Unwelcome Visitors

It was just a year ago when typhoon Sendong hit the southern part of the Philippines that claimed a thousand or so lives and now another one tragedy down south again just weeks before Christmas.

I can feel the way those people felt each time I see the news on tv.  Sometimes I don’t even want to watch the news anymore because it’s just so heartbreaking to see them that way.  I’ve experience being able to leave the house in the middle of the night, walking in the rain and strong wind carrying nothing but ourselves in a place we believed to be secure with our lives.  We used to live in place somewhere in Cainta where flood expected to happen when heavy rain comes. As a child, I recalled several times we had to clean up the entire house that was so full of mud and I had to wear bigger clothes because that was all that’s left by the flood.   We were not able to keep even our old family pictures because our house then was small, no second floor and made mostly of wood. I could say na sanay na ako sa baha, but back in those days, I never heard of a neighbor or anyone who died during the typhoon, so we were used to it and not be afraid.  But times have changed and so with the climate. 

When Ondoy hit in September 2009, I was there in Marikina and witnessed how the entire place looked like when the flood started to subside. I felt horrified seeing the very familiar place yet looked so strange to me. That typhoon made me realize a lot of things. I’m sure to a lot of people not only in this city but to almost everyone as well.

Now, our country has just lost some four hundred or so lives and left hundreds of thousands homeless again by this very unwelcome visitor named Pablo.  If we can help, please don’t think twice to do so. If you have nothing material to share, our prayers for them are as important. It’s about time.