Christmas is coming! Do you feel the joy?
Unfortunately some of our brothers and sisters in the Philippines may not be able to enjoy the joy of christmas.
So as you may already know (or not), a devastating flood hits the Philippines a few days ago.
Disaster agency officials said Tuesday that 957 people have died so far as a result of the floods which began in the early hours of Saturday, while 49 others remain missing.
About 143,000 people were affected in 13 southern and central provinces.
The Office of Civil Defense says some 7,000 houses were swept away, destroyed or damaged.
I am indirectly affected by this situation
I am indirectly affected too by this disaster, because one of my assistants is severely affected by the disaster. She lives in the area but luckily she is okay and her house is not swept.
In the state of chaos, she wrote me an email (because she is supposed to send me a daily report of her work).
Here is some of her emails:
Hello Sir Andrew,
Thank you for your early christmas gift. Sorry I wasn’t able to send you my daily report last night because a typhoon struck our place and heavy rain poured without stopping. My sister woke me up around 2am in the morning because the flood was rising from our garage up to our living area. The situation happened in a fast forward mode. In just a split of seconds, our floor was covered with water. I was praying that the Lord with stop the flood. Thank God we are all safe.
My cousin’s house was washed out by the flood. thank God she and her husband is now safe. As I look at the pictures in the facebook. The whole city was covered with mud and there were so many dead people lying on the streets and everywhere. It really breaks my heart seeing those people whose lives were taken by this typhoon.
It was the first time that our city experience this kind of disaster. Our city now is in the state of calamity and I do hope that God will help those people rise again from this experience.This is one of the greatest tragedy we experience here in our place. The people in this town didn’t expect that the water will rise that fast since we are rarely visited by typhoons.
Please help us pray that we can survive this calamity and that the typhoon will not create more damages anywhere.
Thank you for your understanding.
I am speechless and began to Google the news. It is horrible.
And then the day after she wrote me this:
Hi Sir Andrew,
Sorry I haven’t updated you. Our internet connection is now okay but I haven’t done cleaning our house since there were mud all over the place. I also went to the place of my cousin and friends who were hardly hit by the typhoon to give some assistance since they were left with nothing. no food, water, shelter and clothing. So i gave some of my used clothing to them.
It really breaks my heart seeing the situation in most evacuation centers. And the whole city of iligan was a mess. We don’t know where to start.. streets were full of mud and we can’t scrape any of it since there were a lot of people that are still missing and the families of these missing people were still hoping that their loved ones were still alive. If not, they want to see the body. A lot of bodies were recovered under a thick mud.
I know God will give us strength and hope this Christmas. I gave some of my salary to my friends that was left with nothing. Lucky for me I still have our house and my family. I also have a friend whose her 2 sisters, 1 brother in law and 2 nieces were trapped inside the house. The water was above the roof so there was no chance that they can escape alive.
Let’s just pray for the souls of those whose lives were taken by this typhoon. It was a very tragic and traumatic experience for us all. And the sad part is, Christmas is approaching. I don’t know how long will it take to clean the mess in our city. I just hope that all will fall into places.
Thanks and please help pray. God Bless
I was so touched and moved just by reading the email. The next day Fenny (my girlfriend) and I sent a donation to her, so that she can use it for others in need. Note: she has been working for me for some time, hence the trust I have towards her.
This is the latest email I received from her:
We are okay now. our house is clean again and thank God it didn’t rain again from the day of the disaster. It’s just that everytime it starts to drizzle, I feel like there’ll be a devastating storm again. It was a traumatic experience.
I went to some part of the area to give assistance to my other classmates who are in need and up to now, there are still so many missing people and bodies that are still unidentified. We’ll just pray that their souls will be at peace. There were a lot of donations coming from different parts of the globe tending some of the their basic needs.
Tears fall from my eyes as I handed my classmate some of the money you gave. I told her to buy some underwears for her and her family. She hugged me tight and thank me. I told her that it comes from you and your girlfriend. they were so happy.
I am waiting for the package of a friend of mine, full of donations and then I will distribute it to the victims including the toothbrush, toothpaste and soap I purchased using your money. I also donated some of it in the school. I’m happy that there are a lot of people donating and volunteering, united as one in times of needs. about 80% of our city. Thanks a lot sir, it will return to you a hundred folds.
So if you are touched too and would feel to help those in dire needs by donating money, you can contact me to make a donation and I will make sure that your donation will go to those who are really in need. I will ask my assistant to provide proofs.
Considering the technology today, I think we can give a hand here despite our distance; and share the spirit of christmas with everybody.
You can donate via paypal here: