My grandmother died the day before Typhoon Yolanda and I consider her a pre-casualty. The news of “the strongest typhoon in world history” sent panic to my grandmother’s 70-year old heart which sadly led to cardiac arrest. Typhoon Yolanda swept through central Philippines on November 8 which resulted to thousands of lost lives and properties. Antique, the province where my grandmother lived, was along the path of the typhoon and also suffered from the brunt of Yolanda.
As I planned my trip for my grandmother’s funeral, a thought came to me, “Why only bury the dead when you can also help the living live?” So I went to look for opportunities to help. I coordinated with Oplan Dagyaw, a group who already has relief ground work going on in Antique. Through them I was given items that I can ask for from friends who want to help. Most of what I received were from friends and True Love Waits Philippines who helped fill and exceeded my 30kg baggage allowance–which is a pretty good problem! The area of relief that I joined in with Oplan Dagyaw was Malalison Island, Culasi, Antique where we served around 135 families.
Please continue to pray for help to come especially in assisting these people rebuild their homes and lives.
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Post by Christin Alvarez. In November 21-26, Christin went to Panay Island to visit provinces of Antique and Capiz to help distribute relief goods and also to survey damages made by Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan. As she observed in her travel back and forth Culasi, Antique and Roxas, Capiz, there is still a need for relief packages in the next weeks, but a greater and more immediate need is for people’s homes to be restored as they start anew.
