How are you? Well, me? Just got up, so I'm a lil bit sleepy.
Anyway, today's topic is when I went to Bantayan Island for a special mission.
Honestly, I was working on this day.
It happens way back February 1. It was supposed to be my day off but
due to request and my willingness to join the cause, I went to Bantayan Island
to share my support.
I was the interpreter of a certain NGO in Japan who supports, aid people
who suffers from calamity. I won't disclose the organization name, but
I will share you why this group was established.
Way back 1995, the largest and tremendous earthquake in Japan devastated Kobe.
From then, this organization was established. Also, they received a lot of help
from different countries at that time, including the 2011 Japan earthquake, so
they want to extend their gratitude by providing aid to the countries who are
devastated by natural calamities to name a few, earthquakes, typhoons and etc.
So, they asked me to be the medium of my people. Even though, Filipinos can
speak English, they can only express a few words and it's hard for non-native speakers
to communicate with them. So, this is my job to do.
Hence, we went to Bantayan Island to conduct investigation. More on, surveying the place
who are in need of help. Most of the people living there are poor. Yes, there are some
rich but most of them are foreigners owning a resort and other business.
The victims of Yolanda (aka Haiyan) lost a lot of their livelihood and are desperately
reaching for help. Most of the townspeople are fishermen and their boats are destroyed by the strong winds. Some are flown away and most of them were crushed when the coconut tree fell down.
Now, without their boats they can't fish and without fish they can't earn money. Thus, can't provide food and other "hierarchy of needs" in their respective families.
Of course they're also in need of housing or shelter, they're temporarily living in a tent provided by some NGO groups. But the cold night/ hot sunny day can't protect them from being sick, worst, die.
Also, due to desperate needs of having a home to live in and to buy a boat, they went to the bank for financial support, for housing and for the materials needed for their boat in order to fish (because that's the only job they know best). And you know how hard it is to ask money from the bank. The interests and the modes of payment is toxic. According to them, they need to pay around 400 a day. Do you actually think they can earn 400 pesos a day (P45 = $1, do the math) with that job and to think they need to buy their daily needs such as rice, milk and etc.
And most families have a minimum of 2 kids and a maximum of 12-13.
The person I've interviewed for example have at least 12 kids!
O.M.G
It's heartbreaking when you know you can't do something about it and our government is very slow in providing help from the victims. I've also heard that due to Typhoon Yolanda, the victims of magnitude 7.2 in Bohol were also forgotten and never received any aid.
Anyway, Filipinos are tough. Even in crucial time we can still laugh and smile.
I pray that everything will be okay and eventually fall into place...
TTFN~
-maru
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