- The center of San Lorenzo Ruiz town.
This morning Philip and I traveled to a town called San Lorenzo Ruiz, in the city of Pasig, one of the many areas of Manila still partially submerged after the heavy rainfall of typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) last week.
Arriving at the town we soon came across a makeshift port, where the road sloped away into the murky water.
Demonstrating true Filipino ingenuity, the town’s many trisikad, pedicab and jeepney drivers have knocked together a fleet of rafts that they are using to ferry the townspeople around. They range from very small, simple wooden platforms with a few plastic jugs attached for added buoyancy, to the more spacious vessels, built around old fridges and bathtubs.
Our boat for the morning was the former and our ‘Captain’ John, waist deep in water, pulled us through town to show the damage that was caused. After a short while we stopped off at John’s house, which he shares with his two younger siblings, his mother and his grandmother, Francesca.
- Angelo 9yrs, Angelie 12yrs and Francesca in their home.
I poked my head inside the doorway and Francesca immediately sparked up a conversation with me, in near perfect English.
From her cramped stoop just above the waterline she explained “The government are the problem. When they need something from us they help us, but where are they now?” Her words echo the feelings of many people here in Manila. “We need food but nobody is bringing us any, what can we do?”
- People queuing for hundreds of meters to collect aid.
With so much damage caused and so many people affected, some of whom are much worse off than the people of San Lorenzo, this is a question that many thousands are asking. For Francesca and her family it may well be a case of sitting and waiting, praying that it doesn’t rain and that the waters filling their home recede sooner than predicted, which some suggest won’t be until December.
In the afternoon we made our way back to the Community Baptist Church (CBC) which is serving as our base for the week we’re here. We spent the afternoon unloading foodstuffs that had come in from a variety of sources.
Miles Ahead, a charity from San Diego organised 132 50kg sacks of rice, enough to feed 10,000 people.
Family operated shipping company Aboitiz took a collection from the family members and raised over 11,000,000 pesos ( almost AUS $300,000) which they put towards organising food parcels, of which we received 400 to distribute.
- The food parcels from Aboitiz.
Aboitiz really must be commended for their contribution to the relief effort. Not only have they given very generously but they have done so with no desire for public recognition. Their name and logo are nowhere to be seen and they are happy for anyone to distribute them, as long as they are going to the people who need it most, nice!
Tomorrow we will be distributing the food parcels in an area that has the unfortunate name of Floodway. Hopefully if all goes to plan in the morning we will also get started on rebuilding one families home which was destroyed in the typhoon.
J
