Livelihood skills trainings will be offered to victims of tropical storm Sendong in Dumaguete City to boost their income generation, Fr. Burton Villarmente, Social Action Center director of the Diocese of Dumaguete, said yesterday.

Initially, the trainings will include sewing/dressmaking, and call center operations, in cooperation with the provincial Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, for typhoon victims who have relocated at the Caritas Village Shelter project in Barangay Bajumpandan, Dumaguete City.

The housing project, co-funded by the Catholic Church and the Dumaguete government, has two phases with 150 total housing units.

Phase I with 58 units was completed last December and turned over to the beneficiary families, while 30 units were completed and 62 others under construction in the Phase II site, Villarmente said.

He added there are 12 sewing machines at the model house in Phase I, with classes held once a week. Once the trainees have completed the course, TESDA will assist in finding a market for them, the priest said.

Those interested in call center operations may contact the TESDA for training, he added.

The Caritas project in Dumaguete has gained recognition for being the first successful joint endeavor of the Church and a local government unit in providing free housing for typhoon victims.

Launched May 2012, the shelter units are funded by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action, and the Caritas and implemented by the Diocese of Dumaguete and its SAC.

As counterpart, the Dumaguete City government, headed by Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria, had provided for the lots for the two relocation sites, both in Bajumpandan.

Beneficiaries undergo strict screening and are required to complete 14 sessions on values formation initiated by the Church.

“We are not just building houses here, but homes and a Christian community,” Villarmente said.*JFP

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