Yolanda brings out the best in people

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas

For two days over the weekend, I volunteered to help pack donations dropped off by donors at the Goldilocks Bakeshop and Restaurant in Cerritos and witnessed first hand how a calamity has brought the best in people, how a tragedy has brought people of different persuasions together to come to the aid of their fellow men.

People from all walks of life came with all sorts of items that the victims of super typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines needed badly – clothes, canned goods, soaps, toothpaste, toothbrush, towels, blankets, shoes, shampoo, pampers, flashlights, batteries, water, rice, and so many other things – and left obviously happy that they were able to do their share in the global effort to help the millions of people affected by the strongest typhoon on record to make landfall.

Volunteers, young and old alike, worked the whole day to sort out the items and pack them in boxes for shipment by Atlas Shippers International to the Philippines to be distributed by volunteers from the JPL Foundation to provinces hard hit by the typhoon in the Visayas, such as Leyte, Samar, Bohol, Aklan, Iloilo, Cebu and Capiz.

A woman who was visiting from Texas was in tears, touched by the sight of Filipinos working together to help their countrymen. She said she had relatives in Tacloban she had not heard from since the typhoon. A white couple saw the sign saying donations were accepted in that location and came back with bags of household items from nearby Target store. An entire family came with clothes and household items gathered from friends and neighbors. Another came with several bags of clothes, towels, canned goods and household items her co-workers, mostly non-Filipinos, who, she said, were so concerned about the condition of the survivors.

The daily news broadcasts of the tragedy that befell the people of Leyte, Samar and other provinces touched the compassionate side of people all over the world. At the same time, the daily images of the death, devastation and deprivation that typhoon Yolanda brought with its heavy rains, strong gusty winds and storm surges showed the inner strength of the Filipino people, something that CNN’s Anderson Cooper did not fail to notice.

Cooper, the popular and indefatigable anchor at CNN, who went to Tacloban City to report on the tragedy, in an emotional report said: “Can you imagine the strength it takes living in a shack, to be sleeping on the streets next to the body of your dead children? Can you imagine that strength? I can’t. And I’ve seen that strength day in and day out here in the Philippines and we honor them in every broadcast that we do.”

Journalists and photographers who were in Tacloban City, one of several towns and cities completely wiped out by the typhoon, witnessed how despite the seeming desperation of the typhoon survivors for food and water, they quietly lined up for the little relief goods and water that were distributed by the government and charitable organizations – no jostling, no pushing, no shouting.

Only the heartless – like the Canadian schoolteacher who saw the calamity as a cleansing of the world — would not be touched by the daily images flashed on television of children who have not eaten for days, of mothers crying while narrating how they lost their husband and children, of a man weeping unabashedly because he was unable to save his two young kids, of people walking like zombies while barely covered bodies lay lifeless on the streets, of long lines of men, women and children hoping to get a bag of food that would see them through for the day, of woods and tin roofs that once provided shelter for these people now scattered as debris throughout the city, of people waving frantically to helicopter crews to drop them food, and of so many other scenes reminiscent of an apocalypse.

But as overwhelming as the destruction is how the world responded to the tragedy. Governments and agencies from all over the world pledged hundreds of millions of dollars for relief and rehabilitation. The United States sent in warships carrying food and relief items and troops ready to help in the relief and rescue efforts. Great Britain contributed $48 million. Israel, grateful for the help extended by the Philippine government to Jewish refugees during the Second World War, sent money, troops and doctors. So did Belgium. Japan gave millions and sent 1,000 troops to help.

Even China, deep in dispute with the Philippines over the Spratlys, and Hongkong, still bitter over a bungled hostage rescue operation at the Luneta in 2010, pledged aid.

Large companies also responded. AT&T and Verizon waived toll fees for direct calls to the Philippines. Remittance companies, such as Western Union, Wells Fargo and XOOM gave huge donations and waive fees for remittances to the Philippines. Even Filipino balikbayan box forwarders, such as Atlas Shippers and U-Mac, offered free shipment of donations by organizations and huge discounts for individual boxes to typhoon affected areas. The SM Group in the Philippines gave P100 million as contribution to the relief and rehab effort, and other Philippine corporations gave their share.

But the generosity does not end there. Stories of compassion and kindness have been coming out in news stories for days. In Japan, a six-year-old kid broke his piggy bank and, accompanied by his proud father, donated his entire savings – 5,000 yen or P2,000 – to the Philippine embassy in Tokyo for the typhoon victims. In war-ravaged Tawi-Tawi, five young kids scavenged for scraps for one whole day and from their earnings, handed a small bag to a relief worker that contained a kilo of rice, two cans of sardines and three P10 coins (for the beneficiary to buy bread with, they said). There is also the story of a street urchin who turned over to a nearby donation center the first peso he earned from begging and returned to give his second peso.

There is also the story of Muntinlupa inmates giving away their meager personal belongings for donation to the typhoon victims, of young mothers donating breast milk to a milk bank for babies in the typhoon areas, of a dental lab owner and his wife giving P2,000 to a woman collecting donations and wouldn’t give their name (the contribution was turned over to the relief agency, of course), of two contending parties in a 10-year-old civil suit agreeing to finally settle the case and give the settlement money to the typhoon victims.

Filipinos all over the world have responded with equal compassion and kindness. Filipino groups from all over the world are organizing fund-raising activities and relief drives and holding masses and vigils for both the dead and the survivors of the calamity. Television networks all over the US are holding telethons to raise awareness and much-needed relief funds. Offices have launched their own fund-raising and came up with funds that they gave to agencies such as Red Cross, Gawad Kalinga, ABS-CBN International Foundation, and many others.

Typhoon Yolanda has brought untold pain and suffering to millions of people, but it also brought the best in all of us. The overwhelming response of communities all over the world was an incontrovertible proof of the reality of a famous quote by Jessy and Bryan Matteo: “Even the smallest act of caring for another person is like a drop of water – it will make ripples throughout the entire pond.”

Famous neurosurgeon and writer Ben Carson once said: “happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.” Amid the tragedy brought by typhoon Yolanda, millions of people all over the world are smiling these days, happy in the thought that they gave their share to make others overcome a tragedy.

(valabelgas@aol.com)