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BY RHICK LARS VLADIMER ALBAY
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Growing up after ‘Yolanda’ (Part 2)
IN JUNE of 2015, just over a year after the super typhoon ravaged the community, a fire spread through Purok Dos and razed it to the ground.
Nang Ruby shares that she was eight-months pregnant during that time and, because her husband wasn’t around, she had to singlehandedly cart her two children and haul their belongings to safety.
“I managed to make two return trips,” Nang Ruby boasts in Hiligaynon, but that still wasn’t enough time to save all their possessions — pots and pans, appliances, a tin can filled with their savings, all reduced to ashes. The older people say the fire managed to destroy the community in just 30 minutes because most of the houses were made of light material.
A few days after, Nang Ruby gave birth in a warehouse while helping repack relief goods, she named her daughter “Fraire” to remember the fire they had survived.
Meanwhile, Nang Ruby’s neighbor Joy was just 18-years-old when the fire stunned their community. Her son Carl, whom she was a few months pregnant with when Yolanda hit, was about to celebrate his first birthday.
She and her husband, a construction worker, saw their humble dwelling burned down, but they managed to recover the ingredients they were saving to cook for their first child’s small party. Despite the tragedy, they decided to push through with the celebration. Carl enjoyed his first birthday at the temporary relocation center, with all their neighbor’s children, who also lost their homes, as his guests.
“Ging-share na lang namon ang pagkaon, daw nag-feeding program kami ya gani sa evacuation (center),” shares Joy happily.
Joy relates that growing up, she wanted to be a writer, but because of financial struggles she had to drop out of school. She worked for a while as a sales girl at one of the malls in Aklan, but found it difficult to be away a lot from her young child.
On the third anniversary of “Yolanda” last week, Joy joined a demonstration that marched to the steps of the Aklan provincial capitol. She sat in the leading vehicle, just in front of the people with their banners and placards calling for aid, speaking through a loud speaker about the situation of the masses still struggling to cope after the disaster.
NeAnn, Mia and Nang Ruby also united in crying out for the nearly 25,000 families in Aklan, theirs among them, devastated by super typhoon “Yolanda” that have yet to receive any assistance from the government, three years to the day.
The solidarity march concluded with a dialogue with Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) assistant secretary Hope Hervilla and regional director Rebecca Geamala.
The DSWD officials revealed that, because of the previous administration’s negligence and corruption, only P30 million remains of the billions allotted to help those stricken by the disaster, yet thousands have yet to receive any such aid.
Ma’am Hope estimates that if that amount were to be distributed equally to those yet to receive any aid, it would amount to just P300 per family, which is gravely inadequate to answer the daily needs of the super typhoon’s survivors. The protesters were visibly outraged. But Ma’am Hope offered to them, well, hope that under the Duterte administration the people would get what is due to them.
On the day before the solidarity march, I found NeAnn and Mia, along with some of the other youth in the community, painting placards that asked “Saan napunta ang milyun-milyong pondo ng Yolanda?”
Admittedly I found it odd that the youth of the area turned to activism at such young ages. I’m a young adult now and I’ve yet to raise a single placard in all my life.
For the most part, the two friends seemed giddy and carefree always joking around and dancing. But you could see that beneath the cheerful smiles, they’ve grown up with a strong mantle of heart and bravery. They’ve faced hardships few of us can say we survived at such young ages — flood and devastation, fires, poverty — and have come out stronger together.
During the solidarity march, I rode a tricycle to arrive at the provincial capitol ahead of the protesters and take pictures. Speeding past the placards and protesters, I easily spotted the two, wearing matching white shirts and raising their fists in the air.
Young as they were, NeAnn, Mia and Joy, were already fighting for their cause, overcoming all adversity, fighting for what they believed in./PN
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