Typhoon Rai has ravaged The Philippines, with winds of 195km/h (120mph) it has devastated large parts of the country. Our schools in Cebu, which combined have 3964 students, have been badly damaged by the typhoon with significant destruction of the windows and roofs. Thankfully none of the students, staff or sisters at the school have been hurt. Sister Eva describes what it is like on the ground at the Boys School in Cebu.

"As much as we prepared for Typhoon Rai-Odette, it was very fierce the whole night. It was a night with electricity out, with all of us not sleeping. The boys had to move to corridors and classrooms to avoid getting wet and carried by the wind. The sisters and graduates stayed huddled with the children until morning ... Damage is everywhere but still, we are grateful because everyone is safe. Our boys are very good, they cooperated and they are all helping to clean. The sisters are all well and very busy with children. We still consider ourselves blessed because outside, people are in a difficult situation including our employees because of loss of electricity, there is no water, only a few stores are open."

Damage at the school remains considerable, with the roof ripped from classrooms and the school medical clinic badly damaged. The boys at the school report that "the landscape spectacle of the school went from being beautiful to being torn and disrupted."

We urgently need your help to restore the educational facilities at our school in Cebu and help with the clean up and repair.

Can you please support us with a donation to cover these costs and keep our children safe?