My Family is Safe, Thank God!

I posted this picture here as a sign of promise and hope for our kababayans who went through the emotional trauma from the severe beating and pounding of the brutal typhoon Reming (Durian).


I finally heard from my brothers on December 6, 2006, six days after the typhoon Reming ravaged our poor island of Catanduanes. He probably felt how anxious and worried I was to hear from them so he took his tricycle and bravely traversed the road to Viga despite of the uncertainty and perils that lay ahead of him for three hours one way, thus, incurring 6 hours total travel time. That is a lot of traveling just to get in touch with his sister and relatives in Manila.

The first thing he said was my house in P is okay sustaining only minor damage and could be easily fixed. Thank God! Next thing he told me was that they were okay except that one of my brothers lost his house completely. I expected it to happen though, initially, I was in denial hoping that a miracle would happen and spare the house. I wonder how he felt about losing his house. Still in shock, he must be devastated and feeling helpless thinking of how and where he will get the resources to rebuild his house. All sources of livelihood perished, and the whole situation is in chaos waiting for it to go through its course. I felt so sorry for him. Even though I don't particularly like this brother of mine because of things that he does which I will not elaborate here, but I will try my best to help him financially to reconstruct his house with help from my dear friends and relatives. I am not made up of money myself but with God's help, I am positive that I can make it happen. A studio type concrete house will suffice, something that will withstand typhoon repeatedly.

I scheduled a benefit concert in our community featuring my daughter who will be signing her original songs for the benefit of my brother and poor relatives in my barrio on December 23, 2006; http://diveintoblue.com/. There are about 20 families in my barrio living below the poverty line, deeply in need of food. I am unsure if the rations that are being sent to Virac ever reach the far flung barrios. There are no reports that said so.

In addition, I am planning to send vegetable seeds like pechay, talong, long beans, and bittermelon (if I can find bittermelon seeds here) ASAP. My Japanese friend is starting to procure dry goods such as legumes, etc to bring along when she travels with me to Catanduanes for the first time early next year. She is a good-hearted woman and resembles Mother Theresa. She wants to do humanitarian acts instead of relaxing and enjoying her vacation. That is nice of her. She is aware that our poeple need all the help they can get to recover. The government aid, if ever there is any reaching our place, will quit after sometime and so they need to plow that soil now and start planting though there is no guarantee that the typhoon will not come at least for the time being.

Hope, you, too, are doing your part in helping the people in your hometown, as we can't rely on the government alone. Let's all help beyond our family however small it may be.

Lastly, make God part of your daily life. It is never too late to study Bible.