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SINGAPORE The Archdiocesan Crisis Coordination Team (ACCT) reported that it has committed S$1,101,720 of the S$1,500,168 tsunami aid fund collected by the church in Singapore, and mobilized volunteers for some of the projects funded. ACCT was set up by Archbishop Nicholas Chia in January 2005 to coordinate the response of the Singapore Archdiocese to the tsunami crisis.
JY Pillay, chairman of the Grants Committee of ACCT shared with Catholic News that accountability, transparency and impact were uppermost in our minds when the committee evaluated project requests. The committee gave priority to projects that will most effectively help with the rehabilitation and training of deserving victims and that will provide opportunities to rebuild their lives. It focused on areas where other aid was less forthcoming, where NGOs and government agencies were not present or less so. It also ensured that the recipients of the funds were credible organizations and individuals who are able to deliver and account for the use of funds. Several of the recipients are Singapore-based Catholic organizations working with local counterparts in the affected countries.
The first organization to receive funding was the Catholic Medical Guild (CMG) which is working with Perdahki Jakarta to effect a healthcare plan for Aceh costing $207,400. CMG has been sending volunteers and medical supplies to Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Dr. John Lee of CMG said he is grateful for the support of ACCT. With the partial funding of S$64,400 from ACCT, we were able to get the remaining funding of S$143,000 from the Singapore Red Cross which had a much larger fund of over $80m available. The CMG is currently exploring building a hospital in Nias.
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Another recipient is The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), which had been working with displaced persons in the affected countries before the crisis. The tsunami significantly increased the demand and workload on their centres in those countries. Father Charles Sim, SJ, of JRS Singapore explained that they visited their counterparts in Indonesia and Sri Lanka to identify the most impactful programmes for the tsunami victims. JRS Sri Lanka developed a comprehensive proposal for the orphans, widows and fishermen affected by the disaster, and four projects, including the building of an orphanage costing S$433,620 are being funded. “Most of these projects, such as the income generating projects, tailoring and tuition centres are established to enable them to learn how to fish for themselves as against giving them a fish,” he added.
JRS Indonesia is currently working on a programme to rehabilitate three villages, which involves the building of homes for 300 families and providing fishing boats for the victims in Pulo Aceh. This will cost S$1.6 million, and the ACCT has agreed to make a contribution of $270,000. JRS will be seeking the additional funding from other sources. ACCT has not focused exclusively on Catholic-based organizations. It is also funding Tomorrow’s Hope and Habitat for Humanity, two Christian-based organizations involved in tsunami work. Tomorrow’s Hope is setting up orphanages and schools on Nias island, which was devastated by the tsunami and a subsequent earthquake. The majority of the people on this Indonesian island are Christians, with a quarter of the population being Catholics.
Habitat for Humanity has a programme for building houses for the poor. It is launching a US$10 million programme, which is 80% funded by the Red Cross, to build 3,000 houses for tsunami victims. Its houses are built jointly by volunteers and the owners.
“‘Beyond providing some funding for the construction material costs of the houses’ said Mr Pillay, “this programme allows us to mobilize the many Catholics who have volunteered to help out in the tsunami (aftermath).” He pointed out that the use of volunteers from Singapore is one of the criteria that the committee used and most of the other projects funded have need of volunteers.
For the Habitat programme, three initial teams of 12-13 volunteers each will be going to build houses in Galle, Sri Lanka in July and August. Anyone with queries or who wants to volunteer with ACCT should write to ACCT.volunteers@gmail.com.
Regarding volunteers, ACCT Convenor Willie Cheng, said, In addition to allocating monetary resources, there were a number of people who wanted to be involved personally. However, what was needed were personnel with language skills, disaster relief skills and medical skills, so it was difficult to place willing, but unskilled personnel. On the allocation of funds, Mr Cheng said, “Home is the basic necessity of life. Thus pitching in to rebuild homes is an important step to helping the tsunami victims rebuild their lives.” Each of the three teams to Sri Lanka will be there for about a week.
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