Dear St. Paul’s Family,
Thank you to the many who
have asked about my family members in the Philippines, and I am grateful to
report that they are doing fine. I have
a cousin on my father’s side who lives with his wife and son in Cavite City,
about twenty miles outside Manila. Except
for a few fallen branches, they had virtually no damage from the storm, and their
city is resuming life as usual.
My mother’s family is
mostly in Calapan City, in the northern part of the island of Mindoro known as
Oriental Mindoro. It is about three
hours south of Manila, and much closer to the track of Typhoon Yolanda (which
is what Filipinos have been calling Typhoon Haiyan). I have a number of aunts, uncles, cousins,
and extended family there, and news from them was less forthcoming over the
weekend. I have since heard that they
did not have nearly the strong winds, storm surges, and sheer devastation that
those on the eastern seaboard did. While
they were out of power for a good part of the weekend, they have since had
electricity restored. And except for a road
that has been destroyed from a landslide in northern Mindoro, life for the
people there is slowly returning to normal as well.
There was a time not too
long ago that such a horrible natural disaster, and the plight of its victims,
would have been unfathomable. Sadly, the
last few decades have given us quite a frame of reference, with one-word labels
now etched into our collective memory:
Katrina. Haiti. Tsunami.
Joplin. There are more examples,
of course, both regionally and internationally, and the sum effect of such devastation
is a temptation of numbed helplessness. When we see the images of Filipinos combing
through debris to find loved ones, and a city of 200,000 people turned to
rubbish, we add them to our ever-expanding file of misfortunes for
humanity. We feel like we have seen this
before, and we believe that we will see it again.
But at every turn, we have
also seen another reality. It is a sense
of courage and camaraderie in the face of calamity, which pulls people together
from across the divides to help others in need.
In Filipino culture, there
is a concept called bayanihan (“by-uh-NEE-hun”),
which means “community spirit.” It is literally
translated as “being part of a bayan,” or “community.” It originated in the now obsolete practice of
gathering people together to relocate a person’s home in the village. Using crosswise and lengthwise bamboo poles,
neighbors would carry the house on their shoulders from one place in the
village to another, often with a festive and spirited mood, ending with a party
thrown by the homeowner in gratitude for their community’s assistance. Today, bayanihan
is a common feature of Filipino life, encouraging people toward acts of
leadership, initiative, volunteerism, and compassion for the sake of others.
I am certain that bayanihan will prevail throughout the Filipino
people throughout the long, arduous process of recovery and rebuilding. But if there is anything that Katrina, Haiti,
the tsunami, Joplin, and now Yolanda have taught us, it is that we are all in bayanihan together. Barriers of nationality, geography, economy,
and culture fade to the fringes when we see fellow human beings, members of our
global bayan, in need.
There are many relief
organizations already responding, and I am grateful to hear early reports from
our own United Methodist Committee on Relief.
UMCOR has been quick to arrive on the scene and coordinate their response
with local and national relief organizations.
It has authorized $97,000 of immediate aid to the Philippines, in the
form of food, water, and water purification tablets that will help thousands of
people in upcoming days. If you would
like to make a contribution, you can do so through their website (www.umcor.org)
or through the church. Make your check payable
to St. Paul’s and designate it for “Typhoon Relief.” One hundred percent of your contribution will
go to support those who have been affected.
For more information on the United Methodist Church’s response to the
typhoon, click the link below. [1]
Thank you again for the
prayers and concern for members of my family.
I am grateful to report that they are okay. Now together, let us be the church, in bayanihan with the world.
Grace, Peace, and “Mabuhay!” (which means “Good Life to
You”),
Magrey
The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
Email: mdevega@sp-umc.org
[1] http://www.umcor.org/UMCOR/Resources/News-Stories/2013/November/1110umcormobilizesdisasterresponseinphilippines
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