All for Juan

(Photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

When Ondoy struck the metro, I was at the office, working. I left home very early on that fateful Saturday, as I was required to report at 7:30AM. It was already raining nonstop since the night before, but little did I (or anybody for that matter) know that it could almost sweep the entire Metro Manila off the Philippine map.

I got differing text messages from friends/relatives of whether to go home or not. At 10AM, I decided I would leave the office as soon as the rain stopped. But it didn't. Instead of slowing down, Ondoy even gained strength which my other trapped co-workers and I witnessed when we went out to have lunch.

Long story short, I spent the entire weekend away from home. If it's any consolation, I spent Saturday night at the office with 4 other girls. Thank God, the Jollibee and Chowking stores across the street were open so we didn't have to worry about food.

We woke up to a rather good weather on Sunday morning, dreading to hear the news of what Ondoy left of the metro. We all went to watch the news on TV and online. We all felt weak. I, double the weakness. All roads to home were submerged in water, from waist-deep to neck-deep. So, that morning, while the 3 other girls decided to brave the knee-deep floods going to their homes, my friend Jane stayed with me. We then went to SM Makati to buy some fresh clothes to wear to work the following day. Her aunt took us in for the night.

Although I'm sure I smelled like a damp dog that Monday, I was thankful for a lot of things. First, my family back home and I were safe. Second, our home was not affected by the floods. Third, it's the nature of my job to implement donations. I didn't care if I stunk or looked like a zombie that day. I knew we had to help, and we had to do it quick.

I went out to buy groceries for donation: water, canned goods and medicines. With some volunteers from work, we went to Sagip Kapamilya to drop the items. We really wanted to help in repacking, but the warehouse guys said they had enough volunteers for the day.

I don't have a lot of photos at the warehouse because one, taking pictures wasn't my priority at the time; and two, the place was really packed and it was still drizzling (which might damage my camera). But anyway, in this photo is Tom Mott (the guy in blue) of Pinoy Big Brother Double Up, before he even went inside Kuya's house.

Not satisfied that we did enough to help, the volunteers decided to go to evacuation centers in the weekend to help hands-on.

The greatest challenge as of the time though was the approaching typhoon, Pepeng. But we were decided we had to do it. Of course there was Plan B, where we would postpone (not cancel) it for another day if Pepeng insisted he would make a landfall on NCR.

The Friday of that week, work was called off at noon because of news reports that Pepeng is gaining strength. I was already out, buying groceries again for our mission. So while the rest of the office (except for some volunteers) were already on their way home, we were "hoarding" SM Hypermarket's inventory. Another consolation: my SM Advantage Card was loaded with points! It wasn't much, but better than nothing. ;)

After the hoarding, we stayed for a few more hours to pack the goods. I had to leave earlier (10:30PM hehe) because I was too scared of being trapped for the second consecutive weekend.

The next day, Pepeng was very unpredictable. He would have rain-wind fits one moment, then drizzle-no wind the next. The group decided to go anyway.

Braving Pepeng and the floods left by Ondoy, we went to three evacuation centers in Pateros (a municipality that claimed it was "forgotten"). I know it's not proper to feel good when others are suffering, but seeing the plight of the evacuees made me feel really lucky. Whenever I felt tired during the mission, I think of how blessed I am not being in their position. What's one day of community service out of the 365 days anyway? What's two minutes of walking in calf-deep floods if it meant food for the hungry?

The first evacuation center we went to was an elementary school which housed about 9 families in a room. The place smelled of dirt, sickness, and frustration. Besides the groceries, we brought them ready-to-eat Chickenjoy. And seeing the kids eyes widening made us numb for hunger. At least for me. I am such a crybaby, I wanted to cry then. But I didn't, for fear of being mistaken as a kagawad wannabe.

The second and third evacuation centers were no different than the first. Well, except for the flood. But the rooms were also cramped and still had the same smell as the first's.
It was quite a day for the 13 volunteers. We were really really tired but seeing these kids were enough to take away the pagod.

Side note: The money we used to buy the goods was from the company we work for. But the volunteers were indeed volunteers, who worked pro bono.