Like eight in every ten families in The Philippines, Josephine’s family has been affected by natural disaster. In one night, Josephine’s family lost their crops and livestock — everything they were depending on to get through the months ahead.
But this wasn’t a one-off event. Josephine would then experience another three natural disasters in the following five years.
“This January we haven’t had any rain… I was unable to harvest anything. The weather has become erratic. Last year it rained too much all the time and now this year we are experiencing a drought,” said Josephine.
The Philippines, an already poor nation, is struggling to cope with increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather.
With 20 — 25 typhoons every year, entire communities are spending their lives recovering from one disaster while trying to survive the next. The toll is devastating for families like Josephine’s — with no crops to eat or sell, the family will go hungry.
“It’s painful to see my crops fail. It makes my heart ache as I invest so much of my time and money into my farm and then it all dies… I don’t earn enough to cope at the moment.” said Josephine.
Oxfam has been working in The Philippines since 1987, but with a changing climate and extreme weather, the work is more important than ever.
We assist women like Josephine with training in sustainable gardening so they can continue to grow food in a challenging environment, ensuring they can feed their families and earn an income.
With your support we can also provide weather alert systems that ensure early evacuation, infrastructure improvements to reduce the scale of devastation and first aid kits that help save lives in a disaster.
Please donate today to help families like Josephine’s protect themselves from disaster
