LEYTE – Filipino singer and band vocalist Rico Blanco has visited his home province Leyte and performed in the town of Dulag where a huge crowd gathered to hear him sing. Thanks to Save the Children which brought Blanco to Leyte.
He also greeted over 4,000 people, who were victims of typhoon Haiyan that ravaged Leyte and other areas in central Philippines in November.
Blanco spread key hygiene promotion messages when he visited Save the Children work in Dulag. He had written a special hygiene jingle for the occasion – singing his hand-washing messages to the excited crowd that had assembled in a damaged church for the concert. As he played the song, children selected from the crowd demonstrated hand-washing techniques to children and their mothers.
Save the Children is working with some of the hardest hit communities in Eastern Leyte to support families with life-saving water, sanitation and hygiene supplies.
Blanco accompanied Save the Children emergency teams to the village of Cabacungan where he met with many families who have lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods due to Haiyan.
In Dulag alone, some 453 houses were totally destroyed as Haiyan ripped through the area. Many wells and washing facilities were also left flooded or damaged and Save the Children has been trucking clean water, delivering hygiene kits, including buckets, soap and water purification tablets and constructing latrines.
“Save the Children was honored to host Rico Blanco in Dulag – bringing hope to children this New Year and spreading hygiene messages are so important right now, as Leyte continues to rise again after the devastation caused by Yolanda,” Save the Children Country Director, Ned Olney, said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
One mother, Lisa, from the village of Cabacungan, praised the Save the Children for its humanitarian works in the province and for bringing Blanco to perform in the town. “Thank you Save the Children for hosting this concert here – it has really lifted our spirits. Everything here was ruined but my new year’s message is this – we survived Haiyan.”
Save the Children has been working in the Philippines since 1981, responding to dozens of emergencies across the country. The aid agency mounted large-scale emergency responses to Typhoon Washi in 2011, Typhoon Bopha and Manila floods last year and most recently to Typhoon Nari in October.
It has been on the ground before typhoon Haiyan hit, assessing the water, hygiene and sanitation needs of children.
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