The region around Tacloban (including Basey) was massively destroyed when Taifun Yolanda (Haiyan) hit the Philippines in 2013. Many organizations helped in the first months after the disaster, especially with food, clothing and housing. The problem was that with the storm also peoples work had gone, the fish farms were destroyed, harvesting was not possible anymore as all the trees and plants had been damaged during the storm and therefore people were ruined and left with nothing. One organisation had the idea to support at least the region of Basey financially with a project supporting the weaving women of Basey so they can continue to produce and sell their baskets.

The grass used is called Ticog and as grass grows rather fast, it was available again even shortly after the storm. Funny enough the caves where the baskets are woven saved some of the families as they are also good shelter in storms. Now, three years after the storm the women have a little shop in Tacgloban and started relying on their income from weaving, sending their kids to school and building small huts. As in the Basey region there is only a limited number of demand for woven products, we are supporting the tribes to sell their products in Europe as a livelihood project.

The baskets come in all type of variations and colours (even smart phone covers and laptop bags) and are handmade natural products. With regards to the organic trend in Europe it is a good time to supply that demand with products from the Philippines. The women are paid a very fair price for their produce and we try to maintain a sustainable production, as we want to keep it small and individually crafted. If we make a gain out of the Sale, profits are contributed to one of the other projects for example the Teaching in Malate project.