St. Therese Educational Foundation of Tacloban Inc. or STEFTI is a private and Catholic school based in Tacloban City for pre-Elementary, Elementary and Secondary education run by Christian Catholic educators. The school was established in 2001, has 2 campuses and more than 2,100 students.
The school was severely damaged during the typhoon Haiyan that struck the Philippines in November 2013. Despite the damages to the building, measures were immediately taken by the Chairman and the Director of the school, Mr. and Mrs. Palami, to temporarily transform it into a centre for refugees, many of which teachers of the school, who had lost their houses.
During the first few days, the food and drink supplies in the school canteen made it possible to feed them. With the aid of the eldest son of the Palami family, Daniel Palami, convoys with food, drinking water and survival equipment were later brought in from Manila.
In the meantime, reconstruction works on the roof trusses and roofs have begun and they hope to resume school activities early February 2014. In order to house the 64 members of staff who have lost everything due to the typhoon, a prefabricated shelter with sleeping accommodations, sanitary facilities, a kitchen and common room are being built on the former soccer field of the school.
Further, with the aid of an American missionary a centre for the rehabilitation of the children will be set up. Several teams of psychologists will continue to provide the necessary psychological support for the survivors, many of whom have not yet overcome the trauma caused.
The situation in Tacloban is still dramatic. Thousands of people are still homeless or lack decent shelter, only 5% of the town has electricity, the hospitals are still not running on full capacity, media such as internet run poorly or not at all and prices for commodities are extremely high.