief goods in Cebu to be brought to the affected areas.
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