TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 31 (PNA) –- The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) broke the ground on Sunday for its new training center in this city, funded by the Royal Charity Organization (RCO) of Bahrain.
Leading the groundbreaking rites are RCO of the Kingdom of Bahrain Secretary General Dr. Mustafa Al Sayyed, PRC Governor Andrew Nohon, representing Chairman Richard Gordon.
The facility, which will be completed after six to eight months, will offer trainings on carpentry, wielding, cooking, hospitality services and other in-demand skills.
Nohon said constructing the two-storey building with a floor area of 330 square meters will cost USD200,000 or roughly PHP8 million.
“We do not have much money to build a training facility. We just rely on donations to realize this project,” Nohon added.
In his speech, Sayyed expressed gratitude for the opportunity to help the people of Tacloban and thank the young PRC volunteers.
“Saving one life is like saving the whole humanity,” Al Sayyed said in his brief remarks during the groundbreaking rites.
In a statement issued earlier, Sayyed said that the joint aid effort in Tacloban flowed out of the good relations between the Philippines and Bahrain. It is in response to the unfortunate event of super typhoon Yolanda that hit the Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013.
Sayyed noted that RCO “made an immediate response, to send aid, and support when he heard of what happened in the Philippines.”
Building the training center is just one of the post-Yolanda recovery projects committed by the Royal Charity during the signing ceremony held in Subic Freeport with PRC Chairman Gordon in February 2014.
The RCO was established by M King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa in July, 14, 2001 for the purpose of caring for the Bahraini orphans coming from eligible families, according to the organization’s website. (PNA)