(News Feature) Playground seen to build resilience among Tacloban kids

TACLOBAN CITY Nov. 10 (PNA) -- International non-government organization World Vision eyes continuing recovery of children from scars of supertyphoon Yolanda with the completion of a new park and playground in this city.

“This was a priority project because when we conducted an assessment of children here in Tacloban, we found out that there’s no safe place for kids to play,” said Luz Mendoza, World Vision city engagement officer.

The park and playground has opened on Tuesday at Tacloban City Astrodome ground, beside the Yolanda Memorial. The opening was in time with the 3rd year anniversary of the deadly storm that battered central Philippines.

Construction of PHP15 million project has started on August 2016 and ended a week before the commemoration. The project serves as the centerpiece of World Vision’s Hope for Tacloban’s Children Project.

“This is a safe place for kids to play and learn at the same time,” Mendoza told PNA, adding that the essence of the playground is to build resiliency among children.

Genalyn Macawile, 48, who brought her grandchildren to the park on Wednesday night, thanked the World Vision for building the park. “It’s good that there is place like this in Tacloban so that children won’t just sit down and watch television or play gadgets.”

World Vision is a child-focused organization that provides and assists the needs, rights and responsibilities of children through sustainable development and education.

During its rehabilitation phase, World Vision’s post-Yolanda response was able to support more than 84,000 people–building disaster risk reduction capacity and livelihood support that open up more opportunities for low-income families.

Overall, World Vision was able to reach more than 1.6 million people from emergency to rehabilitation phase in Yolanda-hit areas in the country. JMC/SQM/Yancy Marie Claridad (OJT)