SALISBURY charities are joining forces to help communities in the Philippines.

Volunteers from Serve On, Team Rubicon and Dentaid will be heading out to Mandaue, Cebu, this morning (Saturday, August 19).

Their mission will be focussed on Umapad Elementary School, a publicly funded school that provides education to a group known as “scavenger children”. These children live by recycling other people’s waste into money.

The city of Manduae is on the island of Cebu. It is a large city of around 365,000 with little funding for schooling for the poorest people within the city.

Large areas of slum-condition housing border its city limits with little or no opportunities for the young people there to progress away from poverty and into employment.

Umapad Elementary School services a slum area that has been devastated by earthquakes, large fires and damage from recent typhoon activity.

The buildings are mainly scrap materials and are easily the victim of any bad weather conditions.

The three charities will provide vital repairs to the school, support teachers with training and equipment and provide much needed dental care to the children.

Serve On, a highly-experienced search and rescue team based at Salisbury Fire Station, will work with local first responders and local support volunteers providing training.

Craig Elsdon, Serve On operations manager, said: “Serve On's aim is to provide additional training in search and rescue techniques to volunteer agencies out there and firefighters from the city of Cebu as well.”

 “It is great [to be helping the community of Cebu] that is what we’re all about," he added. “Hopefully we can make a difference.”

“There are lots of skills we can impart and lots we can learn. Everyone benefits on lots of levels.”

Firefighter Nick Borritt, who is from Salisbury and works for Dorset Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS), is part of the Serve On team and will also be able to share not only his search and rescue skills but also his firefighting expertise.

This is his first deployment overseas with Serve On, which he says has been made possible with support from DWFRS.

Two of Serve On’s Rescue Rookies, students Jazz Williams, 16, and Ethan Elsdon, 15, are also part of the team and will be helping teach English and will be working with students at the University of Cebu.

The pair are looking forward to putting their skills into action.

Jazz said: “I’m looking forward to getting out there and helping and being useful.”

Team Rubicon UK volunteer Gordon Wills has been heavily involved in the planning of the deployment and says he is really excited to be joining together with Serve On and Dentaid.

He said: “Everyone has got the desire to get stuff done and be the best they can be and deliver the best service they can.”

Team Rubicon UK will be helping to rebuild classrooms, which Gordon hopes will give the children a “better start” and ensure they can have an education that will help improve their lives.

Landford-based charity Dentaid, will provide a dental treatment centre for the children and their families.

Mark Inman is part of a team of four who will provide a dental treatment centre for the children and their families.

He says he is “looking forward” to the challenge to “try and help make a difference to children in need.”

“Dentaid’s mission is to reach those with no access to dental care. We hope to do oral health education at the school and give them all tooth brushes and tooth paste. We want to train the teachers as well to do regular oral health education.”

The volunteers out in the field will be supported by a team of volunteers and interns who will be manning the Mission Hub at Team Rubicon's HQ in Chilmark. They will be able to help with research, communications and will keep a close eye on the situation in Cebu.

Dan Cooke, Team Rubicon UK operations manager, said: “One of the big things is the impact we are going to deliver collaboratively.

“It is always more successful if it is a collaborative effort.”