Wawandue Landslide part 2

After sharing the story of the landslide victims on facebook, I was amazed by the response. Donations started to come in to help these dear families.  After facing the tragedy of losing their children, parents and siblings, they were faced with the reality that they had also lost their homes and their every possession.

The amazing thing about the Filipino people, is their resilience.  When facing overwhelming obstacles, they have this wonderful ability to be thankful for the blessings they have, rather than focusing on their personal loss.  

We went to visit and distribute food parcels to the 40+ families from the landslide area who had been evacuated and they were living on the concrete steps in a disused indoor basketball arena. But unlike the evacuation centres for the typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) victims, there were no donated mattresses, blankets, clothes or food, no foreigners visiting and no TV cameras.
  
Among the evacuees was Rolly and his family, who had lost their 3 sons in the landslide.  They had a few pots and pans that friends had lent them and they slept on cardboard boxes and a blanket given by their neighbour.  

The evacuees told me that the mayor had promised them land so that they can start to rebuild their homes, but the days had turned to weeks and even months.  Then one evacuee told me that she had heard that the land will be given after the New Year.

Rolly, Orpah and 2 of their 3 girls

As soon as funds came in I made an appointment to speak to with the mayor.  I thought that I would be able to persuade the him to hurry along with donating land if he knew that I was going to build them a homes.

It took a couple of weeks to get an appointment, but as soon as I received the text to say he was in the office, I quickly dropped everything made my way there (hence the not so appropriate dress code in the photo below!!).

When I told the mayor my plan to build homes, he wanted me to help all 21 families that were still the evacuation centre.  I had to explain that my budget would not be much use when divided by 21, but that we could at least provide homes for the 3 families who lost their loved ones.  I told him that I hoped to get them moved in time for Christmas.

He was very appreciative and very helpful. He told me that I along with the could go with his staff the following morning and each of the 3 families would be given a small plot of land in Wea (a resettlement village in the hills of Subic).

With Mayor Jhay Khonghun 

We went immediately to give the 3 families the good news and to invite them to join us when we went to see the location mayor was offering them.

Though it must have sounded like a dream come true, I knew that there would be some drawbacks. 

As we went to the location, it was a very long walk!!   We had to cross a small stream because the rain had destroyed the footbridge and the road behind it.

this little brook is the nearest water source for all the villagers.

The man in the posh outfit was sent by mayor to assess the damage. 

He has promised the residents that the bridge and road will soon be replaced

From the brook there was quite an uphill hike to their plots.

View from the donated land

The nearest water source is at the bottom of the hill 

and has to be carried up by hand

Whilst their new homes will be quite out of the way, really hard to get building materials to and quite far from the nearest water source, there is electricity, which means that in time they can improve and possibly drill for water etc.  I thought they would be discouraged with the "out of the way" location, especially as Jomar is a fisherman and needs to get to the sea for his work, but they were so grateful and really elated that they should have a chance again of having their own homes.

One of our workers said to Rolly's wife Orpah, "So you will have a nice Christmas!" tears filled her eyes.  How can there possibly be a "nice" Christmas?  She sobbed as she thought of Christmas without her 3 precious sons.  Nevertheless, she was very grateful for a new start.

They were all so excited it took just two days to get the buildings underway.  Young men in the neighbourhood were grateful for the extra jobs of carrying materials to the site.  Within just a few weeks, the houses were almost built.

The Ytac family home built by neighbours in Wea

Rolly is in the building trade and enjoyed building his own home

POC workers built the home for Donnalyn who lost her 

father, step mother and 4 siblings in the landslide

The houses are now almost finished and the families are excited to move in.

To think I almost didn't get involved with these dear people because I had no money to give!!  Now they are attending church at POCF.  

We at POCM wish to thank all those who gave and helped make this possible.  God Bless you!!

We couldn't build for all the 21 displaced families, but we could make a difference for these 3 families.  How I wish we could do more!!!

Of course since we started this project, there has been another terrible disaster through the strongest typhoon to ever hit land.  Now we are busy trying to at least reach out and help a few.

Follow our trip to Cebu and Leyte to the typhoon hit areas in my next blog

Wawandue Landslide part 1

Every year the Philippines is hit by 20-30 typhoons and it's just something we learn to live with here.  Usually there is ample warning as to when the storm will arrive, what its intensity will be and  which areas will bear the brunt of it.  So we pump water, buy candles and canned food in preparation of the power cuts.  

There is usually only one or two typhoons a year that will cause severe floods, damage and possibly loss of life due to drowning.  

This disaster however, was not due to a typhoon, but rather due to monsoon rains, so there was no warning.  It also occurred in the early hours of the morning when most people were still enjoying their sleep in the cooler rainy season weather.

On August 21 Typhoon "Maring" caused floods and devastation throughout our region and Manila but the worst was yet to be.

Heavy monsoon rains fell throughout the night and early morning of September 23 in the Zambales area.  As people slept soundly they were unaware of the danger they were in. Landslides claimed the lives of 33 throughout the province.

When we heard the news that 11 had died in a landslide in Wawandue, we went to check that all the kids who were part of our "Shine" children's club from that village were safe.  We were devastated to learn that 9 of the 11 victims were children and all 9 were "Shine" kids.

The Cuanan family (husband, wife, 3 daughters and 1 son) were all buried alive while they slept.
Daughter Donalyn who was working in Manila survived alone.

Rolly Ejorcada Managed to save his wife, 3 daughters  (including his baby just a few months old) but by the time he got them to safety it was too late to save his boys.  All 3 sons (ages 4, 6 and 8) perished.

It was 6 o'clock in the morning and Jomar Ytac had just stepped out of the house.  All three children had been in the bedroom but the boys were teasing their toddler sister.  She had just run into the arms of her mother, when suddenly they were being buried alive.

As Jomar responded immediately trying to dig out his wife and baby with his bare hands, he could hear his sons (8 and 12) crying out for help.

I remember when my children were small and we had a strong earthquake.  My first thought was "Which of my my 5 children do I save first?"  It's a terrible dilemma and a terrible reality. I  tended to think of rescuing the youngest first simply because they are the most vulnerable and helpless, but nevertheless, it's still a terrible dilemma to face.

By the time Jomar got his wife and baby out, it was too late for the two boys.

                                                     

After not many minutes the rescue mission turned to a recovery mission and 11 bodies were recovered from the site.

                                         Volunteers desperately search for the missing

                                 candles burn on the site where the 11 dear ones perished 


I really felt so desperately sorry for these families.  The first time we met was at the funeral home where the 11 open caskets were displayed.  What help could I offer them?

At first I thought not to approach them.  After all I am "White" and they may think I am rich, and at the time we were struggling to provide for the 80+ children in our POC Children's Homes.  I almost talked myself out of reaching out to them, just thinking that I had nothing to offer them financially.  But as I looked at their faces, a picture of hopelessness and despair, I knew that I needed to reach out to them if only with some love and care.

It is amazing what caring sentiments can do for people in their hour of need.  Friends, it really costs nothing to reach out and offer a few minutes of your time to show someone you care.

I approached Donna first.  She is the beautiful young girl who lost her whole family.  I told her that whilst I had no money to offer help, I told her that we were there for her if she needed us and  I asked if she would like us to do a memorial service in remembrance of her family.  Her face lit up and she smiled and thanked us for our help.   Rolly and Jomar also wanted us to include their children in the memorial service too. 

                           "Shine" team comfort bereaved children as they remember their friends

We had a wonderful memorial service, as many POCF and "Shine" members came to offer their love and condolences.  

It was wonderful to see how the bereaved were uplifted just to know that people cared, but I wanted to be able to do so much more.

And so we did..... 
Find out what happened in my next blog