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Mission: Philippines 2010

Project Good Samaritan: Kibungan

Kibungan on a better day during Mission: Philippines 2009.

Diane Domes, a government worker in Kibungan who has assisted Climbing For Christ on our ministry to the people in the mountainous Benguet Province in Luzon, had to fly to Baguio City by helicopter in the aftermath of typhoons Ketsana and Parma (known in the Philippines as Ondoy and Pepeng, respectively).

“Kibungan is isolated due to numerous landslides,” C4C Philippines coordinator Ace Concordia reported after getting a phone call from Diane on Oct. 14. Dozens of landslides have killed at least 120 people in the Benguet Province along the Cordillera mountain range.

While she was there, Ace felt a “deep burden” to check on the people of Kibungan. He called Diane. “Sir,” she told him, “we lack supplies of rice, gas, candles, and there are no more available groceries and canned goods.”

With this news, Climbing For Christ turned Project Good Samaritan in Manila into a two-pronged relief effort. Ace wired Php30,000 (U.S.$645) to Diane to aid our friends in Kibungan. Kibungan is a municipality with a population of 15,036 people in 2,949 households, according to a 2000 census. Barangays (villages) in Kibungan include Tacadang (population 2,213), Badeo (819), Palina (1,408), and Poblacion (2,391).

“Please allow me to express our deepest concern for Tacadang and Kibungan in the aftermath of the recent storms,” Ace told Diane. “Climbing For Christ has always considered Kibungan as the prime mission field, where the Lord wants us to become a blessing. In light of this, we would like to help the current relief efforts that we know will be needed in Kibungan and Tacadang.”

Diane listening to a sharing of the Gospel by members of Climbing For Christ in the village of Tacadang during Mission: Philippines 2008.

Diane told Ace the funds would be used “to help those affected families by landslide; others would be used to purchase additional relief goods.”

“Thank you, sir, and the whole C4C organization,” Diane wrote. “God bless you a thousand-fold.”

Project Good Samaritan has provided Php76,295 (U.S.$1,635) so far. Climbing For Christ sent U.S.$1,662 from the United States on Oct. 9. An additional U.S.$1,100 will be sent the week of Oct. 19.

Anyone moved to help Project Good Samaritan in Metro Manila and the municipality of Kibungan, can contribute to Climbing For Christ. Please pray for these ongoing relief efforts.

The municipality of Kibungan is located in the province of Benguet on the northern Philippine island of Luzon about 125 miles north of Manila. Benguet was hardest hit by typhoon Parma.