The typhoon I wrote about before was Typhoon Ruby. There was one a year before that named Typhoon Yolanda that hit south of Borongan where I am. It was called a Super Typhoon because of the damage it caused. I had the opportunity this week to travel to the Southern Samar where Yolanda's fury can still be seen, two and a half years later.
I traveled to Taclo-an and Santa Cruz, two barrios south of Borongan. They are about 2 hours away by car. The sisters first heard of need in this area because the mayor of that region contacted them to say that there were a few barrios in desperate need after the super typhoon. The ride for me was a little scary just because at a certain point, you leave pavement and are driving on rocky dirt roads and on wooden bridges I don't think I'd walk on never mind driving a big truck over!! But the first trip there for the Oikos Sisters was even worse. The dirt road resembled more a swamp than a road, and someone had to walk in front of the truck and throw down gravel so the they would have some traction. Not only that, but downed power lines in the wet puddles made the trip death defying!! Because of the sisters' presence in these barrios, instead of having mass once a year, these people now celebrate it twice a month, along with Eucharistic Adoration and confession.
One amazing story I heard about the Taclo-an barrio is that during the super typhoon, the people had no idea where to go. No one ever expected the typhoon to be as powerful as it was. So, leaving their boarded-up homes, the people all gathered in the church. After the typhoon ended, they left the church to find everything gone... EVERYTHING. Homes, cars, gardens, everything was gone. The amazing part... not one bit of damage happened to the church!!!
Anyways, we traveled to these barrios to begin the people there on one of the livelihood programs the Oikos Sisters have for the people here. One of the programs is FAITH... Food Always In The Home. The sisters provide the families with the materials needed for growing vegetable gardens. Then they teach the people about planting, managing and harvesting their garden. Some of the food grown is set aside for the families, but some is meant to be sold to provide income for them as well. Some of the Oikos-supported gardens I've seen are just overflowing with bounty! And another program is piglet recycling. The people are taught how to raise and care for a piglet and how to build a pen for it. It was for the launching of this program the day we went there. The people who want to participate have to sign a contract promising to do their part in the program and are given $1,500 in pesos to get them started. As the pigs grow and have piglets of their own, the people pay the Oikos Sisters back by giving them 2 of the piglets, one for another family and one for the sisters.
The team did such an amazing job, and as I recollected on it later, I realized really how much the sisters are giving these people. Anyone can give poor people things they need. But when that is gone, they will just need more. The Oikos Sisters are giving these people a chance to pull themselves out of poverty. With the sister's help and the financial jump start, if the people are willing to do the work, they find not only livelihood, but also independence, dignity and pride in themselves and their work. The programs are all monitored monthly by the team so that the people are held accountable for the investment the sisters made in them. I think it is really great.
But along with seeing the thriving barrios the sisters are active in, we passed many still in great need. Houses made out sticks, with no humor intended, it really, sadly reminded me of the Three Little Pigs. Children waiting outside of their homes for our truck to pass by and come running for any leftovers we had... possibly the most food they'll eat that day. It is really heartbreaking. And I couldn't help but think about how unfair it seems that natural disasters hit places like this, where people have no hope of pulling themselves out of the devastation without great and consistent help. Don't get me wrong... natural disasters anywhere are terrible and the loss of life as a result of them is always horrible. But to be so poor, to not have much at all and have even that taken away, to have almost three years go by and still you find yourself in the same place, with nothing... there isn't a word for the sadness in my heart upon seeing this.
Only being 5 in number, the Oikos Sisters cannot do it all by themselves. And we did see many temporary homes built by different organizations, including homes built by the Joliet Diocese in Illinois. People are helping, people are giving... but more is needed. Everywhere. My prayer this week is for more vocations to the Oikos order of sisters. Could you make it yours too? Thanks!! xoxo
