by Angel Villafuerte

Empowerment houses for women and children with disabilities are the facilities involved in the pilot project for major renovation and concern for urgent change of asbestos roofing of TWH structures. Empowerment house 1 was sponsored by the Archdiocese of Manila through the Diocese of Antipolo while empowerment house 2 was sponsored by the Australian Embassy through its Direct Aid Program.

These are multi-purpose facilities presently being used by children and women PWDs for various activities. They have wheelchair friendly/accessible quarters with comfort rooms, small kitchens and spacious areas for various activities for education, health services, spiritual growth and for livelihood including handicraft, needlecraft/woodcraft, item packaging, computer encoding, medical transcription and business processing activities.

The renovation/improvement addressed the existing physical conditions of the almost 45 year-old facilities that pose health risks to residents and users. Structural challenges included; clogged water pipes and drainage contributing to sanitation issues, faded wall paint and broken tiles, and most importantly, worn-out and pulverizing asbestos roofing. Beneficiaries of the project are our special children with both physical and learning disabilities, women with disabilities and PWDs in general. Other partners involved in this project were AFP Civil Relations Office, SM Supermalls through the office of PWD affairs, DoloMatrix Phils. Inc. and Engr. Roriel Deleon. we are indeed very grateful for the grant assistance for this project!

Note: Angel is the Strategy Research and Planning Director of TWHI.